“PTA hopes to unblock YouTube in two to three weeks,” PTA Chairman Farooq Awan told The Express Tribune on Thursday, adding they were in talks with the internet giant.
On September 17, PTA blocked the video sharing website to restrict access to an anti-Islamic video that sparked riots in many Muslim countries.
The internet giant blocked access to the blasphemous video in Libya, Egypt, Indonesia, Malaysia and India, but it didn’t block the video in Pakistan. The government, therefore, directed internet service providers (ISPs) to block the entire site.
The Express Tribune has already reported that PTA has received a directive from the Ministry of Interior with several instructions about unblocking of YouTube, permanent blocking of unregistered SIMs, Mobile Number Portability (MNP) and automated web locking.
The ministry, in its directive, told PTA to restore the video sharing site and manually block blasphemous content using PTA’s system, according to a source familiar with the matter.
However, PTA doesn’t have any system to manually block thousands of links leading to the anti-Islamic video. It has to be done through ISPs, which is virtually impossible as this will require a huge amount of time and effort.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 16th, 2012.
COMMENTS (31)
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ
They should block some links not whole website
If a video could be blocked manually, what is the use of blocking the whole website for the month. Why Mr.Rehman Malik created all this fuss.
@GHAZANFAR:KEEP IT BLOCKED. GOOD FOR THE NATION. Highly respected sir please clear from your minds these misunderstandings and misconceptions that Youtube is bad because the positive and negative usage of every thing is always in your hands and you decide it that how shall you use or misuse the any technology??? For instance,internet and mobiles are used for negative and positive both purposes but the usage of internet and mobiles in negative senses doesn't mean you block the whole internet and mobiles services..... There are lots of technologies we find in the world which are used in negative and positive both senses but do you cerebrate that we have to stop the usage of all the technologies just due to the misuse and why we do forget the positive usages/aspects of the latest technologies????
i kwow is the good site but other city don"t have anti islam film like libya, Egypt, Indonesia, Malaysia and India, but it didn’t block the video in Pakistan youtube take a little step so can the site remove the film and youtube unblock in pakstan.
@GHAZANFAR: How is it good for the nation? Many students are suffering as they can no longer get information about stuff they normally can't find on Google or Wikipedia. YouTube is a good website for social networking and sharing your opinions. Yes, I agree that the video was extremely blasphemous, but it's not YouTube's fault the video was uploaded. Many teachers get videos from YouTube to show to the class for extra information about a particular topic. My mother used YouTube to listen to religious lectures. People should report all the nasty stuff and not blame America for everything. I could write a whole speech about what you said. There is also a lot of blasphemous stuff on other social networking websites that you probably use a lot. Why don't you get them banned?
u tube plz unblocked
tyyyyyy
you tube will be soon unblocked
@GHAZANFAR: I totally agree. Pakistan must block all the news from outside world. There must be laws to restrict the return of all those Pakistanis who have gone to western countries, as they may bring news of the free world and also the news of misinformation spread by the official media in Pakistan. It is in the interest of the security of Pakistan to block all information from out side. Long live your views.
@M.Ahmer Ali: secondly it means that we must not build the walls of our home, cause people can jump over it... illogical interpretation sir....
it si really not agood
its not god! youtube is a very best website i watch many video Blocking You Tube was a wrong decision; the ban should be lifted ASAP; main thing is to block the blasphmey material not other important information stuff; apart from songs or entertaiment; and unblock youtube
There is absolutely no need to unblock YouTube. NO body has died by its closure but many have lost their lives due to its availability
only if that video has been removed otherwise they should not unblock it…Youtube management should condemn this video and remove it.. plz open the youtube
its no good
keep it blocked...until the blasphemous video is removed..!!
@GHAZANFAR:KEEP IT BLOCKED. GOOD FOR THE NATION. Would you like to explain that what about Twitter and Facebook because on these social websites also you can find any blasphemous contents as well.....
Youtube regulates content and does it well. So I am not sure if banning it is a good idea. Sadly, that's not true of most sites on the web serving porn on a platter. That makes an ideal case for installing some kind of parental control app that prohibits kids from watching unwanted stuff. I already have one installed called Qustodio and I use it to block bad content as also watch who my son talks to on Facebook. It shows me the profile pictures of accounts that he interacts with. With measures such as these, I hope I can keep him away from such nasty stuff. You can Google for it.
@GHAZANFAR:
Hope you die.
This is the same as the Shetan Malik way of thinking: banning phones and motorcycles because they are used by terrorists. So ban you tube because there’s one nasty video out of billions. Ridiculous.fantastic leadership of Pakistan shame shame
The ban on you tube shouldn't ever had been executed. im a media student and im suffering alot due to this blockage.we cant use it for educational purposes and even the professors use alot of reference material from there and they are not able to present what they want cause of all thias.im using a proxy but the videos are too slow. The ban shud be removed ASAP!
@Hammad: Please. No one died because of youtube.
This is the same as the Rehman Malik way of thinking: banning phones and motorcycles because they are used by terrorists. So ban youtube because there's one nasty video out of billions. Ridiculous.
Have they learned now that nobody really takes any notice when a leaf falls into water?
Finally ...
There is absolutely no need to unblock YouTube. NO body has died by its closure but many have lost their lives due to its availability.
Finally, I have grown sick and tired of using free, but slow VPN services. I suggest we just bury the matter and move on. Most people have already forgotten what the ban was about.
The power of Pakistan with 150 nukes is all to see ..Google blocked nasty blasphemous movie in Indonesia and malaysia which dont have a single nuclear bomb but it was respected by google and here pakistan is fighting with all its might and still could not achieve it.
Blocking You Tube was a wrong decision; the ban should be lifted ASAP; main thing is to block the blasphmey material not other important information stuff; apart from songs or entertaiment; the you tube has many educational vedio of medicine; engineering; computer sciences, operative procedure, cooking, islamic lectures , channels, learning foreign language, many vocational training vedios; economics facts explained; and a lot other.. also a TRUE muslim may not open the site to see the irrelevant material; other countries didnt take this non sense step ...the earlier the ban is lifted ; the better is it
only if that video has been removed otherwise they should not unblock it...Youtube management should condemn this video and remove it..
KEEP IT BLOCKED. GOOD FOR THE NATION.
PTA Chairman Farooq Awan told Revealing out the important information for Internet users, The social networking website would be ‘accessible in the country in a few days’ (RTI LIVE)
http://rtilive.pk/detail/6461
Right to Information Pakistan Live, RTI Live, Information Pakistan, RTI online Research ORganization, Pakistan Telecommunication Authority , PTA, Farooq Awan , YouTube,
Did Pakistani government get/obtain any fruitful and useful purposes/results by banning the Youtube for approximately more than 6 months?????Whereas Youtube was easily accessible by using unblocking and decoding softwares downloadable from internet free of cost and all links could be opened easily also as well on Youtube.......