346
Pakistan
days and affected the Akamai servers, leading to disruptions of Google, Yahoo, BBC,
CNN, ESPN, and several other major Web sites.
46
One of the most extreme examples of collateral fi ltering occurred in February 2008,
when the Pakistani government attempted to block YouTube for hosting the Geert
Wilders video clip.
47 The PTA issued an order to block access to a single video; in
response, the PTCL redirected requests for YouTube videos to its own network. This
rerouting was advertised to ISPs worldwide and was picked up by Hong Kong – based
ISP PCCW, which then broadcast the redirect to other ISPs.
48 YouTube staffers worked
with PCCW to restore access within two hours.
49 Access to YouTube in Pakistan was
restored following YouTube ’ s removal of the offending video.
The Web sites blocked by the two tested ISPs provide a representative snapshot of
fi ltering practices in 2010, consisting mainly of Baluchi-related news, culture, and
independence sites. Although ONI testing did not capture the intermittent blocks on
Facebook and other sites in the wake of “ Draw Mohammed Day, ” a related site, http://
drawmohammed.com , was found blocked by CyberNet. Two other sites containing
images of the Prophet were also found blocked by CyberNet: http://zombietime.com
and http://prophet.rydasrecords.com . Among the handful of other sites blocked by
CyberNet were http://themoviefi tna.com (the Web site for Geert Wilders ’ s anti-Islam
fi lm Fitna ); http://michellemalkin.com (the site of right-wing American talk-show host
Michelle Malkin); and http://www.faithfreedom.org (a site that calls itself a “ grassroots
movement of ex-Muslims ” ). PTCL was found to be blocking only three sites: http://
hinduunity.com , http://hizb-ut-tahrir.org , and http://islamreview.com .
In 2008, the ONI observed that responsibility for implementing fi ltering in Pakistan
had been shifted to the ISP level. Just as the ONI found a decrease in consistency
between tests conducted in 2006 – 2007 and 2008, the most recent round of testing
showed a further decrease in consistency between PTCL and CyberNet. Consistent
with previous tests, 2010 ONI testing showed that the vast majority of Web sites with
content related to independent media, social media, circumvention and anonymity
tools, international human rights groups, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services,
civil society groups, minority religions, Indian and Hindu human rights groups, Pakistani political parties, and sexual content (including pornography and LGBT content)
were accessible across the ISPs tested.
Conclusion
Pakistanis currently have free access to a wide range of content, including most sexual,
political, social, and religious sites on the Internet. Although the majority of fi ltering
in Pakistan is intermittent — such as the occasional block on a major Web site like
Blogspot or YouTube — the PTA continues to block sites containing content it considers
to be blasphemous, anti-Islamic, or threatening to internal security. Online civil
Pakistan
days and affected the Akamai servers, leading to disruptions of Google, Yahoo, BBC,
CNN, ESPN, and several other major Web sites.
46
One of the most extreme examples of collateral fi ltering occurred in February 2008,
when the Pakistani government attempted to block YouTube for hosting the Geert
Wilders video clip.
47 The PTA issued an order to block access to a single video; in
response, the PTCL redirected requests for YouTube videos to its own network. This
rerouting was advertised to ISPs worldwide and was picked up by Hong Kong – based
ISP PCCW, which then broadcast the redirect to other ISPs.
48 YouTube staffers worked
with PCCW to restore access within two hours.
49 Access to YouTube in Pakistan was
restored following YouTube ’ s removal of the offending video.
The Web sites blocked by the two tested ISPs provide a representative snapshot of
fi ltering practices in 2010, consisting mainly of Baluchi-related news, culture, and
independence sites. Although ONI testing did not capture the intermittent blocks on
Facebook and other sites in the wake of “ Draw Mohammed Day, ” a related site, http://
drawmohammed.com , was found blocked by CyberNet. Two other sites containing
images of the Prophet were also found blocked by CyberNet: http://zombietime.com
and http://prophet.rydasrecords.com . Among the handful of other sites blocked by
CyberNet were http://themoviefi tna.com (the Web site for Geert Wilders ’ s anti-Islam
fi lm Fitna ); http://michellemalkin.com (the site of right-wing American talk-show host
Michelle Malkin); and http://www.faithfreedom.org (a site that calls itself a “ grassroots
movement of ex-Muslims ” ). PTCL was found to be blocking only three sites: http://
hinduunity.com , http://hizb-ut-tahrir.org , and http://islamreview.com .
In 2008, the ONI observed that responsibility for implementing fi ltering in Pakistan
had been shifted to the ISP level. Just as the ONI found a decrease in consistency
between tests conducted in 2006 – 2007 and 2008, the most recent round of testing
showed a further decrease in consistency between PTCL and CyberNet. Consistent
with previous tests, 2010 ONI testing showed that the vast majority of Web sites with
content related to independent media, social media, circumvention and anonymity
tools, international human rights groups, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services,
civil society groups, minority religions, Indian and Hindu human rights groups, Pakistani political parties, and sexual content (including pornography and LGBT content)
were accessible across the ISPs tested.
Conclusion
Pakistanis currently have free access to a wide range of content, including most sexual,
political, social, and religious sites on the Internet. Although the majority of fi ltering
in Pakistan is intermittent — such as the occasional block on a major Web site like
Blogspot or YouTube — the PTA continues to block sites containing content it considers
to be blasphemous, anti-Islamic, or threatening to internal security. Online civil