Pakistan Blocks YouTube Video Access

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Pakistan's government has banned access to the video-sharing Web site YouTube because of anti-Islamic movies that users have posted on the site, an official said Sunday.

The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority told the country's 70 Internet service providers Friday that the popular Web site would be blocked until further notice.

The authority did not specify what the offensive material was, but a PTA official said the ban concerned a movie trailer for an upcoming film by Dutch lawmaker Geert Wilders, who has said he plans to release an anti-Quran movie portraying the religion as fascist and prone to inciting violence against women and homosexuals.

The PTA official, who asked not to be identified because he was not an official spokesman, said the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority also blocks Web sites that show controversial drawings of the Prophet Muhammad. The drawings were originally printed in European newspapers in 2006 and were reprinted by some papers last week.

The PTA urged Web users to write to YouTube and request the removal of the objectionable movies, saying authorities would stop blocking the site once that happened.

Pakistan is not the only country to have blocked access to YouTube.

In January, a court in Turkey blocked the site because some video clips allegedly insulted the country's founding father, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. It is illegal to insult Ataturk in Turkey.

Last spring the Thai government banned the site for about four months because of clips seen as offensive to Thailand's revered monarch, King Bhumibol Adulyadej.

Moroccans last year were unable to access YouTube after users posted videos critical of Morocco's treatment of the people of Western Sahara, a territory Morocco took control of in 1975.

Comments

[klizard]

10:24 PM on 02/24/2008

I wonder if it's not about "anti-Islamic" content at all. What if it's about politics after the recent elections? Maybe Musharaf doesn't want Pakistani youth exchanging politics-related vids on youtube.

[CrankyCurmudgeon]

08:35 PM on 02/24/2008

Nice to see Pakistan joining others who want to keep their people from seeing things they don't want them to. Like United Technologies, where I can't access videos like the wonderful "The Web is Us/ing Us", or lectures on Systems Thinking and other useful subject that would serve to increase my productivity. All because they don't trust me not to view porn while I'm at work. Sheesh.

[CaptainVideo]

08:27 PM on 02/24/2008

If Allah is really so powerful he must be able to stop anything he wants from appearing on the Internet without requiring human assistance. The fact that human assistance is required to stop people from seeing this material causes one conclude that either Allah does not object to this material being shown, or that Allah is not as powerful as Muslims claim.

[AmericanNation]

08:06 PM on 02/24/2008

"HumeSkeptic" is absolutely correct when he endevours to distinguish followers from doctrine. All three major mono-theistic faiths are based on the guiding principles of the Ten Commandments. But, since the Saudi Arabian government not only controls all of the Islamic holy sites but also the licencing processes for Imams (Priests), they are forced to learn the Wahibi mindset which has given birth to every extremist group from Al-Queda to the Taliban. Children in Pakistan are sold or given by their parents to madras schools where they are taught nothing but zenaphobia and a corrupted abrogation of not the Quran but writings allegedly based upon the Quran, then when they are properly indoctrinated, they are taught to read the Quran through the filter of radical thinking. To that end, any text the Bible (used by the Ku Klux Klan, Aryan Brotherhood, Afrikaners (South Africa)) and in Judaism (Kahani Hai and other similar groups). The stoppage of the internet portal was not infact the work of President Musharaff, it was the influence of the radical Islamic parties who after the election have regained their influence this is only the begining - women's rights, freedom of speech, assembly, and the rights of other religions will also soon once again be of no value in a religious Theocracy in Pakistan.

[ipv4]

10:08 PM on 02/24/2008

AmericanANation,
"corrupted abrogation of not the Quran but writings allegedly based upon the Quran, then when they are properly indoctrinated, they are taught to read the Quran through the filter of radical thinking." You have not read the Koran if you have this type of view point. If one were to read it literally then their is no need to coerce a individual into a radical mindset. I feel you need to research the Koran a bit more before posting.

