Pakistan

Facebook: banned before it was bugged

Rabia Iqbal May 19, 2010

PHOTO: AFP

LAHORE: A chain-SMS initiated on Tuesday reached thousands of mobile phone users by Wednesday, urging Facebook members to download and run a bug to help crash the website.

The text message read, “Hello guys, I need volunteers. Please forward this message to as many people as you can. I have made this software to stop the Facebook page promoting the ‘Draw Muhammad Day’ competition. I just need people to run the software with me for a mass attack that will bring Facebook to its knees.” The message ends with the software developer’s email address. If you mail him, you get an auto-reply within seconds that points you to a link with two downloadable files.

The first promises to send ping requests in thousands to Facebook. Abbas Hayat, a software analyst explains, “A ping request is a small packet of data sent to a web server or website to gauge how quickly it responds. It primarily checks for latency.” “If multiple users simultaneously managed to ping one site repeatedly, it can very easily clog it. The webpage crashes and nobody can access it. The overburdened site recovers only after it has replied to millions of pings.” “This is called a ping attack.

If the person is asking users to download a particular software, then once downloaded the software will automatically keep pinging the page,” he added. The second file on the link is an application that promises to repeatedly open the webpage drawmohammedday.com. The developer leaves this explanation, “Every site has limited bandwidth. If it gets a lot of traffic suddenly, the bandwidth congests and the webpage can be effectively taken down temporarily.

However if we keep this up over a period of time, the website can be crashed permanently”. Abbas explains, “Theoretically the advertised attack is possible. But every user who downloads the application needs to leave his/ her computer switched on and have access to a constant internet connection for the attack to be successful.” “Facebook is a massive website and it would require at least a million users to choke up the page. But with the LHC ban on the website until May31, the software will no longer be able to send ping requests until the ban is lifted.” “This venture can continue once the website can be accessed,” he added.

Pakistan currently has 17.5 million internet users.The undertaking is just a speck in the vast pool of responses generated after April 20 when a Seattle based cartoonist created an artwork and posted it on the internet. The message is not the only one of its kind either. The Lahore High Court (LHC) in response to a petition filed by the Islamic Lawyers Movement directed the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) to block Facebook until May 31.

China, UAE, Iran and Saudi Arabia have already banned the website. Locally, hundreds of people condemned the contest for the second consecutive day. Students of Fatima Jinnah Medical College (FJMC) held a protest inside their college premises and demanded state action against the websites. Similarly the Insaf Students Federation organised a protest march from Forman Christian College all the way to Muslim Town. Protests were also held at the Liberty Roundabout on Tuesday and Wednesday; the JI women’s wing also protested on Tuesday.

The cartoonist, Molly Norris, thought it would be a good idea to spark a contest to sketch sacrilegious caricatures of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). Her artwork deemed May 20 as the official ‘Everybody Draw Muhammad Day.’ The contest is a declared response to the death threats sent to two cartoonists who depicted Muhammad (pbuh) in an episode of South Park. That part was partly censored by the producers.

Published in the Express Tribune, May 20th, 2010.

COMMENTS (66)

Zeeshan Khan | 14 years ago | Reply It should be banned for forever

Pak Boy | 14 years ago | Reply The people against ban = under influence of Jews media. The people in favor of ban = Love the Prophet (PBUH) Some people say we should remove ban and just talk to the i say to those people why America attacks several countries in the world why don't America use this policy to just talk. The reason is that these people know sometime there is need of force application. Though America is wrong but good in its own thinking. So please try every thing to stop those stupidities.

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owais | 14 years ago | Reply why the hell other islamic countries not banning Facebook ??/

Abhigyan | 14 years ago | Reply I am an Indian and a Hindu. I did came to this website by chance after following Fatima Bhutto on twitter. Having read quite a few comments, I thought to coin in my own thoughts as well. I did actually went to the page in question and I found the drawings disgusting. One should not be allowed to make mockery of any religion. The guys who participated in the competition are extremely narrow minded. However I think the proper channel would have been a legal case filed by Pakistan Govt. against facebook when they refused to remove the page. By banning facebook, Pak Govt. has made facebook and the controvertial page world famous. Before this, I was not even aware of such a page on facebook but now most of the people are aware of the same. Banning facebook is not the right solution. I do hope that fb administration realizes the mistake and ask for forgiveness from the entire muslim community.

