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PTA

Senate committee asks govt to unblock YouTube

ISLAMABAD: The Senate’s Functional Committee on Human Rights on Monday recommened that the government unblock the YouTube in Pakistan. A resolution, which was passed unanimously, said the ban be overturned as no such provision was in place in any other Muslim country. Committee chairman Afrasiab Khattak of the Awami National Party, while reading the resolution, pointed out: “There is no

No plan to restrict Facebook, Skype after 3G auction

ISLAMABAD: The government holds no plan to restrict important services such as Facebook, WhatsApp, Viber and Skype after spectrum auction of multi-billion dollars 3G and 4G technologies in Pakistan, official sources confirmed to The News on Friday. The Cellular companies are worried about streams of their cash-inflows in terms of their voice services as increased speed of data communication in

YouTube blockade to continue as no solution in sight

Pakistan to continue Youtube blockage for an indefinite period as currently no technical solution is at hand, which can erase 100 per cent of the objectionable contents from the social website, it is learnt. Officials’ sources revealed to Business Recorder that currently, there is no technical solution which could block 100 per cent objectionable contents on Youtube, since new links

No way to block internet content, NA told

By: KHAWAR GHUMMAN ISLAMABAD: The government has admitted that there is no technical way to block all objectionable content on the internet. In a written reply to a lawmaker’s query, the National Assembly was informed on Monday that the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) had carried out a search for objectionable material on the internet and blocked 31,819 such websites. But,

No foolproof way to block banned video, says PTA chief

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’s statement on Monday came a day before the Lahore High Court hears a petition seeking the court’s directive to the government to allow access to YouTube, blocked since

Bring back YouTube

There are at least 35 million individual internet subscribers in Pakistan, the majority of who stay online through mobile devices such as phones or tablets. It’s a crucial tool for even more given how it is used as a business and learning resource nationally while also essential for banking and online trading of commodities. However, since the 2012 ban on

Personal freedom of choice

Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA) has blocked almost everything on the Internet in the name of security or morality. Who gave PTA this right to suffocate us? As a free citizen I have the right and authority to surf and watch whatever I want to. The PTA has no right to stop me in the name of moral policing. Being a

Pakistan’s caged social media

By: Ayushman Jamwal Even though Pakistan has enjoyed one full term of a democratically elected government, followed by a successful election last year, its citizens are struggling to fully enjoy one of the basic tenets of democracy – the freedom of expression. The Pakistani state has been in regulation mode since the former PPP government banned Youtube after the movie

A pointless ban

A pointless banIt has been a year and a half since the previous government decided to block YouTube, and the new government upon their arrival, issued a statement that the matter would be looked into, which is basically just another way of displaying their indifference and lack of knowledge on the issue.