ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's mobile operators on Sunday were scrambling to block text messages containing any of over 1,600 "obscene" terms banned by the country's telecoms authority ahead of a Monday, November 21 deadline.
The list, including words from "quickie" to "fairy" to "Jesus Christ" and obtained by AFP, was distributed on November 14 with operators given seven days to comply, but has met with widespread derision and a threat of legal action.
"There are more than 1,600 words in the list including indecent language, expletives, swear words, slang etc, which have to be filtered," an official at a telecoms firm told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media.
Other words and phrases on the list of 1,695 terms, issued in English and Urdu, include "monkey crotch", "athlete's foot", "idiot" and "damn", as well as "deeper", "four twenty", "go to hell", "harder", "looser" and "no sex".
(Read: Filtering SMS: PTA may ban over 1,500 English, Urdu words)
The letter accompanying the list says networks must also submit monthly reports on implementation of the ban. It is the first time the country has sought to censor text messages.
Campaign group Bytes for All said Sunday it would challenge the ban in court, saying it violated rights to free speech and privacy.
"We are now witnessing a new ruthless wave of moral policing in the digital communication sphere of Pakistan imposed by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority," country coordinator Shahzad Ahmed told AFP.
"By developing extremely detailed lists of allegedly 'offensive' words and forcing telecom operators to filter them out to make our society moral and clean, PTA has not only made a mockery of itself but also of the entire country and its government," he added.
The move in the Muslim-majority country sparked derision from local Twitter users using the hashtag #PTAbannedlist.
Twitter user, Fariha Akhtar, posted: "Damage to #ebanking?" after the word "deposit" was discovered on the banned list.
"The #PTABannedList is also an excellent opportunity for our street language and slang to evolve and grow by coming up with newer abuses," tweeted blogger Shahid Saeed.
"Seriously, why aren't we protesting this ban? Jokes apart, they've banned words that have no vulgar implications whatsoever," tweeted Sara Muzzamil.
Several Twitter users also questioned the inclusion of the term "ass puppy" on the list, saying they had never heard of it.
COMMENTS (23)
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first of all Pakistan was made on the basis Muslim majority state not on the basis of Islamic republic.. other wise Quaid-e-Azam first speech after independence would be like this.. "You are ONLY free to go to your masjid,... only Muslims have freedom others don't have." Shame on us we don't even know the purpose of Pakistan's Creation. SHAME! We don't deserve Pakistan and if you want to make Pakistan pure then first we should get rid of corruption before getting rid of these so called explicit material.
I think they seriously think of banning pornography on internet rather then sms.....
I am afraid most of the people here are so narrow minded that even either thay are too emotional or they are hiding their mindset behind some technical issues.
This act included following issues to be addressed:
1) As per law/constitution/social norms, is it responsibility of the state to keep check and balance and restrict unethical/immoral act/behaviour within society? OK, just wait, we will discuss family first. Does our society expect that the family head create such environment that family does not involve in vulgarity or unethical acts within house. Even, if he cannot use stick on each and every issue but definitely he creates some limitations. Similarly, our society also expect our Government to create such environment that vulagity or unethical behavior shall be restricted with in society.
2)If agreed on above, then the issue came that how? Is this way to block sms is good or technically not effective. Yes, It may be ineffective but then provide alternates and ways/suggest GoP how to stop such inappropriate acts prevailing in this society.
Damn.. haha atleast damn is not blocking here. PTA needs to learn some English "Fairy" is banned kids have been ready fairy books for generations its funny how intelligent they are ..
What if one types Jessus or Jeeesus or Jesuss or JJesus or J'sus or Je'us or Jes's etc....Will even those be blocked.
what happens if for instance i spell quickie as q u i c k i e ? then its not one word right? :)
Such action would stop all text messaging on pretext of one word or other.
I'm going to laugh when people start distorting religious words you attach extreme value to, to get around it because they know you won't risk the reaction to banning those ones too. You'll actually be truly offended rather than scrounging for things to make you feel morally superior and there won't be a thing you'll be able to do about it. All you would have had to do is let people think and judge for themselves but, no, that wasn't going to happen. People are going to react with spite putting you in a worse position than if you never did anything at all.
This will be good for Pakistan. The country will become purer and more Islamic as a result. People will be forced to turn to religion and piety instead of SMSing each other all the time. In fact, I say they should ban SMS altogether. Instead of SMS, people should be spending their time in nimaz.
Since when did Jesus become obscene ? This is heights of intolerence.
The slippery slope towards oppressive censorship has already started. Wikipedia pages of a few 'controversial' authors and books have been blocked. A blatant attempt by PTA of information and thought control. Freedom of speech is a universal right and we either fight this censorship or lose our right entirely.
Pakistan truly is the land of all possibilities, here, the most ill-conceived ideas/actions can take shape easily.
Now is the time to bring the blasphemy law into practice- PTA should be tried under the blasphemy law for calling "jesus christ" an explicit word-
@Malik: Oh yes, they do use it for dirty things. They talk about TONGUES, and IDIOTS, and JESUS CHRIST, and MARY JANE, and also vulgar stuff like ATHLETE'S FOOT and GO TO HELL! =O
For one thing, its not your business what other people talk about. They can talk about anything they want, they're free to express any feeling through any word. If YOU have a problem with it, its up to you you do not use such words.
Pakistanis are awesome people.now matter how many words they block.They WILL convey their message.I remember my friends figured out how to open facebook during the ban :P
if you huys require proper software to filter, contact India.
Its a good move, most people in Pak are uneducated and they use mobile and late night packages for "dirty" things if we want freedom of speech, we first need to spread education to every corner of Pak.
i guess you can kiss freedom of speech goodbye...
It would appear that you don't give much of a priority to free speech --- religion is fine but this is just another example of how ones religious/moral beliefs can get out of hand. Perhaps you would be better off minding your business rather than trying to control others.
Is BC and MC in the list
Technically speaking its not possible to filter every sms.
Apna mAzak banwa rahay hain.