• ohwhatfollyisman@lemmy.world
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    1 month ago

    someone should point out to them that a vpn is the technological equivalent of the burqa.

    either ban both, or allow both.

    • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldM
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      1 month ago

      Which is super fucking ironic:

      David Kahn notes in The Codebreakers that modern cryptology originated among the Arabs, the first people to systematically document cryptanalytic methods.[15] Al-Khalil (717–786) wrote the Book of Cryptographic Messages, which contains the first use of permutations and combinations to list all possible Arabic words with and without vowels.[16]

      The invention of the frequency analysis technique for breaking monoalphabetic substitution ciphers, by Al-Kindi, an Arab mathematician,[17][18] sometime around AD 800, proved to be the single most significant cryptanalytic advance until World War II. Al-Kindi wrote a book on cryptography entitled Risalah fi Istikhraj al-Mu’amma (Manuscript for the Deciphering Cryptographic Messages), in which he described the first cryptanalytic techniques, including some for polyalphabetic ciphers, cipher classification, Arabic phonetics and syntax, and most importantly, gave the first descriptions on frequency analysis.[19] He also covered methods of encipherments, cryptanalysis of certain encipherments, and statistical analysis of letters and letter combinations in Arabic.[20][21] An important contribution of Ibn Adlan (1187–1268) was on sample size for use of frequency analysis.[16]

      Ahmad al-Qalqashandi (AD 1355–1418) wrote the Subh al-a 'sha, a 14-volume encyclopedia which included a section on cryptology. This information was attributed to Ibn al-Durayhim who lived from AD 1312 to 1361, but whose writings on cryptography have been lost. The list of ciphers in this work included both substitution and transposition, and for the first time, a polyalphabetic cipher[23] with multiple substitutions for each plaintext letter (later called homophonic substitution). Also traced to Ibn al-Durayhim is an exposition on and a worked example of cryptanalysis, including the use of tables of letter frequencies and sets of letters which cannot occur together in one word.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_cryptography#Medieval_cryptography

      But then Pakistanis aren’t Arabs…

    • AeonFelis@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      That’s the beauty of religion - if our gods and prophets did not materialize to contradict what we are saying in their name, that means they approve.

    • just_an_average_joe@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      1 month ago

      Its not about religion, its politics. A few years ago the Pakistani military overthrew a very popular prime minister who publicly said that it was the military behind his removal. Then slowly and gradually there was more and more evidence behind military involvement which as a result, made the public anti-military. They have been kidnapping and torturing anyone critical of them.

      But the more they oppress, the more people become anti-military. It got to the point that in february the government blocked access to twitter because of anti-military sentiment, so people started using VPNs. Now this “religious body” which is government appointed claims to block VPN because “people are watching immoral things via VPN”. But in reality, it is to stop people organizing protests.

      Also a governmental body can not decide what is islamic or not, thats not how islamic law works. It has to come from islamic scholars and there needs to be consus on it.

      I don’t think any major islamic scholar who lives inside pakistan has signed or approved this message even though they want to stop porn they know its not about stopping porn, its about making it difficult to criticize the military.

      • maplebar@lemmy.world
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        1 month ago

        Its not about religion, its politics.

        It’s about religion. In a theocracy religion is politics, and law, and culture too.

        Religion isn’t something that empowers people to do more or live more freely. Religious dogma is nothing more than a set of arbitrary laws and norms, written and decided by man, but given the weight and authority of god(s)–the fear of eternal damnation in the afterlife being the only way that people knew to keep others in line in a world devoid of secular laws.

        How did we convince women that they were lesser beings throughout human history? Why do we consider some forms of consensual adult sexuality to be morally wrong? Why do we believe that human beings are destined and entitled to live on this planet forever no matter how poorly we treat it?

        The answer is religion. Religion is mass delusion, used mainly as a tool of oppression. Socrates was sentenced to death by a jury of Athenians for thought crimes against Athena, showing that religion, democracy and justice simply do not mix. Thousands of years ago (or more) gods and religious law were the inventions that ushered humanity into the post-truth world that we live in today.

        • just_an_average_joe@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          1 month ago

          Look we can criticize religion for its issues all we want but in this specific case, they are using religion as a tool to get what they want. If it weren’t for religion, they would use something else.

          “Terrorists are using VPNs to evade law enforcement”

          Or maybe something racism related

          Fascist/authoritarian governments always use something to control the public.

          • maplebar@lemmy.world
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            1 month ago

            they are using religion as a tool to get what they want.

            This is what religion has always been used as. Religious law existed before civil law, because it’s easy to get people to do what they’re told if they believe that their godlike creator will punish them eternally for breaking the rules.

            Again, how did people convince the world that gay sex is not only taboo but something to be entirely shunned and punished?

            You tell them that it’s a sin before the eyes of “God”, who in his anger will turn you and anyone who even looks in your direction into a “pillar of salt” or whatever. Remember the existence of “sodomy” (read: homosexuality) in Sodom and Gomorrah wasn’t just something bad, it was an mortal sin that supposedly wiped entire towns off the map, as they want you to believe that what your neighbor does in their bedroom isn’t just their own business but also an existential threat to your entire society. In the literal interpretation of all 3 Abrahamic Religions, it’s not enough to avoid homosexuality yourself, it has to be eliminated from society entirely lest we all end up like Sodom and Gomorrah…

            And for what? Obviously we all know that the story of Sodom and Gomorrah is pure bullshit, even many religious people today hopefully don’t take it literally…

            But the simple truth is that someone, thousands of years ago, felt disgusted by homosexuality and created a big lie about it in order to convince people that gayness anywhere in society would eventually bring about God’s wrath. And that utter fucking bullshit has lead to thousands of years of fear, discrimination, violence and hate, lasting even today in various degrees throughout the world. Humanity chose to go down this path when we chose to believe in religious lies.

