PTA Lifts Ban on YouTube [Updated]

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youtube-logoPakistan Telecommunication Authority going to issue the notification today for opening the access of YouTube to internet users in Pakistan, said Mr. Rehman Malik, Minister Interior, in a tweet just moments ago.

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Update 1 :

Sources tell ProPakistani that Internet Service Providers have been notified by emails about government’s decision regarding the lifting of ban on YouTube.

Sources told ProPakistani that all necessary emails have been circulated and all ISPs have opened the access of YouTube to internet users of Pakistan.

Following is the copy of email that was sent to ISPs:

Dear All,

You are requested to immediately un block/restore complete “YouTube” website provisionally till further orders. Please submit compliance through return email by 1700 hours today.

Regards,

Update 2:

PM Orders to Block YouTube Again

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After a ban on YouTube for exactly three months, Mr. Malik today hinted that all anti-Islamic content on YouTube has been blocked (which we doubt – with details below), for which he apprised PTA and said that internet users in Pakistan should expect a notification from PTA to ISPs – for lifting the ban on YouTube – with-in 24 hours.

It maybe recalled that YouTube was banned in Pakistan on September 27th, 2012 after anti-Islamic videos had gone viral on the video sharing website.

Pakistan Telecommunication Authority was said to be in talks with YouTube to block the access of anti-Islamic content available on YouTube in Pakistan, but reportedly YouTube turned down the regulator’s request.

It maybe recalled that YouTube had blocked anti-Islamic videos in various countries including India, Libya, Egypt, Tunisia, Malaysia, Singapore etc.

Last month Mr. Malik had said that Pakistan is still trying to get anti-Islamic videos blocked in Pakistan and that the ban on YouTube will be lifted only after the blockade of all blasphemous content available on YouTube.

Here is what Mr. Malik tweeted:

YouTube_Pakistan

YouTube_Pakistan_01

National Firewall for Filtering Internet Content

Rehman Malik, in his tweets today, also announced that Pakistan Telecommunication Authority is in talks to acquire a powerful firewall software to totally block pornographic and blasphemous content available on internet.

Pakistan has long been trying to implement this national firewall to block blasphemous and indecent content across Pakistan (just like in UAE or Saudi Arabia), but efforts had met with huge criticism and legal hurdles coming from social and civil activist. This is why government had decided to review the policy for filtering content before final implementation.

Government of Pakistan had finally issued policy directive for filtration of internet (after consultation with stakeholders) in September 2012 – and this today’s announcement of national firewall seems to be the result of that directive.

Here is what Rehman Malik said:

YouTube_Pakistan_02

This tweet, on a related note, suggests that PTA will try to block anti-Islamic videos at URL level, the way they were doing before before the ban. This means that chances of availability of anti-Islamic videos on YouTube are still there.

If so, then the purpose of banning YouTube in Pakistan for three months is killed, as PTA will never be able to block all the blasphemous videos while YouTube has already rejected PTA’s request to block blasphemous videos in Pakistan.

It maybe recalled that PTA had publicly said in a court that they can’t block all anti-Islamic videos on YouTube because videos keep on replicating on YouTube – as different users keep uploading them with new identities.

It would be interesting for you to learn that YouTube administration has this ability of blocking the access of a particular video – and all of its copies – in a specific region/country.

Gowth in Local Video Sharing Websites:

In a related news, Tune.PK, a Pakistani video sharing website, saw gigantic growth of 820% in last three months when YouTube wasn’t accessible in Pakistan, showing that local websites has all the potential to receiving, maintain and entertain high traffic.

Check below Alexa stats for Tune.PK for your delight:

tune.pk

Tech and telecom reporter for over 15 years


    • on karne se konsa koi farak kami aa jaye ge. aj youtube band ki ha kal kiso or site ko kar den ge. loss to hamar he ho raha ha afterall

      • kia bakwaas hai kholo youtube ko kuch logon ko har mordern cheez se nafrat hoti hai kyonke unse to kuch hota hi nai hai and they even dont want to be with world Chaand pe chale jao wahan youtube nai khulta

    • Haan band raho YouTube ko, Google bhee band kar dau, bulkay Internet Ban kar dau, konsa maut a jaey gee? Jahalistaan rehnay dau is Mulk ko, konsa maut aa jaey gee xD

      Its these close minded faggots who won’t let this country grow.

  • If it was to unblock on PTA’s action of removing blasphemous content, that could been done three months ago without even blocking youtube. This is all sh** these traitors are just playing around here with emotions of all Pakistanis

    • pakistani always selects the ez way. so that is why they had blocked the whole youtube rather than blocking just the offensive material. but now they have realized that blocking youtube is effecting paki freelancers and students more than google itself.

