You think it is justified of Google to put a temporary ban on the anti-Islamic videos in Egypt and Libya however it has refused to block the video in Pakistan?

The temporary ban as NOTHING to do with the original content - it is at the moment only preventing users in Egypt and Libya from viewing the video - google need to exercise its own Terms of Use where it reserves the right to delete content that promotes Hate Speech - with over 100 people dead around the world - if this is NOT hate speech then what is?

"we do not permit hate speech (speech which attacks or demeans a group based on race or ethnic origin, religion, disability, gender, age, veteran status and sexual orientation/gender identity)."

But according to the YouTube Community Guidelines above, you can target a religion but not its followers in any way. Given the video in question I am not really sure if it directly attacks Muslims.

I am not trying to take Google's side here but I also found out that one of the reasons Google refused to ban the video in Pakistan was because there is no MLAT (Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty) between Google and Pakistan. If this is true, the government is at fault isn't it?

The terms of use are enough of an explanation that they should remove this video - MLAT is only Country specific - you cant see hence you will not react. Is that a solution? no

Signing of the MLAT (Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty) is a pact between two governments to enforcing public laws. In light of the Blasphemous video the treaty would have ensured that the video would have been censored in Pakistan, firstly the pact does not exist between US Govt and Pakistan (primary blame goes to our Govt of Pakistan since its too busy following instructions from the US that we have little time to stand up for our own rights & Issues) - without an MLAT - Google can't be forced to censor this video

But in reality Muslims all around the world are offended by this Blasphemous video, simply censoring it in Pakistan does not remove the fact that a Blasphemous video exists - it is akin to forcibly censoring the video to the people of Pakistan - while Google International continues to run this video in other countries - and the contents of the video continue to blasphemous our Prophet (pbuh)

What needs to be argued and pushed is to force Google International to delete this video entirely, and any other derivatives as well. No ifs & buts, or any conditions a total and outright deletion of the video ! Is the demand of every muslim all around the world

Ok so the problem is at both end.

- Government won't sign the treat.
- Google is not ready to realize how such content offends Muslim

but let's be clear that it is NOT "hate speech". Plus another point that I must add here and is important for people to know is that YouTube and Google are two separate entities.

And while YouTube is a product of Google, they still work independently in different parts of the world. Google does have a local domain (also known as Google.com.pk) while YouTube does not have a local presence for Pakistan so this issue gets all more complicated because YouTube is not bound by any of our government's requests (at least not legally).

- This is hate speech, and it spread hatred. Let me know if you need clarification on this.

- YouTube won't remove this, because movie was not made to be removed.

I had an opportunity to interview three Israeli Jewish two weeks ago, on the same topic. They told me that Judaism doesn't allow producing images of God. But pictorial depiction of prophets and criticism is allowed and hence they don't find it objectionable when a prophet is mocked, criticized or even insulted.

Since, drawing God is not allowed and hence there are laws in local states for blasphemy, though last prosecuted individual dates way back coz they don't have enemies like we have (the Jewish).

UK has a blasphemy law and so is the case in countless other Christian states (in Europe).

Then there is law for Holocaust Denial in at least twenty European countries, including Israel.

MLAT, any other treaty or agreement isn't the reason. Reason is that Jewish want to pinch Muslims, provoke them to ignite violence so they may achieve their agendas.

I agree with PROPakistani this is BY ANY STANDARD "hate speech" if they want proof just simply count the number of deaths around the world and that alone is a testament that a certain group of people consider this as hate

Their own Terms of Use states is quite clear

"We don’t permit hate speech (speech which attacks or demeans a group based on race or ethnic origin, religion, disability, gender, age, veteran status, and sexual orientation/gender identity)."

better translated / rephrased removing the commas and the or's

"We don’t permit hate speech speech which attacks or demeans a religion"

So, if thought sensibly, they should have removed the video from the day protests started and demands were made to remove the clip. Exactly like they remove Holocaust denial clips.

I had a detailed post on double standards of west here: propakistani.pk

Another proof that they won't remove the movie: Try flagging the video, 1 million times - but the video will remain there, unlike many other instances when one dozen reports are usually considered enough.

We tried this with Draw Mohammad Day page. My estimates suggest that DMD page was reported by at least 100K users... but Facebook didn't remove the page.

