{"id":3176,"date":"2014-03-11T13:20:18","date_gmt":"2014-03-11T08:20:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.pakistanpressfoundation.org\/?p=75619"},"modified":"2014-03-20T18:36:17","modified_gmt":"2014-03-20T13:36:17","slug":"no-foolproof-way-to-block-banned-video-says-pta-chief","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/pakistanfoemonitor.org\/no-foolproof-way-to-block-banned-video-says-pta-chief\/","title":{"rendered":"No foolproof way to block banned video, says PTA chief"},"content":{"rendered":"

ISLAMABAD: There is no foolproof way to block access to a video that resulted in the ban on YouTube in Pakistan, according to Pakistan Telecommunication Authority Chairman Dr Ismail Shah. Dr Shah\u2019s statement on Monday came a day before the Lahore High Court hears a petition seeking the court\u2019s directive to the government to allow access to YouTube, blocked since September 2012.<\/p>\r\n

The court will hear a petition filed by Bytes for All, a non-government organisation. The petitioner submitted that any filtering and blocking of information online is counter-productive and predatory. Dr Shah and officials from the ministry of information and technology will appear in court today to give a policy statement on whether the offending video \u2013 entitled The Innocence of Muslims \u2013 can be blocked.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cThe PTA has tried to find a technical solution to block the video while keeping YouTube open, but it is next to impossible and this is what I will inform the court,\u201d said Dr Shah, while addressing the first national 3G\/4G seminar, held in Islamabad. The PTA can create a warning page that opens prior to the video, he suggested.<\/p>\r\n

Shah said the video was uploaded on hypertext transfer protocol secure (HTTPs) \u2013 a communication protocol over a computer network which cannot be removed except by blocking the website. Shah will inform the court that the PTA cannot remove the video because of technical obstacles. At the end of the day, he said, the government and court will have to make a decision.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cWe have looked into practices in other Muslim countries as well and found that they too could not block the video,\u201d he said. He explained that the video is accessible in Qatar, preceded by a warning, a system that Pakistan could replicate. \u201cEven if it is not available on YouTube, it will be available on other websites,\u201d the chairman said. According to the PTA\u2019s findings, there are 48,000 copies of the video accessible online currently. He explained that the Pakistani government had contacted Google Inc in order to remove the offending video, but was refused.<\/p>\r\n

Dr Shah added that religious scholars had advised him that the government\u2019s current strategy was wrong, prescribing that messages and videos spreading a positive message of Islam should be uploaded to counter negative portrayals.<\/p>\r\n

3G Auction<\/p>\r\n

While bidding for the auction of 3G and 4G licences will take part next month, Dr Shah said he was not confident of any new entrants taking part in the process. He said new entrants were requesting conditions such as a period of one year in which existing bidders should be barred from rolling out 3G services in the market, aimed at allowing new entrants time to gain a foothold in the market. \u201cMy assessment is that it will be difficult for a new player to enter the process,\u201d he said.<\/p>\r\n

Express Tribune<\/a><\/p>\r\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ISLAMABAD: There is no foolproof way to block access to a video that resulted in the ban on YouTube in Pakistan, according to Pakistan Telecommunication Authority Chairman Dr Ismail Shah. Dr Shah\u2019s statement on Monday came a day before the Lahore High Court hears a petition seeking the court\u2019s directive to the government to allow … <\/p>\n