Timeline of updates on Youtube Block & Unblock in Pakistan:
- 13th september: Pakistan orders anti-Islam video block on YouTube [Associated Press] – ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Thursday blocked access to an anti-Islam film as security measures beefed up around US diplomatic missions, following attacks on American consulates and embassies in Libya, Egypt and Yemen.
- 17th september: Pakistan PM orders suspension of YouTube over anti-Islam film [Reuters report]
- 1st of October: Youtube won’t be blocked anytime soon [Express Tribune] – In an interview with ProPakistani, Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) and Ministry of Information and Technology officials were determined not to unblock YouTube unless Google decides to take the anti-Islam video offline – internationally or at least in Pakistan – since the decision was covered by a court order.
- 16th October: Blocking anti-Islamic materials: government considering generating internet search engine [Business Recorder] – Government is seriously considering a proposal to generate its own internet search engine based on China model to stop disseminating of any anti-Islamic video or materials in future however no one in the Ministry of Information and Technology was willing to officially confirm this. Sources in the Ministry of Information and Technology said that China gave limited access to google.com. It has its own indigenous search engine ‘Baidu’. This helps China to block the dissemination of such material which is against its national interest. According to the China Digital Times, Baidu has a long history of being the most proactive and restrictive online censor in the search arena. Documents leaked in April 2009 from an employee in Baidu’s internal monitoring and censorship department show a long list of blocked websites and censored topics on Baidu search.
- 9th November: Monitoring the web: Rehman Malik sets up body to review YouTube ban [Express Tribune] – The review is Malik’s personal initiative since the issue does not fall under the purview of his ministry.The review committee will attempt to develop software that would monitor the uploading of “objectionable material” on the video sharing website.
- 12thNovember: Youtube.com accessible in different parts of the country. However videos remain patchy. Reports suggest that while Youtube.com can be accessed on certain websites videos remain unaccessible.
