Governments of Pakistan in the last decade have shown a propensity to inflict self-harm when it comes to new technologies, particularly the internet. The YouTube ban that was imposed more than two years ago has become an irrelevant laughing-stock. The ban has given rise to a
ISLAMABAD: For those who have been able to access YouTube in the last a few days, the joy is short-lived. “The reason why YouTube was accessible in certain parts of the country was because of a technical fault which will be fixed,” said Minister of State for Information
There was a recent news item suggesting that the ministry or governmental authority or whatever had declared that the ban on YouTube was not going to be lifted in Pakistan any time soon. The reason given was that improper content could not be removed from it. By improper content we all know
Pakistan is becoming more Orwellian by the week. The ban on YouTube has now been announced as “indefinite” as the government has been unable to find a way to block blasphemous content. For me the ban was inconvenient for around 10 minutes — the time it took
In the United States, everyone — from a school girl to Lady Gaga, from a young boy to President Barack Obama — posts stories from their lives on social media outlets. Even the Central Intelligence Agency, one of the world’s top spy agencies, got itself a Twitter account recently. But Pakistanis can only dream about such freedom on the internet.
KARACHI: “You don’t kill a story if you Kill a journalist,” said multimedia journalist and trainer Terry Anzur during a session at The Second Floor on Thursday. The session titled ‘strengthening broadcast journalism’ revolved around experiences and expressions of two journalists currently on a training tour organised by the US state department. Anzur with over 30 years of working experience
ISLAMABAD: In a bid to reopen social media website YouTube soon in Pakistan, the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication has dispatched a summary to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, seeking necessary approval prior to his departure to United States, The Nation learnt on Saturday. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is scheduled to visit New York on 23rd of this month to
Pakistan enjoys nothing more than proving the wisdom behind the cliché ‘cutting off your nose to spite your face’. It is entirely appropriate that the phrase can be traced back to a time in Europe when women would mutilate themselves in order to protect their ‘purity’, since all our most self-destructive actions involve misbegotten notions of honour and morality. For
ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has so far blocked over 21,000 websites containing blasphemous material and while the process is still continuing a report will be sent to the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Monday to decide if the YouTube should be reopened. After verifying the strength of the response mechanism placed by the PTA to handle blasphemous material on the
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