Information Minister Pervez Rasheed’s statement, sometime back that the government in principle has decided to unblock YouTube does not really give the impression that the revered minister really means what he is promising. Google has itself proclaimed that many countries have a localized version of ‘YouTube’ that allows them to tailor content to local standards. […]
There have been innumerable articles and letters published in the past one year regarding the YouTube ban. Federal Minister for IT Pervez Rasheed apparently recently said that the government in principle has decided to unblock YouTube – to no effect though. According to the Google transparency report about 56 countries have localised versions of YouTube […]
ISLAMABAD: A new arrangement with the management of Google/YouTube has brightened the chance of YouTube being unblocked in Pakistan. If certain conditions of the Google management are met, YouTube will be accessible as YouTube.com.pk, a local search engine. This was stated by Minister of State for Information Technology and Telecommunications Anusha Rehman at Senate Standing […]
In the past few years, increased taxes and poor law and order have resulted in losses for cellular network operators, while ban on Internet content has decreased revenues of ISPs and submarine fibre optic cable operators in Pakistan. Much has been said about all this and other challenges facing the telecommunications industry but the nation […]
Urooj M, a former DJ on a Pakistani FM radio channel, also a film aficionado, was incredulous when she found the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) had blocked the Internet Movie Database (IMDb). She tweeted: “SERIOUSLY #PAKISTAN, WHY ON EARTH WOULD YOU BAN #IMDB!!! COME ON, SERIOUSLY!!!???!!!! #FirstYoutubeNowIMDB #WTF.” This widely used online entertainment news portal, […]
YouTube has been blocked in Pakistan since September 27, 2012. People are now frustrated and most have tried to find proxy servers to access the site. The solution to this is to work with YouTube and block access to certain material within the region only. The second option is to not block the entire website […]
Islamabad: Secretary Information and Broadcasting Dr Nazir Saeed on Wednesday hinted at “good news” of lifting the ban on the popular video-sharing website Youtube in coming few days. Speaking at a conference on “Alternative Media in Pakistan: Opportunities and Challenges”, organised by Heinrich Boell Stiftung (HBS) and Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) with the support […]
Karachi: The Internet Movie Database (IMDb) website was recently blocked by the authorities concerned before the ban was lifted on Nov 22. While one keeps hearing rumours that the ban on YouTube will be lifted, we were rewarded with yet another ban on the IMDb website. Both actions are tantamount to a violation of our […]
LAHORE: Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Senator Pervaiz Rashid on Saturday said the government was not interested in prolonging the ban on Youtube. Pakistanis will soon hear good news in this regard after the government established mandatory filters which is a time-consuming and painstaking exercise, he said. Speaking at a certificate-awarding ceremony to students […]
What will Sindh government ban next? Using motorcycles? Apparently, in all the banning that goes on, a certain class is constantly being targeted. Earlier they did it in the whole country, and now luckily for the rest of the country, they only can do so in Sindh. Ban on pillion riding, ban on Youtube, ban […]
ISLAMABAD: In a bid to reopen social media website YouTube soon in Pakistan, the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication has dispatched a summary to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, seeking necessary approval prior to his departure to United States, The Nation learnt on Saturday. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is scheduled to visit New York on […]
LAHORE: A judge dealing with the petition challenging ban on YouTube on Thursday referred the matter to Lahore High Court chief justice Umar Ata Bandial with recommendations to constitute a full bench to hear this matter. The court during previous hearings had remarked that it was important to understand the nature of the problem. In […]
Pakistan enjoys nothing more than proving the wisdom behind the cliché ‘cutting off your nose to spite your face’. It is entirely appropriate that the phrase can be traced back to a time in Europe when women would mutilate themselves in order to protect their ‘purity’, since all our most self-destructive actions involve misbegotten notions […]
We have now completed a full year with the YouTube ban in place, forcing some to do without one of the most popular internet sites in the world, many others to resort to proxies of various kinds, putting up with the nuisances these ‘by-pass’ mechanisms cause. So, what has the ban, slapped on after an […]
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