Pakistan To Scour Google, Yahoo For Blasphemy 371
sv_libertarian sends in this excerpt from an AP report:
"Pakistan will start monitoring seven major websites, including Google, Yahoo, and Amazon, for sacrilegious content, while blocking 17 other, lesser-known sites it deems offensive to Muslims, an official said Friday. The moves follow Pakistan's temporary ban imposed on Facebook in May that drew both praise and condemnation in a country that has long struggled to figure out how strict a version of Islam it should follow. ... 'If any particular link with offensive content appears on these websites, the (link) shall be blocked immediately without disturbing the main website,' [said Pakistan Telecommunication Authority spokesman Khurram Mehran]."
Fulltime Job (Score:5, Insightful)
8==D O: Muhammad sucking a big cock (Score:5, Insightful)
So does that mean they are only block my comment from being viewed, but not all of slashdot? I'd like to see how they plan on doing that.
Imagine the uproar if it was the other way round (Score:5, Insightful)
Imagine if these companies sought to block Pakistan or any other Islamic country. There would be uproar and claims of racism, anti-religious behaviour etc. etc. Yet when these same governments block sites for religious purposes it's considered some sort of right to choose (nevermind that it's on behalf of so many whose rights are stomped). I don't have an issue with people blocking their own access out of stupidity, but this idea that they can choose on behalf of others is a reminder of why religious rather than rational reasoning is so dangerous and has no place in politics.
To paraphrase xkcd (Score:3, Insightful)
Somewhere, someone on the internet is blaspheming. Duty calls.
Re:Fulltime Job (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:8==D O: Muhammad sucking a big cock (Score:3, Insightful)
Ah, but we do want pakistanis to find this. It is their government that doesn't wish for them to view it.
Muhammad (Score:4, Insightful)
Come block Slashdot!
This is what happens (Score:5, Insightful)
When you bend over backwards to accommodate radicals. Facebook caved in so easily, now Islam wants to police the entire internet...
There's an old saying: Give them an inch and they will take a mile.
I feel sorry for non radical muslims living in Pakistan because you will soon lose access to slashdot? Why? Because of the following comment:
Mohammed was not the prophet of god, he was a homosexual violence crazed pedophile who enjoyed sneaking pork sandwiches between cock-sucking sessions.
To Pakistan, with love from yours truly and probably quite few of us here on slashdot.
Re:Ah My (Score:2, Insightful)
This is basically the Pakistani version of the Fairness Doctrine--a government deciding what is fair and what should be read by its citizens. Situations like this are exactly why people oppose this stuff.
why bother (Score:3, Insightful)
People who insist on living in the past will be buried with it.
Re:Fulltime Job (Score:3, Insightful)
The department that will handle that will one day become larger than the IRS.
I was of the understanding that the Pakistan has good relations with China, so maybe they could get some firewall installed with a little help. If China can sensor the whole internet to the extent that it does, I have little doubt that that Pakistan could at least attempt to modify it for anti-Islamic comments instead of (or maybe in addition to) political dissent.
So I guess that's the danger of censorship and anti-net neutrality. Once they get the ball rolling, it will probably become more efficient and more common, unfortunately.
Re:Grow up (Score:5, Insightful)
Just because someone is going to get mad, doesn't mean I shouldn't do it. I'll exercise discretion as I please, who are you to dictate your ideas of respect to me?
Re:Ah My (Score:5, Insightful)
There's a comparison in here somewhere between what Pakistan is doing and the Texas school book stuff.
In both cases, we have religion so terrified of concepts that they actively seek to block the dissemination of said concepts.
You Grow Up. (Score:1, Insightful)
Fundamentalist thought in all faith is dangerous, right now: in our time, fundamentalist Muslim thought is our ENEMY. The war will be fought with education, and educating to begin with: the "I may disagree with what you say but will defend to the death your right to say it" is a good start.
Re:Grow up (Score:5, Insightful)
If he's going to trample on other people's rights over it, you're damn right I should. This isn't about making people mad. I know some Muslims, they're decent enough, and I don't really care for offending people just for the sake of it, but this isn't about offending people. This is about people who want to control other people's inherent right to free speech , and I would rather stand up and say yes, I have free speech, and if you don't like what I, or anyone else, has to say, if you find it offensive, that's fine, you have the right to be offended, but if you want to stop anyone, go fuck a pig. [encycloped...matica.com] Warning, link NSFP (not safe for Pakistan).
Oh, and maybe your idea that what other people think should influence what I can say is offensive to me, so you should stop.
Re:Ah My (Score:5, Insightful)
It's not about Islam. It's just their version of "Think of the Children!". It's about politicians trying to distract the general public from failings in their government. Trying to pretend that they are actually doing something about something. "We are seriously concerned about family and religious values in our country . . . blah, blah, blah . . . "
Pakistani Press Conference Reporter: "What is the government doing about youth unemployment?"
Government Spokesman: "By the way, have you taken a look at our new Internet Sacrilegious Content Campaign?"
