Governments of Pakistan in the last decade have shown a propensity to inflict self-harm when it comes to new technologies, particularly the internet. The YouTube ban that was imposed more than two years ago has become an irrelevant laughing-stock. The ban has given rise to a reported acceleration in the development of proxies that may […]
ISLAMABAD: For those who have been able to access YouTube in the last a few days, the joy is short-lived. “The reason why YouTube was accessible in certain parts of the country was because of a technical fault which will be fixed,” said Minister of State for Information Technology Anusha Rehman on Friday. The rumours […]
ISLAMNABAD: As part of the National Action Plan (NAP) to root out terrorism Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is considering an official summary to grant powers to PTA to block blasphemous and hate material on the social media and Internet, The News has learnt. Ministry of information technology (MoIT) has forwarded a summary to PM for […]
THE outrage is over, the perceived hurt has healed and the piece of mischief that caused the furore in the first place has taken its place in the dustbin of history. The world has moved on — except for Pakistan, which stubbornly refuses to come to terms with the realities of the age of information, […]
ISLAMABAD: The government told the Senate on Friday that there was no way to block blasphemous content on video-sharing website YouTube without banning the entire site itself. However, the fact that hundreds of Internet users across the country continue to bypass the official ban and access YouTube through their computers, smartphones and tablets on a […]
LAHORE: A Lahore High Court division bench on Wednesday summoned a “responsible” senior official of Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) to answer several queries arising during hearing of petitions against ban on Youtube, a popular video sharing website. Bytes for All, a non-government organisation (NGO), and others had filed petitions demanding the court to lift the […]
Karachi: The Sindh High Court issued notices to the information technology secretary, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority chairman and others on Tuesday on a petition challenging the ban on video-sharing website YouTube. Saadullah Khan and others petitioners submitted that the PTA had banned over 1,000 websites including YouTube since September 2012 because of blasphemous contents. They […]
KARACHI: Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) Senator Nasreen has written a letter to the Prime Minister Nawaz Shareef regarding concerns of people on the ban of social media website Youtube. ‘The ban on Youtube has not been lifted despite the fact that Senate and National Assembly’s Committees on Human Rights have given approval to lift the […]
The ban on YouTube in Pakistan has deprived musicians of an instant platform for flaunting their music, leaving viewers without access to the world’s biggest online entertainment portal. Farhad Humayun is now attempting to fill that void with his new website Riot Arts (RiotArts.com). Touted as “Pakistan’s first music web channel”, Riot Arts is a […]
It is rare for our National Assembly to agree unanimously to anything and for them to vote unanimouly for a resolution that proposes the lifting of the ban on YouTube is little short of astonishing. The resolution was moved by PPP lawmaker Shazia Marri who has long campaigned for its removal. Her argument was a […]
ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly on Tuesday unanimously adopted a resolution to lift the ban on video-sharing website YouTube, DawnNews reported. During today’s National Assembly session, chaired by Deputy Speaker Murtaza Javed Abbasi, MNA Shazia Marri belonging to the Pakistan People Party (PPP) submitted a resolution demanding the lifting of the ban on YouTube which was […]
ISLAMABAD: The Senate’s Functional Committee on Human Rights on Monday recommened that the government unblock the YouTube in Pakistan. A resolution, which was passed unanimously, said the ban be overturned as no such provision was in place in any other Muslim country. Committee chairman Afrasiab Khattak of the Awami National Party, while reading the resolution, […]
By: Waris Husain The government in Pakistan has introduced a whirlwind of policies to control, regulate, protect, and oftentimes, limit internet freedoms. But usually, the government attempts to run roughshod over cyber rights due to their novel nature. As such, if one were to imagine the internet users of each country as citizens of a […]
THIS is apropos the report ‘No way to block Internet content’ (March 25). I agree with the statement. As in the case of YouTube, there are many proxy websites or VPN software which provide access to all the blocked content on the Internet. Why is the government wasting its energy on such an unpreventable issue? […]
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