Anusha Rehman Khan, the newly appointed State Minister for IT and Telecommunication, managed to grab media attention on her first day in office by saying that Google could face a blanket ban in the country if it doesn’t listen to Pakistani government’s request of removing blasphemous videos from YouTube.
Ms. Rehman, who remained a vocal and active member of National Assembly Standing Committee on Information Technology during previous government, straight away took Google hard and said that Pakistani government will ask Google – the parent company of YouTube – to block the access of blasphemous videos in Pakistan, exactly like they have done in various other countries.
She hinted that government can consider banning Google in the country if Pakistan’s requests aren’t entertained by the Google.
Anusha Rehman also maintained that new government will do all its efforts to bring YouTube back, but after getting the anti-Islam videos blocked in the country.
Pakistan is working on a filtration system that will enable Pakistani government to control the viewership of content in the country. “We will pump in extra money if needed and do whatever is in our capacity to bring YouTube back to Pakistan without compromising our ethical values”.
Google has previously denied Pakistan’s request of blocking anti-Islam videos in Pakistan, however, same objectionable videos are blocked in various other countries including Syria, Egypt, Singapore, Russia and others.
Anusha’s statement of banning the Google in Pakistan is receiving negative feedback, however, others are calling her statement as only solution to a rigid company like Google which is demoing discrimination by blocking videos in some countries while not blocking in others.
In a related news, Google, known as the champions of Freedom of Speech and users’ privacy, is found selling users’ information to American government since 2007.
Its not funny thing, Pakistan should take it serious like china did. Its look government is serious but people of Pakistan are not serious or they are not much educated. There is already one successful example of tune.pk … support Annusha and lets Ban Google in all over the world.
I can’t believe ur serious. Could you please tell me where on Tune.pk , I can find reviews on mobile phones, laptops etc. or if i can find educating videos like Algebraic Manipulations or where i can find videos . Oh wait, U CAN’T. Just because there are alot of site visits doesn’t mean it’s not useless. U obviously don’t use the internet as much as other people do so U can’t imagine what massive problems this will create for us. Not to mention the amount of economic downfall in the IT sector of Pakistan.
Agreed wit u dude!
Why people are picking me wrong here, why Pakistani people can’t make their own search engine? LUMS, PU and top names, why their students are not planning to do something for Pakistan, why depend on others? Many people don’t know the history of China and their solid steps against Google. I understand Pak government always work under pressure but people have full freedom to do anything. Thing positive please and change your mind
China tried to hack Google to get emails from people who are opposed to Chinese government. This is what you want here???
PTI was against PPP government, so should PPP have hacked Google to get PTI Accounts???
what a nonsense answer shahid sir.
No one offering China as an example of how to do things is serious. Except maybe seriously fools.
Agreed with Naseer…
“Ms. Davies” is woefully ignorant about the current state of online world. Are you sure “tune(dot)pk” is a success? Have you seen the advertising they have put up there, which FYI is using “Google” Adsense. :)
Most of people Didnt get her idea. her Mean is to Replicate everything locally and try to offer Local Version. this will help local market grow as well as you can Talk to Big Giants at totally Different levels.
But like any other pakistani. DAMN EMOTIONAL , Both in BLOCKING and HATING local items
I loved the idea of Chinese Govt
Shahid sahab, yahan light puri nae ha or ap million dollar projects ki baat karte hen? For the time being, we are in no state of crashing with the Titans. China can, as they are well ahead of us in every field.
China tortures and executes its people and stifles free speech. Good example.
China also prevents Muslims in the nearest province to Pakistan from fasting.
Chinese government also spies on its citizens, NSA wouldn’t even come close to it.
I hope you knew the difference between Pakistan and China. Yes, make us fall behind further in the field of technology by blocking the most resourceful media available today.
LOL, where there is No Electricity we can do
– Metro Bus
– Danish Schools
– Laptops & Taxi (Lolipops) Schemes
That cost BILLIONS of rupees. if only millions invested at university level as well as Start ups then it is just a matter of Years we have all popping out everywhere.
