'Localised YouTube' still distant dream for Pakistan users

The promise of providing Pakistani users with a localized version of video site YouTube is reportedly unlikely to be delivered till 2015, as a result of slow implementation of the'prevention of electronic crimes bill'.

YouTube has long been banned in the Pakistani territory owing to the blasphemous content uploaded by an American filmmaker, which the site had refused to remove as it was against its policy.

However, Pakistan government and the site had together charted out a way out by introducing what could be called as a 'localised' version of the site.

Since the 'prevention of electronic crimes bill' that formed the bases of the negotiations between the government and Google-owned YouTube for the localized site, would become applicable in June 2014, YouTube can't launch the site prior to that, The Nation reports.

According to the report, the prevention of electronic crimes bill does not just aim to facilitate YouTube, but otherwise as well was a requirement to take action against cyber crimes.

Sources said that until and unless the bill was applicable, no site was going to launch its localised version in the country and even if the bill is enacted in June and the site decides to launch a localised version, that is not going to happen before early 2015.