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Pakistan Press Foundation

Ban on YouTube : LHC summons info minister

Pakistan Press Foundation

LAHORE: A division bench of the Lahore High Court (LHC) on Tuesday summoned the Federal Minister of Information Technology Anushay Rehman at its next hearing to present the government’s stance on public access to YouTube in the country. The LHC noted that the federal government had not yet presented its stance on the issue, which […]


PTA chief pleads for YouTube ban lifting

Pakistan Press Foundation

ISLAMABAD: The head of Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) Monday strongly defended before a Senate panel for lifting ban on YouTube before the parliamentary committee decided to move a resolution in the House as well as recommend the government for unblocking the popular content sharing site. Senate Functional Committee on Human Rights, which met at the […]


YouTube blockade

Pakistan Press Foundation

EVOLVING situations require constantly evolving regulatory mechanisms, and one area where Pakistan is lacking is in terms of internet safety — even though the World Wide Web and its benefits can hardly be said to be new realities. Last year, the Federal Investigation Agency received more than 1,000 complaints regarding cyber crime, particularly malicious stalking, […]


Personal freedom of choice

Pakistan Press Foundation

Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA) has blocked almost everything on the Internet in the name of security or morality. Who gave PTA this right to suffocate us? As a free citizen I have the right and authority to surf and watch whatever I want to. The PTA has no right to stop me in the name […]


Pakistan’s caged social media

Pakistan Press Foundation

By: Ayushman Jamwal Even though Pakistan has enjoyed one full term of a democratically elected government, followed by a successful election last year, its citizens are struggling to fully enjoy one of the basic tenets of democracy – the freedom of expression. The Pakistani state has been in regulation mode since the former PPP government […]


YouTube ban

Pakistan Press Foundation

Sir: No one can deny Youtube’s importance in the life of students, doctors, teachers and an ordinary person. One can easily access different kinds of information about one’s related field. Youtube is now banned in Pakistan for more than two years, when some blasphemous material appeared on the site. Had the government been wise enough […]


A pointless ban

Pakistan Press Foundation

It has been a year and a half since the previous government decided to block YouTube, and the new government upon their arrival, issued a statement that the matter would be looked into, which is basically just another way of displaying their indifference and lack of knowledge on the issue. Internet censorship by the PTA […]


YouTube localised version not in sight till 2015

Pakistan Press Foundation

ISLAMABAD: Despite all the efforts of the government, a localized version of YouTube may not be in sight till 2015 because the prevention of electronic crimes bill would become applicable in June 2014 and only after that the website would consider launching a localised version if it finds it feasible in terms of business. YouTube […]


Senate body on human rights for unblocking ‘YouTube’

Pakistan Press Foundation

Senate Functional Committee on Human Rights on Friday recommended unblocking of ‘YouTube’, a social website blocked since a blasphemous movie “Innocence of Muslims” was uploaded on the website. The committee was of the view that political decision should be taken to unblock the YouTube. Blasphemous material is still present on the social website, proving that […]


Report on Pakistan’s online future launched

Pakistan Press Foundation

KARACHI: The impact of the Internet in a local context particularly in relation to the state ‘compulsion’ to regulate and control the cyberspace was discussed on Friday at the launch of a comprehensive report about Pakistan’s online future. While the blocking and filtering of content on the Internet by the state resulted in numerous violations […]


A needless ban

Pakistan Press Foundation

Estimates vary but there are between 30 and 35 million individual subscribers to an internet connection in Pakistan, the majority of those being via a mobile device, either phone or tablet. That figure is going to continue to rise for the foreseeable future. The internet is a crucial business and learning resource nationally, banking and […]


End to the YouTube ban in sight?

Pakistan Press Foundation

The YouTube ban in Pakistan has just entered its sixteenth month–with its duration equally divided between the previous government which slapped it and the current government which was supposed to undo it. That this saga has gone on for so long is not surprising to Pakistanis who are quite used to a status quo where […]


Bring back YouTube

Pakistan Press Foundation

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 […]


YouTube refuses to remove blasphemous contents

Pakistan Press Foundation

Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Sheikh Aftab Ahmed Thursday informed the House that Google did not accept the Ministry of Information Technology’s request to remove the blasphemous contents from the You-Tube. In a written reply in the National Assembly, Sheikh Aftab said that Ministry of Information Technology had imposed ban on You-Tube in September […]