PTA ban on Website Slammed
Karachi, August 12 2006: Reports sans frontiers RSF (reports without Border), a paris-based international organization of journalist, has criticized the decision of the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) on July 26 to the add 34 new web addresses to the list of sites to which it blocks access. For the most part, they were Baloch nationalist sites, online radio station and sites relating to Sindhi, RFS release said. “We deplore these latest filtering measures and we insist, yet again, that it is not the PTA’s job to decide whether websites should be blocked,” the press freedom organization said.
“We believe that such decisions should be taken by judge, after equitable legal proceedings, and definitely not by an entity under government control.” Do not block the Blog, a collective of Pakistan bloggers that combats censorship, told reporters without borders there was little point to these blocking measures as information always found a way of getting out on the internet. They just hurt the government image while giving the targeted website’s content a credibility it did not always deserve, the group said.
The collective stressed that it favored online free expression. : Pakistan voices, be they supportive of the government or dissenting rants, should all be given a chance to be heard,” one of its founders said—PPI
Source: Business Recorder
Date:8/12/2006
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