PAKISTAN BACKS DOWN FROM "YOUTUBE" BLOCKAGE

UNCLAS ISLAMABAD 000856 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL ECPS ECON EINT KPAO PK SUBJECT: PAKISTAN BACKS DOWN FROM "YOUTUBE" BLOCKAGE Ref: Islamabad 806 1.(SBU) Summary: After a Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) effort to "protect" Pakistanis from blasphemous Internet content went wildly off the rails and caused an international outage of the YouTube video-sharing website, PTA has withdrawn the order to block the site. As Internet industry insiders fret over the vulnerabilities this incident reveals, PTA insists the aim of the blockage was to preserve public order, and Pakistani observers continue to see more secular than religious motives. End summary. ¶2. (U) PTA ordered Internet service providers (ISPs) on February 23 to block access to YouTube (reftel). Pakistan Telecommunications Corp. Ltd. (PTCL),Pakistan's largest ISP, then tried to establish an Internet protocol to route user requests for YouTube access to a "black hole." PTCL sent the request to its international service carrier, Hong Kong-based PCCW Ltd. PCCW published the instruction to redirect YouTube access requests to a new address, advising its other customers to use the routing. As a result, most of the global YouTube access requests from Internet users for about two hours on February 24 were routed to the "black hole," denying access to all. ¶3. (U) In a February 25 news release, PTA said it ordered YouTube to be blocked "on account of showing (a) highly blasphemous Dutch film." (Note: Release of the film by Dutch politician Geert Wilders is expected in March. The video in question apparently was about Wilders and his message, but was not the film itself. End note.) PTA said it made the decision after meeting with senior officials of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Religious Affairs, Cabinet Division, Federal Investigation Agency, and PTA. "PTA believes that the said footage absolutely stands against the values of religious tolerance and peaceful coexistence arousing deep anguish and distress across the Muslim world. Had this highly profane and sacrilegious footage not been banned, it would have caused more unrest and possible loss of life and property across the country," the statement said. Media report that PTA also claimed YouTube's terms of service forbid hate speech, so blasphemous content would violate that provision. ¶4. (U) On February 26, PTA walked back the order to block YouTube, saying the site had removed the offensive material. Access to YouTube via Pakistani ISPs is now back to normal. ¶5. (U) Although it appears that the Pakistan incident was an unintentional misunderstanding, industry analysts have commented in the media that this case shows how easy it would be for an ISP with malicious intent simply to announce that it is the official or preferred portal to a particular website; data carriers with no reason to doubt the information would in good faith share it with other customers, and the malicious ISP could hijack the site in question. ¶6. (SBU) Comment: Pakistani media continue to point out that with YouTube hosting videos that show alleged rigging in last week's parliamentary elections, election-related violence, Pakistan's judicial controversies, and criticism of government officials, there are plenty of reasons besides religious sensitivities for the Pakistani authorities' effort to keep the country's Internet users away from YouTube. End comment. PATTERSON