Well just hold up a bit here. When we say they should do that on their own do we have proof that they remove holocaust denial videos without a request from an MLAT ratified country? I dont think there is any debate on the gross hate in this video or the amount of insult and damage it has caused. However can google remove it without the necessary procedure? Also as @awab pointed out its not about removing it from the localized version of youtube which they have done in the other countries like singapore and india and saudia but about removing it from their international site.

I would recommend you reading a little about Jewish community, how organized, loyal to each other, co-ordinated and with a single aim they are; just to understand why all this is happening.

If we really want to do something then protests aren't the only thing we need. There's a lot more to be done with patience, as it might take years to achieve.

Ok so Google is wrong and we have that right but what about our local authorities?

I am not sure if we can force Google into doing something as Google isn't bound by our law but will the local authorities take this seriously and consider forming cyber laws and treaties to save itself from any such havoc in the future?

Perhaps if the jewish community can wield this kind of power by being organized we should get united and do the same.

And please keep this discussion in context to ban in Pakistan only. Lets not target other groups.

@Saad Hamid

Local authorities are good for nothing, if I may speak frankly. We don't have a cyber law, the basic need for running internet in the country, let alone the MLAT and other things that have been discussed here.

I agree. The government's decision costed us a loss of 75 billion rupees.

Saad bahi, all what I have said above is related to ban. As it will help you understand that why content isn't being removed.

You can get a content removed from a website (any website for that matter) on individual level if you can prove that content is violating website or host specific TOS.

We (at ProPakistani) have done this recently, had to ask many hosts to remove URLs from their servers that were violating our copyrights since webmasters weren't ready to remove the content.

In other news, PTI puts Google on notice? Last time I checked this was the government's job.

Google would (or should) only react to our government's law and order.

interesting - PTI gets criticized for protesting and then criticized again for following through with proper measures - truly when a govt is not interested in doing jack to protect the interests of the people - appreciate concrete steps taken by others to do good.

Had if the govt been interested then the Pakistan Embassy in Washington should have given a show casue notice and dragged Google in a US court of law - for violating its own terms of use and hurting the sentiments of the people of Pakistan

I share with you the original letter by Dr. Arif Alvi, Secretary General of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf - i think this step should be widely appreciated

AFAIK anyone can put anyone on notice, before actually going legal. That's a softer way of telling someone of your demands before you actually file a case.

So I don't find it amateurish of PTI for sending a legal notice to YouTube or Google.

Today, Jinnah Institute hosted a round table with the LUMS Initiative on Internet and Society (IIS) to discuss 'Internet Freedom and Free Speech'. It had representation from PTA, government officials, bloggers, journalists, Internet activists and some very important questions were asked that I must add below:

- Questions were raised over western society being biased as nude photos of Kate Middleton were taken down on request however the blasphemous video that has literally wrecked havoc all around the world is something that Google is not ready to take action against. (someone defended this by saying that in case of Kate Middleton the issue was that her privacy was being invaded and Google takes matters of privacy very seriously.

- Also it was proposed that there should be a time-limit imposed on blasphemous or obscene content and after serving the time, the ban should be lifted or at least, should be re-reviewed by the authorities.

- There was a discussion on the 'what/who defines obscenity of blasphemy, the definition may differ from person to person and that there should be more transparency about who handles this issues in the government, what are they qualifications of the individuals who are making these decisions.

- There was a strict opposition to "blanket ban". Not only was it termed ridiculous, it was also termed as an attack on ones right to access to information. Think about all the individuals who used YouTube for online courses, learning, Quran, business-related tasks etc. The government simply does not account for the economic downfall (if any).

- The same blasphemous video is available on sites like MetaCafe and DailyMotion but what is government doing to block content from these sites? or is it just a political drama to ban YouTube and not push further for any extra measures.

- And last, what about the content that belittles or attacks other sects of Islam (unfortunately created by Muslims themselves). Good example would be videos in favor of killing Shia Muslims or Ahmadis, shouldn't there be a policy to address this?

That's pretty much it. Much of questions need some serious answering!

- Another proposal, which I missed out, is very important to put to record. It was suggested that viewers of the blasphemous video should be prosecuted too.

Another important point being discussed today was transparency of personnel and procedures conducted by them in regulatory authority like PTA.