-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 Is the pending "Multi-Lateral Assistance Treaty (MLAT) between Google and Pakistan" cited a reference to something real? I'm not sure what the intended meaning is (besides something that's not an MLAT).
Michael On 12/09/2012 12:01 AM, Fouad Bajwa wrote: > According to Pakistan's largest English Daily, the News > International: > > Permanent Link to the Story: > http://jang.com.pk/thenews/Dec2012-weekly/nos-09-12-2012/dia.htm#1 > Only valid for today's e-print: > http://e.thenews.com.pk/12-9-2012/nos_page9.asp > > Virtually blocked - With no breakthrough on YouTube registration > in Pakistan in sight, the authorities affirm the ban will stay By > Shahzada Irfan Ahmed After a prolonged spell of suppressed > activity, social media websites in Pakistan suddenly became alive > on Dec 3, with endless posts and tweets about the reopening of > YouTube in the country. To many, this was nothing unexpected as the > development had coincided with the tentative deadline given by > Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) Chairman for the removal > of the ban. He had told a private TV channel on November 15 that > the Youtube ban may be lifted within 15 to 20 days. > > Article: > > Virtually blocked - With no breakthrough on YouTube registration > in Pakistan in sight, the authorities affirm the ban will stay By > Shahzada Irfan Ahmed refresh - TNS The News on Sunday December 09, > 2012 Source: > http://jang.com.pk/thenews/Dec2012-weekly/nos-09-12-2012/dia.htm#1 > > After a prolonged spell of suppressed activity, social media > websites in Pakistan suddenly became alive on Dec 3, with endless > posts and tweets about the reopening of YouTube in the country. To > many, this was nothing unexpected as the development had coincided > with the tentative deadline given by Pakistan Telecommunication > Authority (PTA) Chairman for the removal of the ban. He had told a > private TV channel on November 15 that the Youtube ban may be > lifted within 15 to 20 days. > > Popular news channels also broke the news, mostly via tickers, but > the furore was short-lived. Soon afterwards, the PTA sources > denied issuing any such orders and held some service providers > responsible for this discrepancy. Like always, they had no clue of > when the ban was going to be lifted. > > The situation to date is that there has not been any development > since the imposition of a blanket ban on YouTube in Pakistan which > came into effect on September 17. The PTA chairman once expressed > the hope the website will be registered in Pakistan, but sources > privy to its communication with Google — the owner of YouTube — say > the internet giant has not given an encouraging response. Having a > local presence in around 40 countries, with some small ones having > an internet user base of only 3 million or so, apparently Google is > not desirous of entertaining Pakistan’s request which has a base of > 22 million internet users. > > The question haunting many is whether the authorities have > succeeded or not in getting the desired results with the help of > this ban, and what will be the future course of action if Google > does not register itself here. > > Muhammad Nawaz, an IT geek, technologist and academic, says the > government of Pakistan should have signed a contract with Google > years ago as this was not the first time the website had been > blocked in Pakistan. Had it been registered inside Pakistan, it > would have been bound to abide by the local laws issued by the > local authorities. > > The ban, he says, is of no use as people have found ways to > circumvent it. “Those who want to access YouTube are doing that > with the help of certain softwares, proxy websites and Internet > Protocol (IP) blockers”. > > Nawaz says the objectionable trailer of the blasphemous movie that > triggered the ban was blocked in India, Turkey etc. just because > they had country versions of YouTube. “In Turkey, anyone who types > YouTube.com is diverted to YouTube.com.tr but this is not the case > here. There the website has had to comply with the orders of > Turkish courts and has often blocked content such as that related > to Kemal Ataturk.” > > On the other hand, a well-discussed Multi-Lateral Assistance > Treaty (MLAT) between Google and Pakistan is pending for well above > two years, mainly due to the lack of interest shown by the PTA and > other related authorities. “What can we expect from the authority > which cannot even block the websites like > https://www.facebook.com/3Gcorruption targetting its own sitting > and outgoing bosses.” > > Nawaz points out that a large number of people have been deprived > of the opportunity to do educational research online, access > entertainment-related content, benefit from religious content and > health tips. To elaborate his point, he says, there are between > 70,000 to 80,000 students enrolled with the Virtual University (VU) > who access their lectures via YouTube. “Though there’s a compulsion > on cable operators to air VU channels on their networks but hardly > anyone does that. So YouTube is the only option left for them.” > > There is another angle to the story which is apparently haunting > the PTA. Fouad Bajwa, an internet rights activist and policy > advocate based in Lahore, observes that in Pakistan the internet > policy has always been based on public demand and defined by norms > of public morality. “The PTA fears that its policy decision to open > YouTube may affect public order as has happened in the form of > protests leading to loss of property and lives in Pakistan”. > > Based on his interactions with different stakeholders, Bajwa feels > the government has been under pressure to open the website. “But > the challenge on the other hand is that the Google is not listening > to the government demands to remove or block the objectionable > content. I’ve also heard that Badar Khushnood, the Google > representative in Pakistan, has also failed to convince the Google > to do something acceptable to the Pakistani authorities”. > > So right now, the PTA is facing a challenge and has to decide > whether it should open the website or not and, if yes, on what > conditions. It is strongly believed among the internet community > that the Google is sticking to its own vision of freedom of > expression, something its representative expressed at the Internet > Governance Forum in Baku recently. > > Google representative Badar Khushnood was not willing to comment > due to the sensitivity of the issue. It was also learnt he is > avoiding media interaction since the day the Interior Minister > Rahman Malik publicly warned of action against him if the Google > refused to cooperate with Pakistan on terrorism-related issues. > > Sources say the Google has expressed fears that local registration > of YouTube will compromise the interests of the Pakistani public at > the hands of the state. They add the PTA has offered to follow all > the requirements for local registration, but Google is giving one > excuse or the other every time. The internet giant believes the > restoration of judiciary in Pakistan, the Arab Spring in the Middle > East and the uprising in Iran became successful only because the > site was not subservient to local laws. > > So, the option the PTA is working on is to set up a highly > advanced content filtering system which will block the unwanted > material and may also detect use of proxy servers, the sources say, > adding “when will it be possible is a mystery.” This will be a > tough task as an estimated 72 hours of video content is uploaded on > Facebook every minute. > > TNS forwarded a questionnaire to the PTA spokesperson Malahat Rab > more than a week ago, but she has still not responded. All we have > received is a statement forwarded on behalf of Sajjad Latif Awan, > Director Enforcement, PTA Headquarters, Islamabad. It says the PTA > has not ordered anybody to open the access of YouTube in Pakistan > and there are reports that some service providers and operators > have facilitated that. > > “The PTA has initiated inquiry to check which Service Providers > and Operators have opened the access to YouTube and afterwards > stern actions will be taken against those responsible,” it adds. > - -- Michael Carbone Project Manager | Access | https://www.accessnow.org [email protected] | PGP: 0x81B7A13 -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.11 (GNU/Linux) iQIcBAEBAgAGBQJQxE8XAAoJEDH9usG3Jz33RakP+wdkF0fB3WHz3JlzS+64A7ou N0j8Z1bRBpp4rWiiVYeY+nQ0FaVhPIe2rz61/df4Ima81UjCPxl6s3wq75gOZnwe BV0Yjz+iYjD/wFjiSeXT4kvCRP5yl1XC2Le7KbW1sJbem6IxiD0q9ZTGNAiv4mMo 78OehAUxrifO19Tj1mwVn0aBMZ/3zOqgD2hHhhyUlk3CiKHBUtKFJB8tOHXfwr1Z tRNQhZcDUP365vIPTiyRB6KJfqvetOVo3Eg8ZaiLkg8DlH/+uBqvC+Fy+LEWKKwK eGba66LPmb/D+pzfimFUYCf83eETFCmy7EbZhcDOxGA9Q066Hf+2NaXqctSgNv6U SpDJ6JajNVCSSDRnFHGXgJtP7RBM7bJ/4dj5QwI0Xlu/FAlKQUdTHlXbTjE8kRaa eFw1ifXQxpMQnyfl0tzd9vbyfK1YbIAPT5Qtyp5Wmb+Duil5UgX2tZWQoyo4qDn2 qlWZR5YHEMoG3jA/u3706m6YdKqDaVlmGXvYwgehk7QWQkw5n+THCGmEt+jslvAA lGm2pzVBE3UeHM7FWZAgVtSihCRwkANrIOJ4Race1DP9n928Ne+KJSonmrwrnu4Z dt8LbqE2d64CUEEU1qtjzguuXg38QN1wobfJoED2ofqtrxBs+iDK45BkQ+oS1Uh6 bxs49WXD8U1e+ip0LZs1 =YtIF -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- -- Unsubscribe, change to digest, or change password at: https://mailman.stanford.edu/mailman/listinfo/liberationtech