Binte Syed Alam | 14 years ago | Reply I have few questions to all of you Muslims: What is face book? Is it necessary for our life? Can’t we breathe without it? Can’t we live without it? Can’t we live happy without it? Is it our duty to be a member in fact active member of FB? Can’t we use any other social network if it is really important for us to be a part of a social network on internet? Are we serving our country, religion, humanity or even a single person by using FB? Is it freedom of speech to draw pornographic images of someone’s father or beloved one? Can’t we use some other Islamic resources or forums to share Qurani verses, Hadis, Videos of Islamic Scholars? And is it more important to be Muhammad (S.A.W.W) Lover or FB Lover? Could we ask for intercession on the Day of Judgment by our Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W.W)? If we didn’t block FB, then what was the other ways to protest which effect FB financially, morally or in any mean. (banning of 0.5% users of FB even didn’t affect total users of 400 million, but this could be much more if the whole Islamic world banned FB). And I have just one answer to all these question Yes I can live without FB and I have deactivated my FB account forever. And I am also trying to follow my religion Islam more strictly InshaALLAH. May Allah Bless Us With The Strength of Faith. Aameen. And also we need to get independent from these Non Muslims countries in technology, finance, business, AIDs, politics, decision making, education system, social life, media, and in every field of life. We need to be true Muslim and a devoted Pakistani. Aameen. There are many arguments in which people are saying they use FB for sharing goods also like Quranic Verses, Hadis(S.A.W.W), videos of Islamic Scholars speeches etc. so cant we use some other resource or forum to share these?

Dee Jay | 14 years ago | Reply @ Asad Niazi: U need to re-read my post and try to UNDERSTAND what i was trying to tell man. Good day

MatLashi | 14 years ago | Reply Do you really think banning Facebook is the solution ? Think again. Boycotting was never a wise decision, We should had stand there at the first place and tell the world about Prophet (PBUH), his teachings and what in world we did, we joined the page..abused them..did it do any good ? anyhow, to some extent i somehow am thankful to PTA for banning Facebook, at least they are not posting stupid comments/messages over there. p.s: PTA needs a lot of improvement since they still are not able to stop 'everyone' from accessing the social networking website.

shady | 14 years ago | Reply people who are supporting the ban are so stupid it's beyond scary.

Khan | 14 years ago | Reply All Muslims are of course offended by some minor motely group attempting to depict the Holy Prophet on Facebook and so they should be. However what intrigues me is among all the millions of Muslims in the world Pakistan appears to be the only country that has decided to ban Facebook. Does that make us better Muslims than the rest? Or are we perhaps just a bit more emotional and less mature?

Binte adam | 14 years ago | Reply Good job Lahore High Court And PTA mashAllah !!!Banning the face book certainly sends a message to people around the globe that face book is not a hindrance in our love for the Prophet(p.b.u.h) and we still have faith in our hearts alhaumdulilAh.

Bangash | 14 years ago | Reply As an IT professional, I can tell you that Facebook website and applications are performance tested and are capable of handing very high loads. There is also a tiny number of Internet users in Pakistan, certainly not enough to take down an enterprise website. By protesting and banning, and now trying to destroy the site, Pakistanis have only provided free publicity and dollars to mischief-makers, and once again proven to the world how emotional and foolish Pakistanis are.