This Country is Filled with Genius & Talent . Someone just need to ignite
I Think Openly but few people always think like slaves. and Thinking that they cant beat Giants
First make things and than banned things. If you think this is good idea to block google. than please dont use google again in your life and if you want to use than shut your mouth. Thanks
The reality is otherwise. So far we have produced corrupts of corrupts. We have PHDs in the govt from top schools who are as corrupt and dishonest as are their illiterate and ignorant counter parts. It is our performance that actually portrays our capability and direction as a nation.
We can dream of all possibilities but u have to prove capabilities 1st. Well said, Genius, Talent, ignite etc. but we never did it earlier and it does not appear any thing would change.
Again Emotional,
First i am against Any kind of Blockage. You need to Grow your mInds, Think professionally and Pro-actively . My thoughts are to Give Power to Local companies , Show them the Trust. and then see the Magic happening.
See the kiddie way of speaking ” If you think this is good idea to block google. than please dont use
google again in your life and if you want to use than shut your mouth.
Thanks ”
Its like Getting AID “BHEEK” First then start your business , LOL
But few people are too much dependent on their Limited
Thoughts.
NEVER MIND, its PAKISTAN!
Agreed with you
this is long debate. 90% students used google for study purpose. so you need all of them to get no more education. thank you.
If you are sincere about your views. than please dont use google again in your life. ok if not than dont comment ok
Quite right…. agreed…
Are u serious, u think we have the capability to create our own Google, youtube….. Spend sometime reading about technology and also about our real capabilities. We can only create Touqeer Sadiqs, Gillanis, Ilahis and the like.
God bless you in abundance. :)
Open everything but block torrent/VPN/porn sites and proxies…
Believe me its MILLION/BILLION times better than taking stand on anti-Islam videos…
Note “We will pump in extra money if needed ”.
So, i can easily guess million dollar scam on the way!
Amazing, you must be the first “journalist” to claim that Google was selling information to the government. Newsflash: NO MONEY WAS EXCHANGED.
… apparently.
You missed one word at the end of your sentence.
@all.
Welcome to desi net controlled and spied upon by IT illiterate ‘angels’. They have been pushing for it lately and finally, they are almost successful. They are done with the ground work. Its time to start the building, happy time indeed.
Courts told Tahir Qadri to bug off because he was not a paki citizen. That UK swine however got through. Can anybody see the puppet masters now, or still not?
The other day, an underage pervert told courts which porn sites to block. Nobody asked him why did he have such a big cache? Send him for ISSB, i say. Medical examination will reveal his ‘kartoot’ right away.
If you have evidence that money changed hands, present it. Otherwise, you’re just muddying the waters with insinuations you can’t prove.
Here, I can do the same: “apparently jahanzeb might take money from FBR to report on his neighbours!”
seriously Aamir?
They ban Google, And as a tech loving, sane and rational human being, I’m outta here! If you want a minister for IT, GET A “MINISTER FOR IT”!!! So in the end these geniuses came up with the solution to just ban GOOGLE! So much for a developing country!
IT minister must be an iphone fan not Android ha!
IT minister open browser which shows Google, types in seachbox ‘hotmail.com’, clicks search and in results click on http://www.hotmail.com to access her email.
bad sense of humor.
yar tum log chahty kia ho…..mar nhi jao gae google nhi ho ga tu…..aur kia paoon parein ja k google walon k…. look the cause y they wana block this….. they dont wana do contract with us..they dont wana listen our voices …then go on man…lets wrape there business from here… i know many will say it will not make any big difference to them …but yes it will make diffrence….
Dear Shahid,
Your argument that is if someone prints a blasphemous book, We should ban all the books because we cannot filter them out. You will say … “mar nhi jao gae books nhi ho ga tu”.
and reason is that you Mr. Shahid being illiterate don’t have anything to do with books.
Ban Google and all the IT business will shutdown. Everyone related to IT, Software engineering will be unemployed. No one can do any research in Universities.
I am not favor of Any Blockage. Again your problem is being too Much Emotional and rather then Bidding on Facts.
My idea that you should do some Cencorship. like without youtube you might live. but without Google its impossible. Google is internet .
