Pakistan tests secret China-like ‘firewall’ to tighten online surveillance


Pakistan’s government has deployed Chinese technology to build what some senior officials familiar with the project are calling a new, national internet “firewall” that will allow authorities to monitor online traffic and regulate the use of popular apps with greater control than before.

The project aims to upgrade the government’s web monitoring capabilities at the country’s main internet gateways, as well as at the data centres of mobile service and major internet service providers. Senior executives from two internet service providers (ISPs) and an official from the country’s security establishment told Al Jazeera that trials of this new firewall, installed as part of Pakistan’s internet infrastructure, were responsible for a spate of complaints of poor internet connectivity in the country in recent months.

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Source: Al Jazeera News


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