A.J | 14 years ago | Reply Banning Facebook will certainly not affect them in any way since Pakistan forms only 0.51% of the total facebook user base. But it will of course negatively affect a lot of economic activity and it's bad news for small businesses (freelancers etc) who used to advertise themselves. Whatever FB is doing is wrong and it is racism. But just blocking it in pakistan here is not going to work at all. And the same for youtube. I used to learn a lot of things there from video tutorials and I used it for educational purposes. Event after PTA's blocking of FB, the page is still there. Only we can't see it. Our country is already facing tough times and we are only creating yet another crisis for ourselves. However facebook is certainly violating its own terms of service. I don't know guys everything is wrong. Anyway, the bottom line is that there are 1.7 billion of us and such provocative actions cannot change our beliefs at all - surely never by a small group of ignorant and racist people on some social network.

Asad Niazi | 14 years ago | Reply (Dee Jay Controversy facts: Facebook has 400 million users. Only 2 million are from Pakistan. That is 0.5% of the total Facebook audience. The offending Facebook page that the Pakistan government banned had about 30,000 members 3 days before May 20. Following the complete ban of Facebook in Pakistan, the offending page has 80,000 members and growing as of Thursday evening.) pakistan have 5 million users of face book.face book is not ban in pakistan only.sudi arabia,u.a.e,china,iran and many more countries have banned it.so dont be happy on growing of that group.

Saad | 14 years ago | Reply Hriday & Junior: Perhaps staying silent on this whole issue could have been one way to fight against these actions. But from a practical standpoint, I think its very comical for you both to expect that there was ever even a possibility that all Muslims wouldn’t react to a repetition of the offensive Denmark cartoon controversy. Danish: If one is to follow you’re argument then Facebook being the offender, has only one product i.e. the social community website. Therefore that’s the way to go. You’re argument goes against you. In my opinion, Fair trade of goods was first introduced by the Muslims and that’s how Islam had spread in the subcontinent. Oil rich Muslim countries will continue to safeguard their interests first, which is rightly so. If Oil supply were stopped, the US currency would crash because its based on OPEC trading in Dollars, and we’d see world war three. Dee Jay: The largest population in the world is that of Muslims, estimated at about 1.6bln. China’s population is 1.3 bln By the way for your information China, Iran and Saudi Arabia have also banned facebook. Moreover, an estimated 16Mln Muslim users are members on facebook from the Asia. That comes to 4%. Although this number isn’t huge, Facebooks advertising losses will make it feel the heat and our point will be made. At least for the remaining 10 days or so. 50,000 more members to the catroon group doesn’t prove anything. But with Molly apologizing and facebook’s equity getting damaged for this act because of the Muslim response, proves that we’re winning this battle. FYI, its not only Muslims who are reacting to this contest! What’s really offensive about this whole episode is facebooks stand on the issue. True it was a couple of hippie American cartoonists who started this. But based on its own rules and regulations, facebook should have banned this group on the spot. RSK: I think if you see a single episode of south park, you'll understand better what that cartoon is all about. Sick jokes, offensive language, racist and political comments, all coming from a bunch of small kids! My point is, all this wasn't for "limited knowledge of the religion and lack of courage to have a debate". It was meant to hurt Muslim ideas.

Sarah | 14 years ago | Reply Agree with RSK

Asad Baig | 14 years ago | Reply We Muslims respect Jesus and Moses. Why people of other religions don't respect Muhammad (PBUH).There seems to be total lack of knowledge and research by people especially the west, when they talk about Islam and Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).The West takes pride in research work on anything and everything on the face of earth, but unfortunately they have done little or no research on Islam and the messenger of Allah(God) Muhammad(PBUH).Islam teaches peace and tolerance but it is the misguided people who think it spreads hate and other things. The Drawings of Prophet Muhammad have really hurt the Muslims worldwide including myself. I am sure people of other religions would felt hurt if Drawings of Prophet Jesus or Moses were made in the name of Freedom of Expression. Last but not the least,by banning Facebook and Youtube completely, it will not solve the problem.Internet is a very big place,the objectionable and hurtful material should be removed immediately from these sites, so that Muslims world wide are not hurt any more.

