Pakistan Lifts YouTube Ban, for 3 Minutes
Source: NYT
A ban on YouTube, which Pakistan imposed after an anti-Islam video caused riots in much of the Muslim world, was lifted Saturday, only to be reinstated after three minutes when it was discovered that blasphemous material was still available on the site.
After months of criticism of the ban, the government decided to allow Pakistanis to have access to YouTube again, saying steps had been taken to ensure that offensive content would not be visible. But those efforts apparently failed, and the authorities quickly backtracked.
The ban was imposed on Sept. 17 following violent protests in response to the video, which was made in the United States and ridiculed the Prophet Muhammad. The government then ordered all telecommunications companies to block Internet material deemed offensive to Muslims and urged people to report such material.
But the ban on YouTube came to be seen as censorship, and a growing number of the estimated 25 million Internet users in the country complained.
Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/30/world/asia/youtube-ban-lifted-in-pakistan-for-3-minutes.html
TwilightGardener
(46,416 posts)Tunkamerica
(4,444 posts)you have to be at least a little proactive... adblocker or something
Scootaloo
(25,699 posts)cosmicone
(11,014 posts)gadjitfreek
(399 posts)If they feel they have to hide "blasphemy" from their people? How mighty can Allah and Mohammed be if just watching videos on YouTube can threaten belief in them? And I'm not just picking on Islam. There are plenty of Christians who love to play the blasphemy game too...look at the current salvo in the "War on Christmas", the holiday that has taken over the entire autumn season as of late. Religion is a ridiculous holdover from our more primitive days but I am beginning to wonder if, despite all our wonderful toys, we are not still in our primitive days...or if we will ever escape them.
DavidWD72
(34 posts)How dare we say Islam is not the religion of peace. Thats just going to get someone killed.