YouTube

Update: Associated Press (via New TeeVee) reports that Pakistan has removed the block that resulted in a worldwide block of the service. The offending video has been removed, of course. It’s an education to realize that one group of people in one country can deprive the entire world of a communications vehicle.

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Update: In a “near global blackout,” the actions of the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority managed to bring down all of YouTube for nearly every YouTube user! It’s bad enough when the delicate sensibilities of a government or mob in one country compromises that country’s citizen’s ability to engage in debate. It is simply unacceptable when the censorship activities of one country put the screws to the whole world. Enough already.

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RSF reports that YouTube was blocked Friday by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority for the presence of “non-Islamic objectionable video.”

(T)he PTA, the official Internet regulatory body, ordered all Pakistani ISPs to block access to the website until further notice . . . Don’t Block the Blog, a group of Pakistani bloggers who combat censorship, thinks the blockage order was prompted by two videos. One is anti-Islamic. The other shows voters describing the fraud they witnessed during the parliamentary elections on 18 February, which ended up being won by the opposition Pakistan People’s Party.

We’ve asked our friend Dr. Awab of Don’t Block the Blog for a comment. See below in comments section.