Pakistani Press Conference Reporter: "Um, eh . . I was asking about unemployment . . ."
So it is nothing more than a "Think of the sacrilegious content!" cry.
FUCK OFF!!!!! (Score:2, Insightful)
Just because you know calling another kid a name will make him mad doesn't mean that you should do it. A little respect, please.
When the entire PURPOSE of that anger is to squelch dissent and stifle free speech?
FUCK OFF!!!!
This world will be a much better and safer when Islam is dragged out of the 11th century.
How to blaspheme: a demonstration (Score:5, Insightful)
So, this should be equally offensive to Muslims, Christians, and Jews. Those of y’all who consider yourselves believers in a variation of one of those themes, pay attention:
If I were to tell you a story about a talking unicorn who gave a pep talk to the reluctant hero before instructing the hero in how to wield his magic wand, you’d know instantly that I was telling you a make-believe faery tale that has no bearing on reality whatsoever.
If I were to swap out the unicorn with talking shrubbery, you’d still come to the same conclusion, but you’d think it’s a particularly weird story taking even stranger liberties with reality.
But if I were to light the shrubbery on fire, name the hero, “Moses,” and call the wand “The Staff of Aaron,” you’d know that this is the absolute truth, the Word of YHWH, to be accepted uncritically as historical fact. (Exodus chapters 3 and 4, to be specific.) Or, at the very least, it’s some sort of utterly profound morality play from which deep meaning can and should be drawn.
And you’d be a complete and total blithering fucking idiot for doing so.
Cheers,
b&
Reason #3 Your Nation Will Stay A Backwater (Score:3, Insightful)
Intense concern over matters of religious adherence, blasphemy or other measures of religious adherence, practice or devotion. Focusing this concern on people outside your nation with substantial cultural and/or religious differences from you and/or the Internet intensifies this effect.
The overall impact of this is to make your nation appear filled with superstitious, power-hungry and intolerant zealots. People will not fear or respect you, they will dislike you for this and believe you are petty, small-minded and foolish.
You will be mocked and laughed at and your nation will remain an ignorant backwater, its people suffering from disease and maladies long since cured by more flexible and rational thinking.
Re:Fulltime Job (Score:1, Insightful)
Wouldn't that be hazard pay? As it would, defacto, be endangering their immortal souls?
Unless they hire athiests......
Common between religious fanatics (Score:3, Insightful)
I really wonder how they console the idea there are different gods and theirs' the best yet he needs their feeble human help to save his face.
Basically they are ass-wipes and now they have a government working for them.
Re:Ah My (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Fulltime Job (Score:5, Insightful)
If they don't find enough offensive content, will they have to create their own to justify their existence?
Have you seen the internet?
Re:Grow up (Score:3, Insightful)
Having no sense of humor is no excuse for limiting free speech.
Re:Grow up (Score:4, Insightful)
You miss the point of this entirely. Prohibition of blasphemy is a rule you set up for the members of *your* faith only, not for others. Trying to impose your rules over people who have not signed up for your religion has to be called on.
Moral relativism is a plague (Score:3, Insightful)
It makes me despair that so many people here somehow find a means to feel sympathetic to these guys' opinion (either explicitly or, which is more common, by taking it from their own religious point of view). As soon as you start walking down that path, you're bound to obey every randomly idiotic law some religious nut, somewhere, at some point in time, had the good idea to utter... and at this point, you know where to stick your freedom of speech. And sadly, that holds true for *all* religions.
Backwards (Score:3, Insightful)
The Internet is redundant (Score:2, Insightful)
If the Internet is contained in the $Holy_Book, it is redundant,therefore useless.
If it is not, it's not only useless, but very dangerous.
Re:hey religious nuts! (Score:3, Insightful)
Anyone know what the arabic phrase for "epic fail" is?
I believe it goes something like, "Welcome to college, miss. I hope you continue to receive a good education."
PS: This was also considered failure in the Old South.
That's the problem with Islam (Score:4, Insightful)
Muslims read and recite the whole Qu'ran with great interest and study. Say what you want about Evangelicals, but at least they have the good sense to ignore the bible and sing meaningless pop songs about prosperity instead. It makes America a much nicer place to live.
Re:Muhammad (Score:5, Insightful)
Except for one thing: religion is not someone's identity. It is a set of ideas you can be persuaded of or reject, as shown by the capability of conversion from one to another. Disagreeing or mocking such a set is not hate, because it is not directed at the humans, nor are those humans forbidden to practice their faith if they so choose.
Unfortunately it seems you have fallen for the argument that religion deserves extra respect from criticism or mockery. There is no reason why we should mock it any less than anything we already do.
Re:Fulltime Job (Score:5, Insightful)
Better still: just start a campaign to get anyone who calls these call-centers to blaspheme down the phone every time they call.
It won't be long before all the jobs are shipped back to more tolerant people.
Re:Only one way this can end (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Ah My (Score:3, Insightful)
Precisely the reason why I think the government of Palistan is doing a disservice to its people by censoring information that even if shocking to them, will make them think.