Pakistan's YouTube ban briefly affected worldwide access
YouTube said on Monday that an Internet service provider complying with Pakistan's freshly-instated ban on the website routed many worldwide users to nowhere for a couple of hours over the weekend.
By Agencies |
SAN FRANCISCO: YouTube said on Monday that an Internet service provider complying with Pakistan's freshly-instated ban on the website routed many worldwide users to nowhere for a couple of hours over the weekend.
"For about two hours (Sunday), traffic to YouTube was routed according to erroneous Internet Protocols, and many users around the world could not access our site," YouTube said in a written reply to an inquiry.
"We have determined that the source of these events was a network in Pakistan. We are investigating and working with others in the Internet community to prevent this from happening again."
Pakistan ordered all Internet service providers to block the YouTube website for containing "blasphemous content, videos and documents" considered offensive to Islam, a government official told reporters.
"The site will remain blocked till further orders," he said. Other officials said the site had been blocked because it contained controversial sketches of the Prophet Mohammed which were republished by Danish newspapers earlier this month.
At least 17 Danish newspapers republished the controversial drawing, vowing to defend freedom of expression a day after Danish police said they had foiled a plot to murder the cartoonist.
Some 12 cartoons published in September 2005 by the Danish Jyllands-Posten newspaper sparked bloody riots in the Islamic world.
Five people died in Pakistan in February 2006 during protests against the cartoons, while a Pakistani cleric offered a reward of one million dollars and a new car for anyone who killed any of the cartoonists.
"For about two hours (Sunday), traffic to YouTube was routed according to erroneous Internet Protocols, and many users around the world could not access our site," YouTube said in a written reply to an inquiry.
"We have determined that the source of these events was a network in Pakistan. We are investigating and working with others in the Internet community to prevent this from happening again."
Pakistan ordered all Internet service providers to block the YouTube website for containing "blasphemous content, videos and documents" considered offensive to Islam, a government official told reporters.
"The site will remain blocked till further orders," he said. Other officials said the site had been blocked because it contained controversial sketches of the Prophet Mohammed which were republished by Danish newspapers earlier this month.
At least 17 Danish newspapers republished the controversial drawing, vowing to defend freedom of expression a day after Danish police said they had foiled a plot to murder the cartoonist.
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Some 12 cartoons published in September 2005 by the Danish Jyllands-Posten newspaper sparked bloody riots in the Islamic world.
Five people died in Pakistan in February 2006 during protests against the cartoons, while a Pakistani cleric offered a reward of one million dollars and a new car for anyone who killed any of the cartoonists.
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