[marko77]

11:08 PM on 02/24/2008

ip4v

I don't doubt that the Wahhabis have read the Koran, but you couldn't read it on LSD and have as wacked out an interpretation.

[marko77]

11:20 PM on 02/24/2008

ip4v

The Koran is not the problem. It's the ignorant people who misinterpret what they read or can't read Arabic and depend on hate filled morons to tell them what the Koran says. For example, the Wahhabis are the American equivalent of yahoos that make up the Christian Identity Movement....These are guys are neo-nazis who think Jesus walks with them as the slaughter all non-aryans.

Well, the Wahhabis are just as wacked out, but there is one difference: They have billions of petro-dollars to spread their message of hate and intolerance unlike the Christian Identity people who can barely buy groceries at the local supermarket.

[jerrysrollin]

07:43 PM on 02/24/2008

Good riddance. Anyone converting ? jerrysrollin.blogspot.com

[AmericanNation]

07:29 PM on 02/24/2008

It is heartening see such lively debate between a knowledgable electorate willing to learn from and engage with opponents, ofcourse there will be friction, but I see a noticible decline in the offensive language being directed at individuals of opposing views within this blog that speaks volumes toward the raising of discourse in America as a whole. I would like to note that this is the third time that I have seen a post from "endlesslove" actually using a serious foreign relations topic such as freedom of speech and expression to advertise his personal dating advertisement and photographs, aside from being in profoundly bad taste, this is disrespectful to the intelligence of the people of Pakistan and America, the proper place for his/her romantic advertisements is on his/her site not on a political blog. It is incumbent upon us as the last superpower, and the greatest democracy to ensure that those in the third world and developing nations realize that we value them and their issues, otherwise we risk even further damage to our national and international reputation.

[angelwax]

04:40 PM on 02/24/2008

It shows how corrupt Islam is. When one has to ban ideas because one fears those ideas, your religion becomes an abomination.

[HumeSkeptic]

07:00 PM on 02/24/2008

Islam is a religion. Muslims can be corrupt, not Islam.

Now, do you see how ignorant and just downright fucking stupid you are, angel?

[RosyBaldwin]

04:00 PM on 02/24/2008

It just now came back online. *whew

[darthmaul]

03:54 PM on 02/24/2008

We give Pakistan money to fight terrorists. The Bush government doesn't care what they do to their own people as long as they do what we ask them to do. We do this while all the time mouthing platitudes about democracy and freedom of the press, and then do nothing when musharraf disbands the judiciary. Condi may cluck her tongue, and give a 10 minute speech about respecting the rule of law, but that's it. Is it any wonder that many country's in the middle east see the hypocrisy in many of our policies.

As far as censorship goes, I just heard that a whistle blowing website, Wikileaks, was ordered shutdown by a Federal Court in San Francisco. Don't worry though, it was censored for the right reason. A Swiss Bank didn't want information divulged on how their rich clients hide their money.

[RosyBaldwin]

03:40 PM on 02/24/2008

Please tell me people...can you GET ON YOUTUBE right now??? I think it is blocked here in America too!

[RosyBaldwin]

03:35 PM on 02/24/2008

EVERYONE TRY TO LOG ONTO YOUTUBE!!! I can't reach the site and haven't been able to for over an HOUR. It seems to be BLOCKED here in America too!

[speakingtruth2power]

03:24 PM on 02/24/2008

Fascists will often use religion to justify censorship
but they are not after protecting citizens from evil,
more like protecting their own evil from the citizens.

[RosyBaldwin]

03:20 PM on 02/24/2008

I can't reach YouTube from here in America either!! Can you guys? It was OK about 45 minutes ago but now it seems to be totally DOWN.

[ACunningham]

03:11 PM on 02/24/2008

So this what we paid $4,200,000,000.00 for, in Pakistan???

[BeyondKen]

02:19 PM on 02/24/2008

This must be why McCain is against bombing Pakistan.