Thin Skin: SMS Political Jokes In Pakistan Can Get You 14 Years In Jail

from the can't-take-a-joke? dept

It would appear that the typical late-night TV comedian in the US would face serious jailtime in Pakistan, were he based there. MK alerts us that President Asif Ali Zardari of Pakistan is so annoyed by people passing around jokes about him via SMS that the gov't has started threatening to charge people for passing around such jokes, as "slandering the political leadership of the country" under a vaguely worded Cyber Crimes law, that could lead to 14 years in jail. It seems that should only lead to more jokes. How does one get to be a political leader with such a thin skin?

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(Mis)Uses of Technology

by Mike Masnick

Tue, Feb 26th 2008 11:01am

Pakistan Lifts YouTube Ban... Hopes Internet Stays In One Piece This Time

from the not-so-quiet-after-all dept

When other countries have decided to ban YouTube, they've done it rather publicly, with a judge or politician stating very publicly that the site was to be banned for offensive videos. However, over the weekend, when Pakistan decided to ban YouTube, it tried to do so quietly, by simply telling various ISPs to block the site and hoping people wouldn't notice. That didn't work so well. As you might have noticed, thanks to the way some ISPs handle information, not only did it take out YouTube in Pakistan, but it ended up knocking it offline throughout much of the world, generating an awful lot of attention. And now, just about a day later, Pakistan has decided not to ban YouTube after all. So for a day's worth of a "quiet" ban on YouTube, Pakistan helped knock YouTube offline around the globe, got tons of attention to the fact that it was banning the site over some mysteriously "offensive" videos, and then didn't end up banning the site very long anyway. How effective was that plan?

5 Comments | Leave a Comment..

(Mis)Uses of Technology

by Mike Masnick

Mon, Feb 25th 2008 12:50am

Pakistan Joins The Axis Of NoTube; Screws Up The Internet

from the yeah,-that'll-work dept

Some news stories really make you wonder if politicians ever think their actions through. It's as if they don't realize that anything they do might have a reaction that nullifies the point of the action in the first place. An example of this would be the repeated ridiculous attempts by various countries to ban YouTube entirely. We've already seen it happen in Brazil, Turkey, Morocco and Thailand. In every case, it was over some random video that the government (or a judge) found offensive. Yet, in calling for the entire site to be blocked, the effort only called a lot more attention to the offending videos, while also pissing off the much larger population of folks who were using YouTube to look at other content. The latest to join this crowd would be Pakistan, who quietly ordered ISPs to block YouTube without making any kind of public announcement. Of course, in doing so, the ISP PCCW that serves many countries throughout Asia accidentally blocked YouTube in many other countries as well -- and apparently directed a barrage of unwanted traffic at a Pakistani site, basically knocking Pakistan off the internet for a bit. Oops. Given how little previous bans of YouTube succeeded in preventing interest in these "offensive" videos, does Pakistan actually think it will work this time?

30 Comments | Leave a Comment..

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Thin Skin: SMS Political Jokes In Pakistan Can Get You 14 Years In Jail

from the can't-take-a-joke? dept

Pakistan Lifts YouTube Ban... Hopes Internet Stays In One Piece This Time

from the not-so-quiet-after-all dept

Pakistan Joins The Axis Of NoTube; Screws Up The Internet

from the yeah,-that'll-work dept

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