            Because THAT is exactly what religions does–that is what religion was designed to do: to keep people in line, to oppress undesirable people and qualities out of society, to avoid coming face to face with the unknown, and to impose the will of the few on the populace at large. Religion tells people what to eat, what to fuck, when and how they can listen to music, how to live and how to die. Outside of a few exceptions, it’s mostly a toxic ideology that empowers nobody and oppresses billions of people all over the world, and to top it all off, it’s just a bunch of fake, make-believe bullshit.

    • kholby@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      You know how some people make the claim that atheism is a religion? This is why. People who think that anyone who believes something different from them is a moron and/or in need of conversion. I don’t like it when religions behave like this, and I don’t like it when nonreligions behave like this, either.

      • FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world
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        1 month ago

        Respectfully, you think I’m denigrating Islam because it’s different from what I believe?

        No.

        I’m simply pointing out what, to anyone who wasn’t raised in it, is obvious stupidity.

        • SulaymanF@lemmy.world
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          1 month ago

          Muslim here, this “ruling” is nonsense and is just one dumb political opinion that the rest of the Muslim world is mocking. This isn’t Islam.

        • kholby@lemmy.world
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          1 month ago

          Sorry if I misunderstood. I interpreted your comment as saying that all religion was moronic bullshit, which would be in line with what I said.

          If you meant that this particular religious behavior is moronic bullshit, I completely agree. I just don’t hold the view that every religious person is a moron because they believe in a religion.

          • raspberriesareyummy@lemmy.world
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            1 month ago

            All religions are moronic bullshit. People are free to believe what they like, no one has a need for rules that tell them how to believe.

          • FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world
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            1 month ago

            Not all religion is bullshit, but there is a lot of crossover between religious teachings and bullshit. That’s why they invented the word ‘faith’, because they are self-aware of the incredulousness of it all.

            Like the utter bullshit in this article, as if 7th Century teachings have anything to say about VPN’s.

      • socsa@piefed.social
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        1 month ago

        Using allegory as a moral proxy is fine. And even a really great way of making complex or dry topics more approachable.

        What is not ok is when you take allegory as literal, such that you actually believe that there is a sky wizard who will punish you for showing your hair in public. What is incredibly fucked up is when you then project that literal belief to a prescriptive action framework which commands you to murder heretics.

      • Phoenixz@lemmy.ca
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        1 month ago

        So if I call you a moron for not believing that the Easter Bunny is a real deity, you shouldn’t criticize me?

        Religious people literally believe in things that mostly are no longer believed in after someone reaches about 10 years of age. All this thing’s, Santa Claus, slender man, you name it, it’s all dropped as fantasy yet religion keeps being reinforced causing actual sane adults to believe that there is a magical sky being.

        As this article goes to show, it’s a great tool to control the populace, it has little real world value.

  • palordrolap@fedia.io
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    1 month ago

    “It is not enough that Allah knows everything you do. We must also know.”

    “That sounds like blasphemy to me.”

    “Uh…”

  • مهما طال الليل@lemm.ee
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    1 month ago

    No it isn’t. The right to privacy is protected in Shariah law. Either something nefarious is at play here, or the religious body was misled on what VPN is.

    Sources for those not familiar with Shariah law, I actually studied it and was tested on it:

    https://www.al-islam.org/islam-and-rights-privacy-territory-abbass-khajeh-piri/realm-privacy-islam

    and this is from a Pakistani university:

    http://www.sbbu.edu.pk/actaislamica/vol 05 issue 01/Right to Privacy A Comparative Perspective in Law & Shariah.pdf

    • ashar@infosec.pub
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      1 month ago

      It’s the government’s pet religious authority. They will produce any opinion that the government wants. Is there a name for these kind of scholars in Islamic history?

  • just_an_average_joe@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    1 month ago

    For context: this “religious body” is governmental.

    In pakistan, military has gotten so powerful that they literally kidnap and torture you for being critical of them. And if you live outside pakistan they kidnap and torture your family members, demanding you to remove your posts.

    And recently pakistani people have started to become more and more anti-military. So they are using VPNs to hide their identity to protect themselves.

    This “religious body” is making it seem like this is to stop porn but in reality its about stopping people from being critical of military rule.

    Edit: they banned twitter in february because people were organizing anti-military protests there. So the people started using VPNs and now they want to ban VPNs.

  • M0oP0o@mander.xyz
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    1 month ago

    You know I am starting to think maybe this modern Islamic law is just not very good.

  • bender223@lemmy.today
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    1 month ago

    Anything is against religious law if you try hard enough.

    Actually, you don’t have to try that hard 🤷‍♂️

  • IndustryStandard@lemmy.world
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    1 month ago

    Thank the Biden administration for overthrowing Imran Khan in Pakistan to install this dictatorial regime.