My idea is to Give trust to Local companies, invest in them , make them Initiate the idea . We might have things all replicated over here. so we can have control and talk to other giants on some level.
But like any other Emotional idiot, people start talking SHIT, Never mind its PAKISTAN. infact that is why It is PAKISTAN
Dear KA,
Your argument is not much impressive. Book publishing is not own by one organization. But yes youtube is own by google, its not listening to our voices. All know they have double standards even particularly to freedom of speech. Yes we should not be emotional, and at the same time we should not close our eyes and shutdown our mind for the sake of ease.
You don’t get my point. I didn’t emphasis on who owns YouTube.
My point is about our approach that is when we cant handle something we ban the medium without thinking about the consequences.
Target killing was done on motorcycle so ban motorcycle.
Terrorist use cell phone, turn off cell phones.
YouTube, ban Google.. oh people use VPN, ban VPN.. but there are such contents all over the internet. Lets ban Internet.
But still someone can bring in contents on CD, USB.. ban them.
Easy solution ..
o dear jo cheez howi nhi hyus ko imagen na karo….usb cd mn lae aae ga tu tab daikha jae ga… ab bat ye hy k they r not listning us
@Ka hahaa if a doctor is illiterate then what can i say… when youtube got banned it never effected me or my studies…but those stupid contents surely hurted me…. a philospher sahb jb youtube nhi thi tu software engeniers tu nhi banty thy na,,,, aurteen khana bnana bhi youtube se seekhti hn ..youtube se pehly tu log khana bhi nhi bnaty thy na…..aur books and digital media mn farq hy…book ap khud choose kArty ho k konsi leni….net pe choices are wide open…but how whould u know …the sentence choices are wide open
Don’t you choose what page you are going to visit?
Same video is on Vimeo and countless other sites. I’m sure someone would have posted it on FB/G+ too. Why is google the only target?
Also, what happens if someone decides your favorite video/site/page isn’t to their liking or offends them? I’m sure you’ll be the one still crying if Google decides to block that.
The World wide web is a reality. Please accept the fact that out of 7 billion people, someone, somewhere, will always end up offending someone else.
As for hurting xyz corporation, how much money has an Internet savvy person like yourself spent online? How does boycotting said site hurt them if they aren’t making money from you? It’s a wonder these sites still allow free access from pakistan.
google ban = 90 % of internet ban
ban google and its server = going back 8 yrs in to the past lol …
these jahils in our country dont know much about IT
why just 8 years? given the accelerated pace and the global nature of the internet, it’s more like 20 years.
now i am realizing Afghanistan is far better than us in IT:D lol
After reading some emotional and angry comments, with all due respect to everyone I guess the right way to block such type of content, the government should implement a proper content filtering mechanism or promote/ establish an infrastructure as big as Google locally and then block a giant like Google. Few of the countries like China have done this but they have provided alternate ways locally to serve the people.
China does it ONLY for one reason: to CONTROL what their citizens see and do online.
THAT
IS
ALL!
You have to be very naive to believe otherwise. Chinese intelligense and police forces can do A LOT MORE data collection from local companies, local social networks etc etc. They cannot get data from Google or Facebook as easily. Have you forgotten that Chinese tried to hack Gmail services to get data on Chinese people who disagree with their government? It was only a few short years ago.
Chinese system = CONTROL YOUR CITIZENS ONLINE. Understand that, and stop promoting that option. What does Islam say about tyrrany? Is it better to be living under a tyrant, or to be a tyrant? Why do you want us to live under a tyrranny?
Its a simple rule of life my dear friend. If you have children, you set certain rules in your house and also try to control your child’s activities for his/ her betterment. Being the head of the family you rule and try to force your set of rules. You provide all the facilities to your child and also try your kids not to learn or do bad things or sit in a bad company. same applies at the bigger/ national level.
I am not a CHILD of the Pakistani state. I am a grown man, I can make my own decisions. The state is not my parents and SHOULD NOT TREAT ME LIKE A CHILD.
Try a better analogy.
As for actual children in the house, use a web filtering service. Many ISPs even offer it in Pakistan, like witribe. PRotect YOUR children, don’t treat me as a CHILD.
