No way to block internet content, NA told

Khawar Ghumman Published March 25, 2014

ISLAMABAD: The government has admitted that there is no technical way to block all objectionable content on the internet.

In a written reply to a lawmaker’s query, the National Assembly was informed on Monday that the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) had carried out a search for objectionable material on the internet and blocked 31,819 such websites. But, the authority said, it was impossible to filter out all sites offering offensive material.

Begum Tahira Bukhari of the PML-N had submitted the query, seeking an answer from the PTA if any proposal was being considered to unblock YouTube. The video sharing website was banned in September 2012.

The minister in charge of the cabinet division recalled that after the blasphemous movie “Innocence of Muslims” was uploaded in September 2012, the then government had to block the site because Google, the owner of YouTube, refused to remove the film.

In background interviews, PTA officials said the authority had repeatedly told the government that technically it was not possible to block offensive movies even if multi-million dollar filters were used.

A PTA official recalled how the PPP government in December 2012 restored YouTube after taking precautionary measures but had to block it again within 24 hours because of media reports about the presence of the film on the website.

The best possible solution which other Muslim countries had put in place was an automatic warning which informed a viewer trying to watch such material about the nature of the content, he said. Pakistan has also placed the warning on the internet.

“Although the PTA has banned YouTube, computer users can access it through unsecured sites,” he admitted.

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Adil Farooq

Mar 25, 2014 07:23am

Why block stuff on the internet. Let people be free to make their own choices. Instead, provide guidelines through various methods (i.e education, media, etc) of what is right and what is not. Trust me soon people will start making the correct decisions. In the beginning they may not. But eventually they will. Live and let live! :)

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Ridwan

Mar 25, 2014 08:12am

It's not the business of the government to decide what is "morally" objectionable or not. If I want to see a YouTube movie criticize Islam, that should be my right. And if religious people find fault with that, then let them be rest assured that their religion teaches that I'll be punished by God ( which Islam doesn't actually teach, but is what Muslims think Islam teaches). If you don't want to watch movies mocking Islam, then stop searching for them!

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Ihtesham Kayani

Mar 25, 2014 08:18am

What if the content comes on other internet sites? Would the govt go for internet blackout in the country? Its weird to know that the objectionable content can't be filtered. You need to spend money and everything can be done.

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omer khan shaheen

Mar 25, 2014 08:35am

My experience tells me PTA has incapable staff!

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MHZ

Mar 25, 2014 08:36am

And yes people like U still think that earth is flat

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Ahmer

Mar 25, 2014 09:04am

Yes, it can be blocked. PTA has a vested interest in not doing it.

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Islamabad

Mar 25, 2014 11:09am

The statement just shows that the ppl in-charge are totally incompetent and have no knowledge of the technology. Dont have to look too far.... Saudi Arabia has had applied filters to youtube for many years. It sucks when our leaders underestimate our capacity!

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Salman

Mar 25, 2014 11:10am

As a network administrator for various high level universities, I can tell you it is EASILY possible if you have the will and commitment to do it. Countries around the world already use this technology, Singapore just to mention one of the many.

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Irfan

Mar 25, 2014 11:41am

Please take Saudi Arabia example, they are doing it fine.

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Iqbal

Mar 25, 2014 11:46am

We cant justify multi-million dollar filters for blocking objectionable content on the internet when 1.5 million children die due to malnutrition annually, our expenditure on education as a percentage of GDP hovers around 2%(lower than even Afghanistan), 13% of our population lies below the poverty line. PTA did not restrict the block to what it considered objectionable content but went on to blocking VPN traffic. In the company where I work, we could not connect to our clients infrastructure which means a loss in output. If as a nation our connectivity to the outside world is going to be restricted, it means less business and less jobs in an information economy. Even in the education sector, a lot of educational sites such as Udacity overlay their teaching tools over youtube's services.

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rage of the sage

Mar 25, 2014 11:47am

Thank God. These mentally retarded bureaucrats now have learned the reality that this is information age. I hope they will lift ban on youtube and let people decide what to see and what not.

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BurstingFlower

Mar 25, 2014 12:38pm

I think there's a lot of garbage on the internet which the dumb minds cannot handle, so therefore filtering internet is necessary. I hate pseudo-liberals who utter Western thoughts.

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jiyala

Mar 25, 2014 05:45pm

They should block excuses.com too. It's giving Pakistan a bad name.

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