Pakistan Orders ISPs To Block 429,343 Websites Completely, Because There's Porn On The Internet

from the i'm-sure-all-have-been-carefully-reviewed dept

Thu, Jan 28th 2016 10:37am — Mike Masnick

It appears that efforts to censor the internet globally continues to spread, with the latest being a report out of Pakistan that the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has told ISPs that they need to start blocking an astounding 429,343 websites at the domain level as quickly as possible, following a Supreme Court order to the PTA about the evils of porn online.

The move apparently follows a recent order by the Supreme Court wherein the telecom sector’s regulatory body had been asked to “take remedial steps to quantify the nefarious phenomenon of obscenity and pornography that has an imminent role to corrupt and vitiate the youth of Pakistan”.

PTA said it has decided to take pre-emptive measures to block such websites at the domain level to control dissemination of pornographic content through the internet as it provided ISPs with a list of 429,343 domains to be blocked on their respective networks.

The order apparently was issued just a few weeks ago, which raises the question of how the PTA put together a list of so many domains so quickly... and how carefully that list has been vetted. The answer, of course, is that it hasn't been vetted. And that means that tons of perfectly legitimate content is about to get blocked in Pakistan. Remember, this is the same country that once blocked all of YouTube, and did so in a way that basically knocked Pakistan off the internet, while also blocking YouTube throughout many countries across Asia. Let's hope mistakes of that nature aren't made again.

Even so, it's pretty obvious that mistakes will be made. First, that list is going to include tons of sites that aren't pornography. Is there a way to appeal? Who knows! Second, it's likely that in the process of blocking "at the domain level" some may choose to block IP addresses of certain sites, not realizing that many IP addresses are shared among multiple domains, meaning that lots of other sites may get sucked up as well. And then there's the issue of what good will this do anyway. People who really want to access porn on the internet won't have trouble finding it. I'm pretty sure there are more than 429,343 websites with porn on the internet, and even if there weren't, I'm guessing that VPNs and proxies work just as well in Pakistan as they do elsewhere.

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Filed Under: censorship, dns blocking, free speech, pakistan, pornography, site blocking

50 Comments

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AricTheRed (profile), 28 Jan 2016 @ 10:40am

Wait!
If Pakistan blocks all the pornography does that mean there really are only only 429,353 websites on the internet?
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- Anonymous Coward, 28 Jan 2016 @ 11:31am
  
  Re: Wait!
  It's 429,354.
  
  You can't forget TD!
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - AricTheRed (profile), 28 Jan 2016 @ 12:33pm
    
    Re: Re: Wait!
    TD is included in 10 other non-porn websites in my estimate above, but thanks for playing.
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
    - Anonymous Coward, 28 Jan 2016 @ 5:38pm
      
      Re: Re: Re: Wait!
      Don't joke about it...
      
      My company now blocks Techdirt for reasons unknown. I use Tor to get around their filter.
      [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - Anonymous Coward, 28 Jan 2016 @ 12:47pm
    
    Re: Re: Wait!
    Well, it does have "Dirt" right in the name.
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Anonymous Cowherd, 28 Jan 2016 @ 3:39pm
  
  Re: Wait!
  Or do they only have to block these sites?
  4.2.93.43
  4.29.3.43
  4.29.34.3
  42.9.3.43
  42.9.34.3
  42.93.4.3
  
  And the President_of_the_National_Assembly_of_Thailand will be most annoyed as well.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 28 Jan 2016 @ 10:52am

Will they also block other DNS services, as switching to an alternative DNS providers bypasses the ISP's DNS servers?
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- Anonymous Coward, 28 Jan 2016 @ 11:05am
  
  Re:
  DNS services don't really play a role here as the ISP is tasked to block the IP Addresses that the DNS service will resolve.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - Anonymous Coward, 28 Jan 2016 @ 1:24pm
    
    Re: Re:
    Wait, DNS isn't a euphemism, is it?
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
    - tqk (profile), 28 Jan 2016 @ 3:37pm
      
      Re: Re: Re:
      
      DNS services don't really play a role here as the ISP is tasked to block the IP Addresses that the DNS service will resolve.
      
      Wait, DNS isn't a euphemism, is it?
      
      Think of DNS as icing on the IP cake. You don't need to eat the icing to eat the cake. 31.192.117.132 will get you to pornhub.com even quicker than typing in its domain name address.
      