M.Amir Chauhdary | 14 years ago | Reply I don’t think that banning Facebook in Pakistan is going to get us anywhere…it is true that this content will not be available in Pakistan but the initial problem remains there that the content will be on internet which means that Muslims and non Muslims outside Pakistan can have access which is not good so instead of banning fb in Pakistan the government should have contacted fb officials about it or something else of this sort….but banning Facebook is definitely not the solution.

senior | 14 years ago | Reply Thank you free judiciary... but where's the fair bit!!! The Lahore High Court has ample time to hear nonsensical/pointless petitions and ban facebook, while, a million REAL ISSUES keep lingering in the queue waiting for our lordships attention..... corruption, poverty, unemployment, suicides, terrorism etc sure aint that important for our free courts than the fact that a mere 2million Pakistani users visit Facebook or not!!!

RSK | 14 years ago | Reply And Molly, I think your reply to this article shows that you did not take it lightly. An article written by a woman in a third world Muslim nation could push you towards the edge and had some psychologically impact on you that forced you to post a reply in your defense, clearly shows that it really bothered you or hurt your feelings. Surely, your irresponsible usage of freedom of speech/expression gives us a greater reason to react to it as the way you did to this article. I don't know how you regard your religion but we take our religion very personally, as it defines us and the very reason we are in this world. Hence, we would really appreciate that now you allow us the freedom of speech/reaction, as this so called 'freedom of speech' is not some tool that can only be used by your sort. :)

Ali Jee | 14 years ago | Reply Every threat brings opportunities. Instead of banning facebook, ban that particular page and make a social networking site that shows Pakistan can do some creative work too. We already have 17 Million internet users. We could easily attract few million to join. Few million Muslims from India, few from Indonesia and in fact all Muslims and even NON-Muslims who respect every religion. In today's world, this is how you harm businesses like facebook. Create a competition, rather than physically attacking and getting ourselves bad publicity!

RSK | 14 years ago | Reply Guys, I personally think banning fb wouldn't lead us anywhere. Being a Muslim, I am also very offended by this whole episode but these extreme actions of ours will encourage the Western world to express their internal frustrations towards our religion in the manner Molly did. The more you get teased, the more they will tease you. We all know that despite the fact Islam is radically being targeted by the non-believers, we should not forget that it's still the fastest growing religion in the world. None of us have to be surprised that Western world is definitely quite bummed by this fact. The beauty of the internet technology is that its an open architecture platform and we can easily turn their invention against them by spreading the word of God, provided that it is done collectively and gracefully. Islam is a religion of peace, not extremism and that is what they have to understand. What Molly did was cheap and disrespectful. The reasons for Molly's insolent behavior is limited knowledge of the religion and lack of courage to have a debate about it.

Dee Jay | 14 years ago | Reply Controversy facts: 1. Facebook has 400 million users. Only 2 million are from Pakistan. That is 0.5% of the total Facebook audience. 2. The offending Facebook page that the Pakistan government banned had about 30,000 members 3 days before May 20. 3. Following the complete ban of Facebook in Pakistan, the offending page has 80,000 members and growing as of Thursday evening.

Shah Hayat Ahmad | 14 years ago | Reply I think its the highly partisan view facebook tends to take towards things that should be protested - e.g.: http://abcnews.go.com/International/Blotter/osama-bin-laden-facebook-page-shut/story?id=10402921 There was an Osama Bin Laden Facebook page launched on March 25 with barely a 1,000 fan members or group members or whatever and it got banned on the 17th of April. This group which generated far greater outcry and must have been reported by more than a 1,000 users at the least for violating terms of usage was not banned. That is the reason facebook is being banned and should be boycotted simply to register that they should take an equally vigilant view of things. Osama Bin Laden and his men aren't really saving the world or doing Muslims any damned favour but allowing such a page to still exist despite having been across the news is a bit too biased!

