Feb 25

Packistan Censors YouTube

Category: News, censorship, method

I wonder what the US censors like this?

Service on Google Inc.’s YouTube site was disrupted around the world for several hours Sunday after a botched effort by the Pakistan government to block access to a video clip critical of Islam…
According to the senior official at PTA, the clip in question featured several minutes of a film made by a Dutch politician Geert Wilders, whose outspoken comments against Islam have made him a target of protests in the Muslim world and elsewhere. According to Mr. Wilders’s own Web site, his film portrays the Koran as a fascist book that incites people to murder. Mr. Wilders has previously compared the Koran to Adolf Hitler’s “Mein Kampf.”…
Shahzad Ahmed, a civil rights activist who monitors Internet issues for the group Rights for All in Pakistan, suggested that the Musharraf government had another motive to block YouTube besides the Geert Wilders film.

He said YouTube has been flooded with anti-Musharraf videos in recent weeks, including videos accusing the government of rigging the nation’s election, crowds protesting against Musharraf, and audio clips of a popular cellphone ringtone in Pakistan featuring the chant “Go Go Musharraf.”

“People are putting a lot of material against Musharraf and the government on YouTube, and the government has been trying to find a reason to block this Web site,” said Mr. Ahmed. “If this was really about the film and Islam, they would have blocked Wikipedia and tons of other sites containing hate material against Islam.” Wikipedia’s site, which isn’t blocked in Pakistan, reprints the Danish cartoons that triggered the riots…

via Wall Street Journal

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