      Blocking the IP addresses makes DNS irrelevant. A VPN should make that blocking irrelevant, unless they're going to build a wall that drops anything incoming from "bad" domains.
      
      I wish prudes would clean up their own act before trying to save others from themselves. If Pakistani youth want to waste their time watching porn, you've got to wonder why. Perhaps they think what you're trying to sell them sucks.
      [ link to this | view in chronology ]
      - Anonymous Coward, 28 Jan 2016 @ 5:08pm
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re:
        I imagine Paki Porn includes any female not fully covered.
        
        Oooooooh - look at those ankles - wank wank
        [ link to this | view in chronology ]
        
        PaulT (profile), 28 Jan 2016 @ 11:25pm
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
        So, you're saying you don't know anything about Pakistani culture and cinema?
        [ link to this | view in chronology ]
        
        Anonymous Coward, 29 Jan 2016 @ 5:02am
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
        Oh - here we go ....
        [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - PaulT (profile), 28 Jan 2016 @ 11:23pm
    
    Re: Re:
    Yes and no. The article states that they're required to block at the domain level, but some ISPs will just choose to block IPs because that's easier.
    
    Either way, it's pretty overbearing and useless. People blocking at the domain level are open to people using alternative DNS services, and to those sites simply choosing an alternative address. Blocking IPs will be useless if the sites change provider, and block legitimate services either sharing the same public IP or who end up being issued the same IP previously used by one of these services.
    
    In other words: politicians have ordered private industry to censor at their own great expense in a way that will do nothing to stop those who actually want to get at the content they're trying to ban, while also punishing a great number of innocent people and businesses. Par for the course, sadly.
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Blaine (profile), 28 Jan 2016 @ 10:57am

Where would I find a list of these websites? I'm sure there's a couple in there I haven't seen yet.
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- Anonymous Coward, 28 Jan 2016 @ 1:28pm
  
  Re:
  www.hotbareankle.com
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Pronounce (profile), 28 Jan 2016 @ 11:04am

Information is Power
I can't tell if it's global ignorance about the technology that makes up telecommunications, or if it's a smoke screen for establishing control over information. Maybe it's a little of both.

Two true facts are at play here:

Telecommunications, and the information it carries, is an anathema to the elite. (This fact led to Aaron Swartz' demise.)

You can't legislate morality, but morality laws are really good at removing any opposition to those in power.
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- JP Jones (profile), 1 Feb 2016 @ 1:45am
  
  Re: Information is Power
  "You can't legislate morality, but morality laws are really good at removing any opposition to those in power."
  
  Keep in mind that Pakistan, although secular in comparison to many other Islamic states, is based heavily on religious rule. Before people get too jumpy about me calling out Pakistan for being religiously oriented, I would point out that Islam is the official state religion of Pakistan and the country has the strictest blasphemy laws of any Muslim-majority country.
  
  In what is essentially a theocracy in all but name you absolutely can legislate morality.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 28 Jan 2016 @ 11:05am

I'm going to say the obvious: the internet is for porn.
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- Anonymous Coward, 28 Jan 2016 @ 12:45pm
  
  Re:
  Wait, when did that happen? There's porn on the internet? WHY DIDN'T ANYONE TELL ME?!?
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - Anonymous Coward, 28 Jan 2016 @ 5:12pm
    
    Re: Re:
    Rule 34
    
    It's not like these rules are hidden somewhere ... in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying ‘Beware of the Leopard.'
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
dparadis (profile), 28 Jan 2016 @ 11:18am

I'm Shocked!
Shocked, I tell you, to find out there is porn on the Internet!
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Anonymous Coward, 28 Jan 2016 @ 11:33am

ahhhhhh!!! art i disagree with!!! how dare you express yourselves!!!
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- Wendy Cockcroft, 29 Jan 2016 @ 5:47am
  
  Re:
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72nrFIgFNB4
  
  'Nuff said!
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 28 Jan 2016 @ 11:34am

Pakistan can only achieve it's goals of removing porn by removing access to the internet.
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- Anonymous Coward, 28 Jan 2016 @ 1:31pm
  
  Re:
  Would you like a squshiee with that?
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 28 Jan 2016 @ 11:56am

Of course the list was vetted. The members of the PTA just listed all the domains they normally go to on any given day.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
djl47 (profile), 28 Jan 2016 @ 1:34pm

