Do anyone ever think that why sometimes they search for some videos in YouTube or on the internet, they could not find some of the videos? It is because it was being censored. Internet censorship is the control of information on the internet circulated among people within the society. Based on an article on ABC net, Pakistan had lifted the ban on YouTube but pages that contain obscene materials will be hidden (ABC.net 2010). According to Google co-founder Brin, he states that the internet will filter pornographic and obscene materials (Farrar 2010). Besides, a court in Pakistan on 19 May 2010 had also ordered a block on Facebook until 31 May 2010 which implemented by the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA). Moreover, YouTube and other websites including Wikipedia had also banned and restricted the access (ABC.net 2010). Therefore, people can no longer surf the internet as they like because some of the websites were banned. YouTube which owned by Google had said that it was working to ensure that the service was restored although Schmidt, Google chief executive was suspected that he suppressed the political criticism behind the ban (ABC.net 2010).
Source: Sultan Knish Blog
PTA spokesman Mehran claimed that although the ban on YouTube was lifted yet the links to obscene content would remain inaccessible in Pakistan (ABC.net 2010). Hence, people can watch video on YouTube but those links to obscene content is not accessible. Walsh (2010) declared that the censorship had also triggered the criticism on Twitter and English-language media in the country. In addition, the internet users were initially able to evade the ban through proxy sites but were defeated when the government blocked those as well (Walsh 2010). On the other hand, Facebook had restricted access to the page entitled 'Everybody Draw Mohammed Day' in certain countries including Pakistan but had not remove in others (Walsh 2010). What do you think about censorship? Is there a need for censorship? I personally think that there is a need for censorship as nowadays no matter they are kids or adults would also surf the internet. Thus, it is important to have censorship as the kids may click on links that contain obscene materials.
References:
ABC.net.au 2010, Pakistan lifts YouTube ban, viewed 13 June 2010, http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/05/27/2911562.htm.
Farrar 2010, CNN Tech, Cashing in on Internet censorship, viewed 13 June 2010, http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/02/18/internet.censorship.business/index.html.
Walsh 2010, The Guardian, Pakistan lifts Facebook ban but 'blasphemous' pages stay hidden, viewed 13 June 2010, http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/may/31/pakistan-lifts-facebook-ban.
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