Pakistan blocks YouTube, breaks internet
On Friday, Pakistan blocked access to YouTube on the grounds of “anti-Islamic” content. The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority, which issued the order, didn’t specify what the authorities had taken offence to although a PTA official mentioned a trailer for Geert Wilders’ unreleased film. The official also mentioned that the PTA blocks any sites that show the Muhammed cartoons.
In order to block the site, PTA engineers “hijacked” YouTube’s server address, repointing it to technical cul-de-sac. The redirect details were then passed on to the country’s 70 Internet service providers so that anyone trying to access the site would be sent up the cul-de-sac.
And then these details were accidentally passed on, to Hong-Kong based PCCW who updated their servers and passed the details on. The upshot of all this was that YouTube was blocked all over the place.
Once the YouTube engineers realised what was going on they contacted PCCW who lifted the block. Google, the owners of YouTube, said that the problem lasted for about two hours.
Maybe the censorious types who called for the block in the first place should move to ban Pakistan’s government for making Islamic leaders look like a bunch of incompetent authoritarians.
Wednesday 27 Feb 2008 | Paul | Pakistan