Pakistan and Porn
https://www.google.com/#newwindow=1&safe=off&q=number%20one%20search%20from%20pakistan
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Mark Wing, 28 Jan 2016 @ 1:42pm

I never realized there was that much porn on the Internet. Here I am using the same 5 like a chump, when I could be surfing the porn cornucopia of 429,343.
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- Anonymous Coward, 4 Mar 2016 @ 3:04am
  
  Re:
  What 5 are you using, the left or the right?
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 28 Jan 2016 @ 2:04pm

So where's the list?
I'm very curious to see what's on (and what's not on) that list. I have my own collections of various domain names (for various purposes, nearly entirely research) and it would be instructive to see this one in order to gain some insight into how they compiled it.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Anonymous Coward, 28 Jan 2016 @ 2:09pm
  
  Re: So where's the list?
  It's classified information, because to release wit would encourage the youth to find ways of visiting the sites on it.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - Anonymous Coward, 28 Jan 2016 @ 2:29pm
    
    Re: Re: So where's the list?
    It shouldn't be secret for long: the ISPs who have to implement it need to know. Their employees need to know. Somebody, somewhere, need to leak this list.
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
DannyB (profile), 28 Jan 2016 @ 2:14pm

Mistakes will be made
> Even so, it's pretty obvious that mistakes will be made.

Who says they will be 'mistakes'?

A massive operation of blocking sites provides fantastic cover to 'accidentally' block things which are not part of the operation. (political speech)
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- PaulT (profile), 28 Jan 2016 @ 11:31pm
  
  Re: Mistakes will be made
  You may be right in some cases, but incompetence in whoever compiled the list combined with the high possibility of simply clerical errors makes genuine mistakes inevitable. Plus, the law of unintended consequences (such as when the MPAA's lackeys inadvertently demand that their own marketing material be taken down) will be in play.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - Anonymous Coward, 4 Mar 2016 @ 3:10am
    
    Re: Re: Mistakes will be made
    perhaps the new name will inspire confidence
    
    Pakistan Intelligent Telecommunication Authority (PITA)
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Pixelation, 28 Jan 2016 @ 3:09pm

Oh those poor Pakistani bastards. What will they do?
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- tracyanne, 28 Jan 2016 @ 3:50pm
  
  Re:
  I guess they will have to spend more time visiting Mrs Palmer and her five daughters with lights down low.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Travis, 28 Jan 2016 @ 3:53pm
  
  Re:
  Use one of the other #million porn sites.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 28 Jan 2016 @ 3:54pm

Sure, we'll stop the internet from vitiating our youth
... because they'll never think of schtupping local girls on their own.

And if they do, well, the girls had it coming for being attractive, right?
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- Anonymous Coward, 28 Jan 2016 @ 5:14pm
  
  Re: Sure, we'll stop the internet from vitiating our youth
  how can you tell?
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
techflaws (profile), 28 Jan 2016 @ 9:49pm

and did so in a way that basically knocked Pakistan off the internet

And nothing of value was lost.

I'm still wondering though if some of those idiots will be popping up here in the comments again defending the move like last time.

Of course, whatever is still here, so we have a least one contender.
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- Anonymous Coward, 29 Jan 2016 @ 6:52pm
  
  Response to: techflaws on Jan 28th, 2016 @ 9:49pm
  Wait, what, nothing was lost? Are you kidding me? Who is going to do my offshore coding and tech support?
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Ninja (profile), 29 Jan 2016 @ 1:46am

I'm pretty sure there are more than 429,343 websites with porn on the internet

Considering some site counts put the number of pages in the billions and that the internet is for porn what Michael Bay is for fireworks... I'd say they are off by a few billions.
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Glenn, 29 Jan 2016 @ 3:03am

Quick! ...before people realize that everyone is naked under their clothing! Oh, my!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 29 Jan 2016 @ 4:48am

Re: Paki government plays whack a mole with boners
The DNS system has needed to be forked into a peer to peer system for a long time. And like it or not, porn built the Internet. (The first decade, porn accounted for more traffic than anything else)

This is probably really good for namecoin. Which is a move in the right direction in terms of deprecating DNS.
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Mattmon (profile), 29 Jan 2016 @ 8:30am

A story on Techdirt next week:
Pakistan Orders ISPs To Block 4,293,430 Proxy Websites
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
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