The FIA is preparing a report on the federal officials’ facebook pages, which will be soon shared with the Ministry of Interior.
“Every official can use facebook but uploading pictures of prime importance for the federal government should not be allowed,” a senior FIA official, requesting anonymity, told Dawn on Friday.
The agency is preparing a report on the federal officials’ facebook pages, which will be soon shared with the Ministry of Interior.
He said during a recent ‘scanning’, the agency found one of the users whose privacy settings were not restricted as his photo section could be viewed by anyone.
“We saw Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani alongside the official on his page. The prime minister was signing MoU with a visiting state dignitary.” It was a matter of concern for FIA as the picture was not officially released by the Prime Minister House.
“The ignorant official may not be aware of his mistake. Facebook is a public forum and such pictures may risk his life.” If the individual, he said, had been working in the Prime Minister House, his “public picture” may have put him in trouble. The official added: “Once you are on
facebook you may be tagged by any of your friends, and your picture becomes public among the connected friends.”
In few instances, he said federal officials have also given their contact details – telephone and cellphone numbers, fax etc. The official said when they randomly checked information details of few federal officials, nature of their jobs was also mentioned.
“It’s enough to say that you are working with the federal government. But if someone specifically mentions one’s working in Foreign Office or in any of its wings, it’s a concern for us.”
The official said the report on the presence of government officials on facebook would also be sent to the interior ministry. “We hope that the government issues a notification once our report reaches the relevant officials.”
He said the federal government officials on facebook should ‘increase’ their privacy settings besides deleting any information related to their job, especially if they are working on an important federal government position.
The agency’s official, however, refrained from commenting the job positions or ministries which come under the category of “important federal position”.
