No timeframe for lifting YouTube ban

Pakistan, which has blocked over 2,700 "objectionable" websites since it placed a ban on YouTube last September, today said no timeframe can be set for lifting the ban on popular video sharing website as Google is not cooperating with authorities.
Pakistan's Information Technology State Minister Anusha Rehman said: "Over 2,700 objectionable websites have been blocked in the country since the ban on YouTube."
She, however, expressed the government's inability to block blasphemous film 'Innocence of Muslims' from various websites. The film has sparked fury in the Muslim world.
"The task of filtering objectionable content is difficult. It involves manually blocking of every website which cannot be undertaken. We are looking for a software, that could block such content automatically," she said, adding since Google was not cooperating with Pakistan "no timeframe" for lifting the ban on YouTube could be given.

"Since the matter is in the court and we have informed it that we don't have any mechanism to ensure blocking of the blasphemous stuff on different websites we cannot say when the YouTube will be restored," Rehman said.
Meanwhile, the Lahore High Court today adjourned the hearing on YouTube ban till August 19.

An additional secretary of the IT ministry today told the court that the minister could not appear before it as she had gone to Saudi Arabia to perform Umra.
In the last hearing, the court had directed the minister to ensure her presence on August 7 for the government's "clear response" on a petition challenging the ban on access to YouTube.

A local NGO, Bytes for All, had filed petition in the Lahore High Court for withdrawal of the ban slapped by the previous PPP government on video sharing website - YouTube - after Google administration had refused to remove blasphemous film 'Innocence of Muslims' from the site, saying the ban infringe on fundamental rights to reading and knowledge.