Danish | 14 years ago | Reply I have been reading comments and news all over the internet... what i see from here is that we are getting nowhere by doing this violence. what happened now many embassies closed in pakistan like Swedish and other also. what i see is just loss loss and loss. I truly LOVE HAZRAT MUHAMMAD(PBUH), but there are other ways of doing protest banning website is one thing, but there are hundreds of ways to open a website every body know that. so whats the point, if u want to protest then hit them once but hard really hard that they can't think of even doing this again. if you want to boycott then boycott their products, stop importing goods and other things individually and at govt level then see the magic but its not about one country its about all Muslim nations. but to this we need guts and i don't think Muslim nations have them otherwise this situation won't be created. Muslim nations are the worlds largest Petrol Producing countries but still we can't do any thing... as i said to do some thing you must have guts that's what we lack... think...

dk | 14 years ago | Reply Well.. I know that all youth are addicted to facebook so calling FB.. but ? what are doing on that site? studying ? giving development to the country? they are just wasting their time and Money + energy for none..! my personal experience is that my friend had an very deadly accident but yet he was in hospital but instead he updated his Status that " I got a severe accident just now ..he he he" lets start AWAKE YOUTH MOVEMENT!

Muhammad usman Butt | 14 years ago | Reply Good howa

Khisro Nawaz | 14 years ago | Reply Keep it up PTA, u r doing great job by keeping these websites out of site. Lets all Muslims boycott the facebook and should never use it again.

Saira | 14 years ago | Reply great work LHC!! beside in response to the people saying that this shouldn't have been taken by anybody, i don't agree to it. In my idea this whole episode has given west a very straight forward message that Muslims can't tolerate anything like this. & banning fb and people voluntarily not using it has put forward the most peaceful protest. I request every Muslim specially the youth to deactivate their accounts when ban is lifted. that will really give unforgettable message to Facebook and everybody that Muslims are really protesting against it on a long term basis.

Asad Niazi | 14 years ago | Reply molly i think my last message was deleted and not posted.ok.i explain u again.i am going to give u example.if i am standing near u.and i abuse u or ask u some bad words to your family.and after abusing u.i try to conveay u that i have freedom of expression.this dosent works.u should try to hit me after hearing that. same case here. people cant sit quit after this un-human act. they give there lives for the name of Holly Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W.W).

Asad Niazi | 14 years ago | Reply baning face book and youtube is good step.weikpedia also banned.i thinks thats best because it contains wrong information about muslims.and specially they lie about indo-pak war 1965 on wekipedia.

Mubarik Ali | 14 years ago | Reply This can say not FACEBOOK , This can say SHAMEBOOK.

Mubarik Ali | 14 years ago | Reply Facebook must be banned forever.That no one can again play with the emotions of the muslims. Thanks to PTA. and Lahore Courts and Government of Pakistan.The Authorities should Claim facebook for this shameless action.

Hriday | 14 years ago | Reply I agree with Junior. "If anything the blasphemous cartoons were aimed to target a stupid, naive public like ours. We are known to take a reaction to an extreme, be it a protest.". It would have been more mature if it was ignored. You have now given the issue more publicity that they could have dreamt of! Hahahaha

Asad Niazi | 14 years ago | Reply salam.face book admin is also sick.i and my frnds write letters to face book to stop that page.they did not stop it.thats why i suggest to ban it forever.even i have 2 accounts,important data and lot of frnds on face book.i dont care about those accounts.they played with our emotions.(sorry for poor english).

Maxime Maximilien | 14 years ago | Reply I commend the Pakistani authorities for taking prompt action against this preposterous defamation campaign in the name of so-called 'free speech'. In terms of mass communication, censorship is the only option left when some lunatic bigots are given free-hand to abuse the available means at their will. In the West, such freedom of thought and opinion is allowed because ideas are not generally regarded as important for human welfare, human beings are regarded as material objects affected by material forces. Thus their actions are retrained or punished but not the ideological or psychological causes. Religions, in so far as they think of man as spiritual or psychological entities, regard man as a bundle of information. What they are or become, therefore, depends on the ideas introduced into them. Ideas may, therefore, be nutritious, catalytic or poisonous. They can build or destroy.

