Pakistan targets YouTube

Jonn Lilyea | February 25, 2008

Unable to defeat al Qaeda operations in their country, Pakistan has decided instead to attack YouTube, according to the Wall Street Journal;

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.

The incident, which is still being investigated by YouTube, underscores the vulnerability of the global communications infrastructure. The unusual circumstances surrounding the breakdown also point to the growing role sites like YouTube have played in spreading politically charged content — including in Pakistan, a nation that is already a tinderbox of political tensions.

The story began unfolding Friday when the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority, the nation’s telecom regulator, ordered Pakistan’s Internet service providers to immediately block access to a specific YouTube video which it said was so incendiary it could trigger riots. A senior official at the authority said it also contacted YouTube, requesting that the site remove the video. The PTA argued the clip was a violation of YouTube’s terms of service, which ban hate speech. YouTube has since removed the clip. The site says it does not comment on reasons for removing specific videos.

I noticed all of my videos on this site whited out yesterday and I couldn’t get to YouTube to straighten them out – now I know why. The Pakistanis tried to use a sledge hammer to fix a watch.

Maybe instead of trying to censor the whole world’s viewing of free videos, the Pakistanis should take a little time and explain to their people that rioting over every little thing is bad for their image.