No need to take it personally dear. If you do not agree with my analogy then its your right. If you see my initial reply it says the same to deploy a content filtering mechanism rather than blocking it. I fail to understand your point of view on the statement of blocking google.
I don’t need someone ELSE deciding what needs to be blocked for me or not.
Why don’t you understand that SIMPLE point?
If you need someone to protect you from the internet, fine, but I don’t. I can make my own decisions. Whatever filtering system you want to deploy should be optional (parents and companies opt-in) rather than forcing everyone to be under it.
No, the right way is to educate our ignorant people who are searching for and spreading blasphemous material. Not to stick our heads in the sand and pretend the rest of the world (including other muslim countries) doesn’t exist. You fail to understand the whole concept of the “WORLD-wide-web”.
Hah. She wants to spend milions on censorship but nothing to educate people who are actively looking for such content. net censorship doesnt work.
“We will pump in extra money if needed and do whatever is in our capacity to bring YouTube back to Pakistan without compromising our ethical values”.
It means pornography and adult contents comes under our ethical values but YOUTUBE is the only site that does not fulfils them. Right???
Wow. This statement of honorable minister speaks volumes about her ignorance and illiteracy about how internet works and how modern www services are distributed.
Oh madam u don’t have a chairman of PTA the Mr. Regulator of Pakistan Telecom.
Ur IT and Telecom Ministry and its Depts. are ruined by corrupts and ill willed secretaries like Farooq Awan and Zafar Qadier, who appointed corrupt heads and staff in their depts./companies like PTA, USF, ICT R&D Fund and managed to inveigle millions of rupees and destroyed these entities.
Wake up and come out of your constituency politics and plz don’t try to be a super women, u can barely walk, with ur existing team of illiterate imposters that have gathered in all your depts. Get rid of these corrupts and bring them to justice, bring in meritorious staff in all your depts., expedite launch 3G, do all this and in the same direction, if u are in a mood to do something.
Stop google, stop youtube, stop every damn service type attitude will not work. U have no idea what google is, what is our dependance on it. So don’t try to be Rehman Malik, we had enough of those stupid politicians who wasted 5 years of our lives
what else could you expect from people who sympathizes with Taliban cause and mindset.
Well, i agree with every one that Google is becoming the necessory part of life yes defently it is.
But if you read her article she doesnt want to ban Google at all, instead just to give them a hard reply and if by any mean Google bans it defnelty going to heart thier ad industry and then might they think of what Pakistan asking to ban such videos.
So read and read again…
Take it as threat not the action plan
Total digital revenue in Pakistan is $5 million per year and not all of t goes to google. Google’s revenues in just last quarter was $14 billion. Pakistan’s revenue is not even a rounding error for google.
She don’t know, doing such measure will jeopardize the daily living for hundreds of thousands in Pakistan. PML-N Does appointed what kind of women as IT minister who does not know even the importance of search engine like google.
Let alone search engine, as web applications developer I know we use dozens of google apis in our code, that all will break if such happens. Also any work that is coming from foreign clients would take a big dent. Learning opportunities for both pros as well as the students will go away. Any hard end adsense revenue Pakistanis are making will go away.
Pakistan IT industry will be frozen in its tracks if it happens.
“Anusha’s statement of banning the Google in Pakistan is receiving negative feedback, however, others are calling her statement as only solution to a rigid company like Google which is demoing discrimination by blocking videos in some countries while not blocking in others.”
There is no discrimination whatsoever. There are 49 countries that have a local version of youtube. It is those countries that can ask for any specific video to be removed if it does not comply with their laws. Pakistan has not undergone the necessary process (including passing electronic liability laws i Pakistan) which ae necessary for having a local youtube version. Once it does the needful to get a local youtube version, it will be able o block the video in its version.
These narrow minded ,stupid assholes ,can’t do anything good for the society, all they can do is block a site, they must know that google is an engine and it is not just used by students but by doctors and other professionals, how will students do their assignments and study ?
Are only blasphemous videos that should be banned what about the porn sites and the explicit words due to which the whole act triggers written on search engines which trigger the whole episode.Is the Pakistani government not concerned about how this porn content destroys the innocent minds?