Ali Haider | 14 years ago | Reply Good work PTA!!!

A concerned but logical Muslim | 14 years ago | Reply and what about the times the pakistani public burn the star of david on the streets? Guys we have to understand that such actions are not the solution. We have trillions of antireligious groups all over the internet and social networks,plus many other immoral things,you just ignore them,not run after them. NEXT THING YOU KNOW OUR PAKISTANI PUBLIC WILL BURN A KFC OR A MCDONALDS WITH PAKISTANI EMPLOYEES AS A STATEMENT, and then whose loss will it be. their are smarter ways to do this. Islam is a religion bigger than all of these shenanigans. and how do you explain pta blocking wikipedia? is that part of the 'protest' too?

Shabah | 14 years ago | Reply To Junior Yeah, no Mafia wars, no farmville; we are sure missing a lot of important things in life. ON WITH THE BAN!!

kashif khan | 14 years ago | Reply Facebook must be banned forever.That no one can again play with the emotions of the muslims. Thanks to PTA.

junior | 14 years ago | Reply This is ridiculous. When will the scattered press clubs across the country come to the defence of free speech? If anything the blasphemous cartoons were aimed to target a stupid, naive public like ours. We are known to take a reaction to an extreme, be it a protest. So yes, it has paid off. No facebook, no wikipedia. In precise, no access to what internets primarily used for here.

Mariam | 14 years ago | Reply Promoting hatred is freedom of speech? Freedom of expression? What are they trying to express here anyway? If they have any objections To Prophet (S.A.W.W)'s teaching or to Islam why cant they express it in a reasoned argument? When they know its going to hurt each and every Muslim and increase hatred why must they continue to disrespect our religion this way?

Bothered | 14 years ago | Reply I saw somebody putting up an Anti Holocaust Group on facebook ( I dont personally think it was good) but the point is that Facebook Managment took it off in a week when people started reporting it as bogus. WHY..WHY IS FACEBOOK SO INDIFFERENT NOW?

f.r.minhaz | 14 years ago | Reply Face book claim regarding taking no action against the event, is that they cant stop anybody from creating anything because they are...so-called stand for the freedom of speech...so what about PEACE then... anything which violates that should be considered outrageous... religion off course is a very sensitive topic...no body should have a right to offend it... We are responsible for our actions..and any of us...creates an environment which is not very peace friendly cant say...s/he is expressing the freedom of speech.

Penny | 14 years ago | Reply Molly you are sad and part of a sad bunch of people who think its insanely funny to deride other peoples religion for no purpose other than to become famous. I dont think there is a person out there in this day and age who is not aware that saying things against our Great Prophet MPBUH is extremely offensive to all muslims. You cant play innocent at this stage after inciting so much hatred and anger. Dan you need to get your facts right. World wide there is a ban in the biggest democracies against offensive material- dead people, psycho's eating babies, that sort of thing. Even DH Lawrence was banned at one point because people found his material offensive. If something is so offensive that it initiates worldwide anger then I think that falls in the category of correct censorship. If Dan is just looking for a fight I suggest he goes to the WWE channel.

adrisakram | 14 years ago | Reply thank you pakistan PTA for Blocked FACEBOOK , YOUTUBE & other sites

muslim | 14 years ago | Reply this is going to be a bigest mistake of facebook history and those who take part in this nonsence,step up my brother and sisters now u shgould see realy wht is going on against muslims,we have to say ENOUGH IS ENOUGH,we r not gonna tolerate this hideous CRIME

Nusrrat Rathore | 14 years ago | Reply According to me, we should constantly ignore all the actions against our religion. Protest is an essential part. I think we should protest in a more organized way and on a more collaborative base. At this time, I request the Muslim World to unite, and unite in a concrete sense. Let them hold any event they want to organize against our beloved Prophet. In the end we all have to depart from this world and all of the ANTI-Believers will be dealt with long arms there. We need to stay united, and let me assure you that any local ban over any website will not help. We need the official authorities to come in and answer, why they let such material become public or published in the first place. We cannot deny the fact that both the website are a major source of communication and information access now. So protest in a way that will make the responsible authorities jump in and take responsibility. MAY ALLAH TALLAH BLESS US WITH MORE FAITH.

