Stories by Farieha Aziz

The age of surveillance: George Orwell’s 1984, now streaming in Pakistan

As democratic institutions around the world grapple with declining public trust and as constitutional frameworks struggle to keep pace with technological advancement, the Pakistani example serves as a cautionary tale. Updated 27 Nov, 2025 03:23pm

Why the latest proposal to amend Peca is an attempt to further strangle free speech

Pakistan’s digital rights remain hostage to the same political charades that allowed Peca to flourish in the first place. Updated 23 Jan, 2025 02:23pm

Digital graveyard

It seems scrutiny of executive action, disruptions, suppression of fundamental rights non-issues for our courts. Updated 21 Dec, 2024 09:07am

And then they came for VPNs

A VPN ban allows for increased surveillance online and diminishes privacy. Updated 02 Dec, 2024 08:55am

Digital check-post

Faults in submarine cables and increased VPN usage don’t explain WhatsApp media disruptions. Updated 25 Aug, 2024 09:08am

What kind of ‘firewall’?

Citizens have a right to know what additional curbs are being placed on their freedom of expression and privacy. Updated 02 Aug, 2024 09:20pm

Surveillance central

National security cannot be an umbrella phrase simply thrown around, unqualified or accepted at face value. Updated 15 Jul, 2024 08:46am

The privacy myth

Various filtering and surveillance technology has been purchased and put to use in Pakistan. Updated 06 Jul, 2024 09:14am

The ministry of (dis)information and the ban on X

How does a platform threaten national security and public order? How has its ban, yet use via VPNs, prevented this? Published 25 Apr, 2024 11:05am

Digital policy

Civil society & industry have cautioned against regressive measures. Updated 13 Jan, 2024 09:39am

Peca strikes again

Journalists critical of the state have routinely been targeted. Published 28 Sep, 2023 07:19am

Legislative stampede: What is the digital endgame?

How does a state whose operators and apparatus thrive on all kinds of leaks — video, audio, photo, you name it — pretend to want to protect data? Updated 07 Aug, 2023 11:48am

Banistan: Ignorant leaders, absurd regulation

Too much is being sacrificed to egos, vested interests and a complete lack of understanding of the medium. Published 10 Feb, 2023 02:37pm

Project Peca III: What goes around, comes around

While political parties will always be engaged in a Game of Thrones, the collateral are journalists, academics and citizens, who never have been nor ever will be in positions of power. Published 16 Dec, 2022 01:27pm

Project Peca II: A weapon of mass intimidation

By now, the Peca law had been established as the go-to tool for the state to silence or intimidate its naysayers. Published 14 Dec, 2022 09:46am

Project Peca I: How to silence a nation

What began under the PML-N government, intensified under PTI rule and is in vogue once again under the PDM government. Published 12 Dec, 2022 04:57pm

The Peca menace

Registering a case without any legal basis is easy, but closing it is not. Published 20 Oct, 2022 07:53am

THE UNSTOPPABLE RISE OF TROLL FARMS

Our political parties love to champion free speech as long as they are in the opposition. When in power, however, each of the... Published 14 Aug, 2022 07:12am

No transparency

Does the government not know how rule-making is done? Published 03 Dec, 2020 07:49am

Weaponising Peca

Acting unlawfully against citizens has been a consistent pattern. Published 25 Jun, 2020 06:35am