Cyber terrorism would be punished with death or life imprisonment and cyber stalkers would be sentenced to seven years imprisonment and/or a heavy under the just promulgated Cyber Crimes Ordinance, said Minister for Information Technology Dr. Abdullah Riar. He said the law is a significant step in enforcing a secure ambiance for business and encouraging e-commerce in Pakistan. Riar told the reporters that the ordinance outlined the knowledge about electronic crimes and illegal online intrusion to spread it among general public. The law would help improve e-readiness in Pakistan that would rank the country among indices drawn by various international business journals and agencies, the minister said. He said the government would constitute special IT tribunals to investigate and check growing electronic crime incidents, which were going unpunished due to the lack of specific legislation. He said the ordinance covers various aspects, including criminal data access, data damage, system damage, electronic fraud, electronic forgery, misuse of electronic systems or electronic devices, unauthorized access to code, misuse of encryption, malicious code, cyber stalking, spamming, spoofing, unauthorized interception and cyber terrorism. Riar said electronic fraud and forgery cases will be liable to seven years non-bailable imprisonment. Cases of unauthorized interception of electronic communication, such as emails, will be subjected to five years imprisonment and/or a fine of Rs 500,000. Cases involving misuse of encryption and using malicious code would be liable to five years imprisonment, the minister said adding that three years imprisonment has been approved for criminal data access-which is a serious violation of the right to protect personal data-and data damage crimes, involving illegal manipulation of an organisation's financial records or other information.