Arfaa | 14 years ago | Reply I personally feel that more than them we muslims have promoted this.

Nomaan | 14 years ago | Reply OK DON let the game begin, you call insulting anyone's religion freedom of expression. Ban Facebook or any website which is insulting anyone's religion.

Saad | 14 years ago | Reply Aich Em Ar. You need to understand Muslims better, before you can understand why they got offended with such an act. Islam is a peace loving religion. The image of fanatics and the easily swayed you talk about, isn't that of the common muslim. We're taught to respect the beliefs and practices of other religions and in turn expect to be respected, so that society can continue to function, peace. As good Muslims, tolerance is in our practice, everyday single day of our lives. For Muslims, their religion isn't just a belief... it's also a code of life, which they follow everyday, to the best of their knowledge and capacity. Jehad is a commonly misunderstood concept in most non-muslims today. To understand Jehad better, take this situation as an example. The cartoon of the prophet Muhammad (sallallahu alaiyhi wassallam) can't be ignored by any Muslim because as Muslims we're all under obligation to make personal sacrifices (Jehad) in monetary or other efforts, to take a stand for the protection of Islam. By supporting drawings of prophet Muhammad (sallallahu alaiyhi wassallam), facebook is forcing the common Muslim to take notice and boycott it's usage, in the very least. Cartoons of the prophet Muhammed (sallallahu alaiyhi wassallam) are indeed one of the very few extreme ways in which Muslims around the world can be offended as a whole, because they're meant to offend Muslims.

iiui | 14 years ago | Reply freedom of expression does not mean that you can do and say what you like, when you like, and as you like. it defintely does not mean that you are permitted to insult people's religions, and their faiths and beliefs. there is something called morality and moral values....

Dan | 14 years ago | Reply I suppose Molly got a little taste of the "heat" these Islamic radicals speak of, already - that's why she got cold feet. But there are thousands, tens of thousands, millions of people ready to fight for freedom just as much as the Muslims are willing to fight to oppress others. Let the games begin.

Rabia | 14 years ago | Reply facebook should be banned by all Islamic countries collectively.

falams | 14 years ago | Reply Molly, you just don't understand what is the importance of religion to Muslims and you just can understand how much we love our prophet (peace be upon) for comparison u can multiply mother's love for her child by million or billion even than you will be far off. You claim that the contest is to show to the terrorist that u aren't scared and you are not offending common Muslim, but you do offending each and every Muslim, I may self against terrorism and suicide bombing killing of innocent people whether Christians, Jews or else, however am firmly strongly against this stupidity and I shall do anything in my power to stop that.

FATIMA MUSHTAQUE | 14 years ago | Reply PTA HAS TAKEN A GREAT STEP!!!

Aich Em Ar | 14 years ago | Reply Between the fanatics and the easily swayed, we who wanted no part of being in a religious war, get swept along and out into the sea. Now we have more censorship and less access to the world around us thanks to the in-sensitivities and over-sensitivities of a few. You [Molly] could have stood up for your cause in a manner more sensitive to your surroundings. If you support the "shock-equation" that Matt Stone and Trey Parker (children abusing, children dieing, cannibalism etc ) use to line their pockets then you belong on an entertainment channel, and shouldn't be trying to take an intellectual and political stand. Though if you have less to do with this then what is being said, then maybe now is the time to stand up from the media centric position you are in now. Our world is getting more and more interconnected with technology and that will and is leading to toes being stepped on. With a stand for less censorship, which i support, there needs to be a stand for more tolerance - which i endorse. One with out the other will lead to an emphasis on differences and turns into aggression as a self defense against change. We need to remember that tolerance isn't just allowing and putting up with what you don't accept, it is accepting what makes you uncomfortable and being ok with it. We need less censorship to be more connected and we need more tolerance to stay connected.