  • jee it started working here in wahcantt LinkD0tnNet .. wesay koi khushi ki baat bhi nahi hy itni

  • rehman malik ka jab je chahay mobile band, jab je chahay you tube khol dea, jab je chahay twitter band, jab je chahay double sawari khol de … kya rehman malik kay susar nay larki kay sath pakistan bhe jahez mai dea tha ?

  • agar esy hi kholni thi to band karny ki kya zaroorat thi? rehman malik k bachy proxy laga laga k thak gay hon gy…

    • It’s not the website that matter, it’s the content tune. Pk only has political shows q ky yahan yeahi bikta hai :-P

  • Wah! Dunia ko dikhao k hum itne giray huey hen ghalti kisi ki bhi ho maafi humein mangni parti hai..Agar agle 5 saal bhi dramay baazi dekhni h tou inko vote den..
    Zara humein bhi tou bataen k konse aisay users hen jinho ne website unblock karne ki itni demand ki hai..kya humein religion se zyada entertainment ki zarorat hai..

      • Making it easy for Rehman Malik and his friends to see which URLs and what content people are uploading from Pakistan is 100% bad idea.

        • Ahhhh..I didn’t think about the negative side :P if they use it only for the blockade of p****graphics & blasphemous content than it’s great but we all know it’s not like that.

          • Wrong. That is not what countries with firewalls, like China, do. They use it to track their users, too.

            Everyone talks about how we should support local video sites and local twitter and local facebook-like services. And then they use the example of China.

            But what they are too STUPID to understand is that China CENSORS political discussion on their local sites. Did you see a politician’s son commit a crime? If you post about it, your post will be DELETED. If you post to Facebook or twitter, it will NOT be deleted.

            So what do you want? Government looking over everything you post to make sure it is “acceptable”???

    • You tube is not just an entertainment portal… Its a great learning resource for students as well..
      Did you know there is a more than hundreds site (I personally noticed but will be more) that has anti Islamic Material on them and still accessible from Pakistan but the differance however is that very few know about them and if I post them to my Timeline and then out of my 200 friends 100 posted them on their timeline and so on they will be noticed by everyone i.e this will be the publicity of evil material with our own hand.. Same is the case with this video (due to which youtube is/was blocked… Think about it!!

        • Turning your argument around, I can ask: there are many educational/religious WEBSITES. Do we read them as much as other websites?

          For most people, the answer is “no”. So what do you say? Is it okay to ban the web because we do not use it primarily for religious or educational purposes?

      • as Far as myself is concerned..i needed it badly for explanation of certain topics as a CS student(yet im using ultrasurf).URL filtering mechanism should be applied to block and report certain videos but overall it’s a learning resource so Students must be able to consult study material and training on you tube

    • heheh, It is just a start , for us to manage that much Traffic on such a short notice was a great learning, Insh’allah Try our best to Bounce Back :) . Dream Big you never know when it become reality

      • yeah ur right and i like it tune.pk its another best video hosting site for me to upload my video its fast and not limited good luck to u poeple keep it up never give up :)

  • kun mian Ishq-e-Rasool buss 3 month kay liye tha kiya? ya phir PTA ko kisi nay raat ko bataya kay they can only anti stuff not the whole web… O.o

  • Who cares.. there are also gazillions of other useful sites blocked. Most people (even the dumb/non-tech savvy ones) are using “Hotspot Shield” now anyway. It’s also one of the top 5 most popular Android apps in Pakistan.

  • Just opened the Youtube on My ISP (secure server) and the damn video is still there. I bet there will be nothing happen to the video as everyone has forgotten about it…. I mean what was the need to create that drama????

      • bhai yeh open karne ki baat nahi hai, the thing is that YouTube is earning from Pakistan. aghar YouTube block hoga to Pakistan se kuch faida nahi hoga.. jab b hum eik Video dekhte hein (Pakistan IP) se to YouTube ko faida pochanta hai.

        Why we damn care about YouTube? I am a web developer. I know YouTube is very good for knowledge, but our learning does not stop only at YouTube. There are so many other websites. That’s just excuse!

          • yes woh to zaroor parhaiz karongha. lakin baat to wahi hogi na. YouTube ko phir faida hoga Pakistan se.. To aap us company ko faida pochanane chahte hein jo Humare Nabi(SAWW) insult wali video rakhe.. Aghar YouTube chahye to videos sab delete b karsakta hai.

            In short, aap help kar rahe hein YouTube ko faida pochanane k liye. Protest ki baat sirf yeh nahi k yeh Video koi na dekhe… baat asal yeh hai k yeh Videos delete hojahe YouTube se.

