Pakistan suffers a $2.2 million loss per hour when the internet is shut down for an hour, Pakistan Freelancers Association President Tufail Khan has said while quoting Netblocks data.
Netblocks is an institution which takes data from the World Bank, International Telecommunication Union and Eurostat. The tool tracks network stability and monitors internet outages in real time.
“The internet outage affects delivery riders, IT-enabled people, cab riders,” Khan said while appearing through a video link on *Spotlight with Munizae Jahangir* which was aired on Aaj News on Tuesday.
He urged the government to make VPN and social media-friendly policies. The freelancers’ body president also exhorted the government to make them part of the discussions on policies.
Prime Minister’s coordinate Rana Ihsaan Afzal was also on the show.
“We are not going to ban anything, things are regulated. The way digital media, social media, these platforms are changing we have to update our laws by this,” he said when asked about the Cyber Crime Amendment Bill.
“We are not banning VPNs but regulating it. Our data protection laws, we will be compliant with the world,” he added.
He agreed with a suggestion that laws should not be formed in isolation and there should be a discussion with stakeholders. The premier’s coordinator clarified that the access to internet was only restricted for a short time due to the security situation.
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Afzal claimed that the broadband internet has never faced obstacles.
In response to a question, he said that it was unfortunate that X, erstwhile Twitter, was banned in the country. “What is more unfortunate that terrorism is rising and more unfortunate is that misinformation is not being controlled.”
While talking about the internet suspension, the freelancers’ body president said that it would be better if there was timely communication from a relevant initiation. “There are two important things in communication: reason [for suspension] and time for resolving the issue,” Tufail said and urged the government to involve stakeholders in discussions.