Aich Em Ar | 14 years ago | Reply Between the fanatics and the easily swayed, we who wanted no part of being in a religious war, get swept along and out into the sea. Now we have more censorship and less access to the world around us thanks to the in-sensitivities and over-sensitivities of a few. You [Molly] could have stood up for your cause in a manner more sensitive to your surroundings. If you support the "shock-equation" that Matt Stone and Trey Parker (children abusing, children dieing, canabalism etc ) use to line their pockets then you belong on an entertainment channel, and shouldn't be trying to take an intellectual and political stand. Though if you have less to do with this then what is being said, then maybe now is the time to stand up from the media centric position you are in now. Our world is getting more and more interconnected with technology and that will and is leading to toes being stepped on. With a stand for less censorship, which i support, there needs to be a stand for more tolerance - which i endorse. One with out the other will lead to an emphasis on differences and turns into aggression as a self defense against change. We need to remember that tolerance isn't just allowing and putting up with what you don't accept, it is accepting what makes you uncomfortable and being ok with it. We need less censorship to be more connected and we need more tolerance to stay connected.

Rishwan | 14 years ago | Reply i think fb should not be banned in but we as an individual should boycott fb and deactivate our fb accounts. right now fb is banned and when the ban will be lifted i will be the 1st one to deactivate my fb account....

umar | 14 years ago | Reply I don't think that banning Facebook in Pakistan is going to get us anywhere...it is true that this content will not be available in Pakistan but the initial problem remains there that the content will be on internet which means that Muslims and non Muslims outside Pakistan can have access to it which is not good.So instead of banning fb in Pakistan the government should have contacted fb officials about it or something else of this sort....but banning Facebook is definitely not the solution.

umar | 14 years ago | Reply I don't think that banning Facebook in Pakistan is going to get us anywhere...it is true that this content will not be available in Pakistan but the initial problem remains there that the content will be on internet which means that Muslims and non Muslims outside Pakistan can have access which is not good so instead of banning fb in Pakistan the government should have contacted fb officials about it or something else of this sort....but banning Facebook is definitely not the solution.

imran | 14 years ago | Reply but molly its too late now its all happen with your initiate now feel the heat

ALI NASIR | 14 years ago | Reply SAY NO TO FACEBOOK!!!!!!!!!!!

Molly | 14 years ago | Reply I did NOT 'declare' May 20 to be "Everybody Draw Mohammed Day." I made a cartoon about the television show South Park being censored. I wish that was what our energies were going toward -- protesting revolutionmuslim.com's threat to Comedy Central, and Comedy Central's over reaction to it which set America on a slippery slope toward censorship! At any rate...my cartoon-poster, with a fake 'group' behind it (Citizens Against Citizens Against Humor -- sigh, I WISH that were a real group as I love the name of it!) went viral and was taken seriously. I NEVER STARTED A FACEBOOK PAGE FOR THIS (I see that the two men who started the different fb pages names have now been made public). My one-off cartoon does not work well as a long-term plan. The vitriol this 'day' has brought out, of people who only want to draw obscene images, is offensive to Muslims who did nothing to endanger our right to expression in the first place. Only Viacom and Revolution Muslim are to blame, so...draw them instead! I apologize to people of Muslim faith and ask that this 'day' be called off. Thank you to those who are turning this crazy thing into an opportunity for dialogue.

Muhammad Bilal Shahid | 14 years ago | Reply Facebook here in Al-Khobar, Riyadh is not banned. I am using a STC connection and Facebook is accessible here. It will be good if Saudi Arabia can also stand united in this war against Prophet.

Akram | 14 years ago | Reply Please send me facebook ban software

Mamoon | 14 years ago | Reply Keep up a blessed work to prevent the world-wide anti-democracy propaganda to penetrate the minds and hearts of Pakistani students, as well as the general public. Excellent..

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