Pakistan Blocks YouTube

(AP)  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.

[misterugly]

I think that it might have been my video Tommy Bin Laden that caused the ruckus. I completed it this Saturday and posted it right away. It''s supposed to be a parody of Osama, but in the tags I also put Pakistan as one of the lookups. The timing of my post and their ban seems awfully coincidental. This is the video (still up as of now) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ka0S1bBWEHc

[sarah-jayne-2009]

islam is sexiest and a wasteof time it should not be aloud to even be anywhere in the world, the fact that pakistan has taken this action shows that they are hiding something and are brainwashing their people into beleving that islam is good when it is a waste of time

[watcher269-2009]

Next the Republicans will want to block You Tube in America for the same reasons!

After all - the Pakies and the Republicans are Religious Fanatics!

[mediapreachr]

Worry not my friends,plans are drawn up right now to take over this sorry as* caliphate,and transform it in another satrapy(check Google for that word).
You can bet Youtube was banned,not because they were showing some random mass of sheep running around looking for leaders(exactly as the paks are now)-most likely some fan of indian music posted a video of a singer showing some leg.

[ontheleft]

terrorislam0, I can''t wait until Obama becomes president. He is going to personally waterboard you until you are converted to Islam. Allah is great!!

[kaly1984]

Really?
hard to believe.i heard this news times from many friends playing on a tall dating site~~~~Tallmingle.com~~~,i did not believe, i think that they are know nothing but dating and love.
i am wrong.
~~~~~~Selina1987,as a model playing that site,hope to know you.

[wonderyman-2009]

There is not a single predominantly Islamic state with true freedom of speech and expression.
Were it not for oil, all Islamic states would be total f*ck ups - in every respect - economy-, intellectual-, science- and technology-wise.
Because of oil, a few Islamic states are not backward as goes for economy, but sadly in the remaining conditions.
Any news on the Afghan journalist condemned to death for downloading some doctrine-critical text?
Or the Saudi woman condemned to death for "witchcraft"?

[toolmangler-2009]

The first sign of a corrupt government--one that can''''t stand the test of free speech. Afraid your people are going to see something they like better than the fear you''''ve been selling?

Posted by kevboom at 05:19 PM : Feb 24, 2008



I agree, If you look at any opressive government, one of the first thing to dissapear is free speech and dissent. All other losses of liberty occur in silence afterward. The same thing is being foisted on us in the ''Telcom'' non-liability laws that Bushit is pushing through congress at this very moment, (smoke filled room never close to business). This Person who occupies the office of P*O*T*U*S should be taken before the congress of the US and impeached out of office then tried for war crimes in our (restored) court system.

[lloydbest1]

Oh, I long for the days when it was just the commies under the beds and in the closets.......

Pakistan is a democrady; no? Pervez says it is, anyway. If that''s the case then sometimes the government is going to have to tolerate stuff it may not necessarily want to hear. So the movie trailer was offensive. Censoring Wilder''s film, or even the trailer from the public will only give it a cachet of legitimacy it might not deserve. You know what they say about forbidden fruit.
Here''s what Pakistan should have done....
Instead of closing off Youtube, simply film a rebuttal. Make it entertaining, if they feel it''s necessary, but factual. Then advertise the h*ll out of it. Bet it would have gotten a lot more hits than some teaser filmed by an unknown 6000 miles away.
TomFlint69 at 04:13 PM, I don''t think ROBinDALLAS thought any such thing. Anyone with a grasp of current events also knows the Bhutto''s weren''t distinguished by their squeaky clean rep for honesty and transparency. In fact Benazir (God or whomever rest her soul) could teach our own Disaster in the White House a thing or two about chicanery. But I will say the Musharef would be a lot happier if the assasination videos weren''t made public, either.

[caliengineer]

It is true that America will fall. But, Islam will be a minor tool in Satan''s army. Russia, China and Japan along with Cuba, Byelorussia and Kazakhstan will attack. Mexico will be a traitor.
americaslastdays
nextcrusade
handofhelp
guidetojesus
These are all dot com web sites.