            Aap baat ko nahi samaj rahe.. :)

            20 saal Pehle b YouTube nahi tha. aur Masha Allah us waqt to humse b zyada ache learners the.

            Hum logo ko sirf Bahana chahye..
            Kher hai aap ki marzi :)

            Allah hidayat de hum sab ko. Ameen

            • ap google use karty ho? Gmail Use karty ho? Maps use karty ho? android mobile use karty ho google adsense account use karty ho? yeh sub kea hai? in ko bhi chor do. Youtube bhi to Google ki hi 1 product hai. company to Google hai na. to choro pora Google. Siraf youtube hi kion? itna he shoq ha to Google ki her product ko chor do. Facebook bhi chor do.

              yeh ap ki khush fehmi hai k youtube ban hony sy youtube ko nuqsan ho raha hai. itna nuqsan youtube ko nahi ho raha jitna khud Pakistan ko nuqsan horaha hai youtube k block hony sy.

              bohat sy students help lety hain youtube sy apni studies k leye. bohat sy professionals use karty hain youtube ko apny problems solve karny k leye.

              • kher woh apni soch hai aap ko laghta hai Pakistan k logo ko nuqsaan horaha hai. Yahaan par almost 80% use karte hein YouTube with Proxy Servers, VPN etc.

                mein aap ki Google wali baat se agree karta hoon.

            • ap ne to Rehman Malik wali bat kar di 20 sall pehly bhi mobile nahi thy to communication hoti thi. bhai phir ap kabootar rakh lain un sy bhi hoti thi communication.

              • to sahi baat to hai 20 saal pehle mobile nahi the na.. kaam to chalta tha na.. har cheez sahi thi. woh ab alag baat hai yeh aaj kal hum logo ko zarooriat ban gahi hai. hum majboor hoaghe hein in cheezo k.. sirf Kabootar hi q? Insaan b eik jagah se dosri jagah ja sakta hai, ya kisi ko pegham pochana sakta hai via another person.

                Kher koi shaq nahi ab k aaj kal ki mohabbat kam horahi hai insaano k darmiyaan. eik Limit hoti hai Technology ki b. Aap ise use karna chahte hein to sahi tarrah karein.

                Kher aap ki marzi aap jo chahe karlein :)

            • 100 saal pehle gariyan bhi nai thi, wo bhi use karna chor dain ap! 60 saal pehle TV bhi nai tha, wo bhi dekhna chor de. Kitni backward thinking hai aap ki, tch tch tch!

              • gariyan. it is a different topic. Aghar Toyoto kuch Anti-Islamic act karti hai to we should boycott Toyoto .. Yeh 100 saal ya 60 saal ki baat nahi hai bhai.

                mera point yeh tha k pehle b log is k bagher re sakte the, humne to apni asaani aur majboori k liye yeh sab asaan banaya hai.

                • ap ne khud hi mobile phone ki example di thi k 20 saal wo nai thay phir bhi hum zinda thay! Anyways u hate YouTube but I love it and I strongly oppose this ban on YouTube!

            • If you boycott Youtube but do not boycott Google then you are not making ANY SENSE AT ALL.

              Stop using Google for searches then I will have some respect for you. Until then, you are ignorant as they come.

  • read on mobile fun dot pk that pm raja pervez ordered to lift the ban on youtube. he sent a notificiations to all ISP and said blaspheming material will remain blocked. der aye durust aye

  • anti islamic videos are still opening…shame on Mr. Malik….he should have blocked those videos or atleast had not lifted the block from utube…

  • O mery pyaray pyaray bhai koi youtube open nhe hui hai prime minster k order par again block ho gae hai…. so just chill and use hotspot and spotflux and enjoy…….. this is PAKISTAN…

  • its again blocked :)

    ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf has ordered PTA to block video sharing website Youtube once again after it was briefly restored on Saturday.

  • The Youtube will be block again today, as Geo news reported that the clip of movies are still available on youtube, Raja Parveez Ashraf ordered to block again the youtube in Pakistan,,,

  • well i saw mostly people are saying that “band rakho kya zaroort hai open krny ki”
    well i am an engineering student and now i come to know to know the value of youtube…its very imp for the students nd 2nd thing block krny ka kya faida hua ???kya google ne wo videos delete ya hide kr di??? nhi bcz govt ne pressure nhi dala …suadia arab india malaysia ki govt proper way me pressure develop krwaya nd google ne hide kr diya wahn sy.. agr pta k through wo content he block krwana tha to 3 month block krny ka faida hua??? ghanta

  • That spelling made me laugh, except the last one. I guess one of His servant(s) wrote it probably or his PA. :) good job though.


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