Pakiston blocks entire YouTube site for a few cartoons |
The government of Pakistan has today ordered all local internet providers to block access to Google’s YouTube video sharing site “until further notice” due to offensive content. According to officials, the YouTube website contains cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammad which angered a large number of Muslims.
The same cartoons were published earlier in a Danish newspaper which led to protests, rioting and eventually more than 50 deaths in countries including Pakistan. Internet surfers in Pakistan trying to access the YouTube site were met with a simple message saying the site was unavailable, with the local ISP’s unable to restore access despite upset users.
We here at the ‘brick don’t agree with publishing content that’s offensive to any group, but we’re wondering if they could have just banned or removed the offensive cartoons instead of banning the entire YouTube site. With all of the copyright protection tools Google bragged about last year you would think they could identify and remove this specific content. We were able to find what we feel are the cartoons in question in an number of other places, but due to the recent uncovered plot to kill the original cartoonist we’re going to just let you find them yourselves.
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I can’t reach YouTube here in America either!! Nor can my friends. This is not just within Pakistan. :-O
i am extremely angry at the news that youtube has been blocked, fair enough there may have been some offensive content on the site but blocking access for everybody is wrong we are not allowed to access the site due to some pathetic idiot causing trouble i feel that is unfair.
Dear youtube.
will you put youtube back on because i allways go on it and why have they closed it off?
why have they blocked it over a petty reason:(
i have to watch these videos now.
It’s utter nonsense that this has anything to do with the Danish cartoons. This action is directly related to materials on Youtube related to the Bhutto assassination, which is considered a threat to General Musharraf and a threat to Pakistan’s National Security by the rulers in Islamabad.
I don’t know why you at the brick think selective censorship would be any better the nuclear method… Both Suck!
I’m personally insulted by all the thin skinned wimps that are so easily offended when their symbols of religion, patriotism or ethnicity are belittled.
What about my feelings…
You are correct in saying that selective censorship will not work.
Only total censorship will work.
There are simply too many distribution points in the Web.
If you are offended by the other children, then leave the playground, Boo Hoo!
Every voice on the WWW will not go silent to cater to your tyranical whims.
If you do not like “Civilization”, then withdraw from it!
Probably they must have published Jesus, or Christian god cartoons for settling the score and using the freedom of speech on their own side, banning whole websites is just stupid. But problem with Pakistan is that there are not so many users to make Jesus cartoon or to mock western hypocrytes. So they are just closing their own eyes.
its f*****g REDICULOUS to suggest that if something is offensive to someone, than it should be censored from everyone.
f******g STUPID.
a clockwork orange is one of my favorite movies, but that movie is offensive to SO many people. how lame would it be if they pulled that movie off of all the store shelves for that reason?
f**k that. f**k censorship.
if you don’t believe in drawing mohammad, then DONT DRAW HIM… don’t tell me what to do.
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