Spring Break
Experts say Pakistani blocking of YouTube worldwide dangerous
Taylor Short
Issue date: 3/5/08 Section: NEWS
During a move to block YouTube.com Feb. 24, the Pakistani government knocked out worldwide access to the popular video-sharing Web site for two hours.
"When you have a country that doesn't have free speech protections, things like this happen," said Paul Collins of the political science faculty. "In the U.S., something like this wouldn't be legal."
Collins said the U.S. is distinct in the way the First Amendment provides a substantial amount of free speech, which implies both individual speech and free press.
While YouTube has received attention for controversial content, many countries, such as China, have censored the Internet itself since its inception, Collins said.
"It's probably more difficult for citizens of a 'free press country,' let's call it, to stomach these types of things than citizens from a country where they don't know a high level of free speech," he said.
Since gaining international popularity by allowing users to post self-made videos, the 3-year-old Web site has been blocked by several countries, including China, Iran, Brazil and Thailand, according to Reporters Without Borders, a press advocacy organization.
This gain in popularity has also fed efforts around the world to regulate the site.
Ram Dantu of the computer science and engineering faculty said the outage was not a security issue.
"The Internet service providers in Pakistan can block whatever site they want," Dantu said. "The Pakistani service provider probably advertised a bad Internet protocol address, and when someone tried to access YouTube, the person would be routed to a 'black hole.'"
An Internet "black hole" is a place on a network where requests for information are dropped.
The Pakistan Telecommunications Authority ordered several Internet service providers to prevent anyone in Pakistan from accessing the site, responding to the posting of cartoons of the Islamic Prophet Mohammad and a video featuring right-wing Dutch politician Geert Wilders, who recently announced plans to release an anti-Islamic film.
The Authority claimed on its Web site that the video has "the potential to cause more unrest and possible loss of life and property across the country."
Nabiha Mehmood, a spokeswoman for the Authority, said in a statement on the Authority's Web site, that the telecommunications arm is asking YouTube to remove the "objectionable content." According to the statement, she said the block would be lifted as soon as the site complied with the request.
"For these countries, the big issue becomes the same the framers of the Constitution dealt with: what is the trade off for limiting free speech, particularly in a democratic society?" he said. "If you have less democracy, you have less opportunity for democratic dialogue."
"When you have a country that doesn't have free speech protections, things like this happen," said Paul Collins of the political science faculty. "In the U.S., something like this wouldn't be legal."
Collins said the U.S. is distinct in the way the First Amendment provides a substantial amount of free speech, which implies both individual speech and free press.
While YouTube has received attention for controversial content, many countries, such as China, have censored the Internet itself since its inception, Collins said.
"It's probably more difficult for citizens of a 'free press country,' let's call it, to stomach these types of things than citizens from a country where they don't know a high level of free speech," he said.
Since gaining international popularity by allowing users to post self-made videos, the 3-year-old Web site has been blocked by several countries, including China, Iran, Brazil and Thailand, according to Reporters Without Borders, a press advocacy organization.
This gain in popularity has also fed efforts around the world to regulate the site.
Ram Dantu of the computer science and engineering faculty said the outage was not a security issue.
"The Internet service providers in Pakistan can block whatever site they want," Dantu said. "The Pakistani service provider probably advertised a bad Internet protocol address, and when someone tried to access YouTube, the person would be routed to a 'black hole.'"
An Internet "black hole" is a place on a network where requests for information are dropped.
The Pakistan Telecommunications Authority ordered several Internet service providers to prevent anyone in Pakistan from accessing the site, responding to the posting of cartoons of the Islamic Prophet Mohammad and a video featuring right-wing Dutch politician Geert Wilders, who recently announced plans to release an anti-Islamic film.
The Authority claimed on its Web site that the video has "the potential to cause more unrest and possible loss of life and property across the country."
Nabiha Mehmood, a spokeswoman for the Authority, said in a statement on the Authority's Web site, that the telecommunications arm is asking YouTube to remove the "objectionable content." According to the statement, she said the block would be lifted as soon as the site complied with the request.
"For these countries, the big issue becomes the same the framers of the Constitution dealt with: what is the trade off for limiting free speech, particularly in a democratic society?" he said. "If you have less democracy, you have less opportunity for democratic dialogue."
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