Pakistani religious body declares using VPN is against Islamic law | Hacker News Reader

Pakistani religious body declares using VPN is against Islamic law

voanews.com

40 pointsivewonyoung20 comments

The title is incorrect.

> “Using VPNs to access blocked or illegal content is against Islamic and social norms, therefore, their use is not acceptable under Islamic law. It falls under ‘abetting in sin,’ ” said the statement, quoting the council’s chairman, Raghib Naeemi.

> The statement declared that any technology, including the internet, used to access “immoral or illegal activities is prohibited according to Islamic principles.”

That title really needs updating in that case, it's very misleading.

So in extension, it applies to any computer?

Are there provisions for the people working on the systems that filters the traffic or those that validate that an address must be blocked?

You're expecting religious law to be consistent? You can use a spoon to kill, you can use a door to kill, yet I bet the members of this religious council got out of the building through a door.

Not really but I'm always curious of the ingenuity when it comes around such laws.

Just like the Catholic Church declared beavers are fish so they could be consumed during Lent in Canada in the 18th century because other food was hard to come by in winter there.

Well at least that was somewhat constructive and helpful to normal people. This council is just trying to use religion to further cement the power of the government.

>So in extension, it applies to any computer?

Yes, but it's not because computers/VPNs are involved, it's because it's used to do another illegal act (ie. accessing blocked or illegal content). It's not any different than anti-circumvention provisions in US law.

So: breaking the law is against the law?

The title is kind if correct though. This title is actually what is being implied in the country by this fatwa. And this statement is actually brought by tye current government (military?) who absolutely hates the disrespect/memes its facing on Internet by overseas Pakistanis.

They are almost openly abducting people running Facebook pages which are mostly memes against the government. One could say government is trying to curb all propaganda against itself using absolutely any means since khans ouster.

Twitter is banned in the country yet our PM posted congrats for Trump on Twitter.

Do these fatwa-issuing bodies just represent the bureaucratization of Islamic law for the benefit of the state?

Religious groups are very diverse. It's not a single body. There are many individual people and groups some with huge following and some don't. Some of them can represent bureaucracy but some don't. Bureaucracy can make almost anyone do anything. And it's not the first time. Another very popular/respected religious figure have said that it's silly for example.

Should point out the PM for Pakistan who spoke out about religious extremism, Imran Khan, was jailed after "Lettergate", the US's efforts to have him ousted as PM (which succeeded, he is in jail now). The crackdown on the Internet followed that.

So all of this is in line with US policy. The US instigated a coup to warp their democratic processes with foreign efforts, causing a chain of events for this to happen.

Khan may have spoke out against this (almost all politicians there do) but he was far more loved by the Islamists and everyday Muslims than the secular army who overthrew him

The US' track record of overthrowing gov't leaders is abysmal. It's gotta be worse than a major league batting average.

Its just better to have Generals in charge in Islamic countries (esp ones with Nukes). Look at what happens when Ayatollahs are sitting on the throne for too long. Thankfully Arab Spring ended with Generals in charge of Egypt instead of the braindead Muslim Brotherhood or Israel would have been fighting islamic fanatics on that front too.

Religion being used to control people? Say it ain’t so!

This is such a tired trope, especially when made in a forum where a substantial amount of contributors believe that if they release a collection of digital files that are accompanied with the correct words which constitute something called a "license", I am obliged to follow its demands.

Regulation for me, but not for thee?

I'd actually hazard a guess that most "hackers" would neither read nor place any importance on any textual attempt at restriction of use of software.

What we may quibble over is the readership of this site being more "hackers" or (wannabe) entrepreneurs.

There's no textual restriction. It's the law that restricts you, the text is the thing that makes it legal for you.

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