Pakistan lifts curbs on YouTube

Authority tells Internet service providers to restore access to the site after removing "very blasphemous" video.

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
youtube logo 88 (photo credit: )
youtube logo 88
(photo credit: )
Pakistan's telecoms regulator lifted restrictions imposed on YouTube for anti-Islamic content but rejected blame for knocking out access to the video-sharing Web site in many countries over the weekend. "We are not hackers. Why would we do that?" Shahzada Alam Malik, head of the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority, told Associated Press Television News. YouTube's wider problems were likely caused by a "malfunction" elsewhere, he said. The authority told Internet service providers to restore access to the site on Tuesday afternoon after removing a video featuring a Dutch lawmaker who has said he plans to release a movie portraying Islam as fascist and prone to inciting violence against women and homosexuals. Officials have described the clip as "very blasphemous" and warned that it could fan religious fanaticism and hatred of the West in Pakistan, where the government already faces a growing Islamic insurgency. Pakistan Telecommunication Authority spokeswoman Nabiha Mahmood said attempts to access the offending clip on Tuesday afternoon brought up only a message explaining that it had been removed on ethical grounds. She said the telecoms regulator had posted a complaint through the Web site - a facility open to any registered user - but had not been in contact with the administrators of YouTube.com, which is owned by Internet giant Google, Inc. The authority aimed to restrict the site only in Pakistan. But the move inadvertently cut access for most of the world's Internet users for up to two hours on Sunday, highlighting the vulnerability of the Internet. YouTube said on Monday that the cut was caused by a network in Pakistan. "We are investigating and working with others in the Internet community to prevent this from happening again," it said in an e-mailed statement. Todd Underwood, a senior manager at Renesys Corp, a U.S. company that tracks the pathways of the Internet, said a Pakistani telecommunications company complied with the block by directing requests for YouTube videos to a "black hole." The company accidentally identified itself to Internet computers as the world's fastest route to YouTube, leading requests from across the Internet to the same dead end, Underwood said. Malik suggested it was likely due to a mistake or technical defect. "We never wanted to do that and I don't think our technical people have done it." he said. Pakistani officials are keen to prevent a repeat of the violent anti-Western protests in early 2006 after a Danish newspaper published cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad regarded by many Muslims as offensive. The upper house of Parliament on Tuesday passed a resolution condemning the reprinting of the cartoons this month in Danish newspapers. It said tension was brewing in the Netherlands over a "sacrilegious film against Islam" _ an apparent reference to the plans of the Dutch lawmaker, Geert Wilders. "All these efforts seems to be part of a campaign aimed at denigrating Islam, insulting Islamic role models and injuring the feelings of the Muslims the world over," the resolution said.