Government Continues To Search Virtual Worlds For Terrorists

Pakistan Lifts YouTube Ban... Hopes Internet Stays In One Piece This Time

from the not-so-quiet-after-all dept

Tue, Feb 26th 2008 11:01am — Mike Masnick

When other countries have decided to ban YouTube, they've done it rather publicly, with a judge or politician stating very publicly that the site was to be banned for offensive videos. However, over the weekend, when Pakistan decided to ban YouTube, it tried to do so quietly, by simply telling various ISPs to block the site and hoping people wouldn't notice. That didn't work so well. As you might have noticed, thanks to the way some ISPs handle information, not only did it take out YouTube in Pakistan, but it ended up knocking it offline throughout much of the world, generating an awful lot of attention. And now, just about a day later, Pakistan has decided not to ban YouTube after all. So for a day's worth of a "quiet" ban on YouTube, Pakistan helped knock YouTube offline around the globe, got tons of attention to the fact that it was banning the site over some mysteriously "offensive" videos, and then didn't end up banning the site very long anyway. How effective was that plan?

Filed Under: ban, pakistan, youtube

6 Comments

If you liked this post, you may also be interested in...

Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread

Anonymous Coward, 26 Feb 2008 @ 11:04am

Will they lose their AS number ?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 26 Feb 2008 @ 12:34pm

If they backpedaled so easily, it would seem they didn't feel that strongly about it, unlike certain other 8th Century regimes...
[ link to this | view in thread ]
James, 26 Feb 2008 @ 1:13pm

If only...
...we could banish extremist, religious idiocy throughout the world so easily.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Kevin, 26 Feb 2008 @ 8:23pm

The real problem with ISP's
The real problem is how ISP's handle information..
From what I've read since this has happened is that the security of information on the current configuration/system is not at its best, and people are now looking more deeply on how to fix this problem. Thats the gist of what I know so far.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
kenesha, 18 Dec 2008 @ 2:14pm

leave the blocs alone!!!!!!!!!
fuck all the people thats tryna block shit, some of us dont do the crazie shit u think we on here doin. why dont you jus leave the shit on here alone the way it is.If you dont trust your kids that much dont give them little bastards a computer. hell take they asses to the library, a public place wont kill them.I think that the blocks should be on 12-8 fuck what the rest of them is doing shit!!!!
[ link to this | view in thread ]
lrobbo (profile), 30 May 2012 @ 1:13pm

Gotta love it when a plan comes together. Thank god they messed it up so bad. idiots
[ link to this | view in thread ]