Pakistan to scan websites for 'blasphemy'
Google and Yahoo are among the sites being monitored. Turkey is taking extra steps.
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Pakistan will monitor seven major websites, including Google and Yahoo, to block anti-Islamic links and content, an official said Friday. Seventeen lesser-known sites are being blocked outright for alleged blasphemous material.
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.
Both the Facebook ban and the move announced Friday were in response to court orders. The sites to be monitored include Yahoo Inc., Google Inc. and its YouTube service, Amazon.com Inc., and Microsoft Corp.'s MSN, Hotmail, and Bing, said Pakistan Telecommunication Authority spokesman Khurram Mehran.
"If any particular link with offensive content appears on these websites, the [link] shall be blocked immediately without disturbing the main website," Mehran said.
Google spokesman Scott Rubin said the company would monitor how Pakistan's new policies affect access to its services, which include the world's most popular search engine and the most widely watched video site, YouTube.
Mehran said an example of one of the 17 sites being blocked include islamexposed.blogspot.com, created through Google's Blogger service. That site features postings with headlines such as "Islam: The Ultimate Hypocrisy" and links to anti-Islam online petitions.
A top court had ordered the ban on Facebook for about two weeks in May amid anger over a page that encouraged users to post images of the Prophet Muhammad. Many Muslims regard depictions of the prophet, even favorable ones, as blasphemous. YouTube also was briefly blocked at the time.
In Turkey, officials furious over Internet insults of that country's beloved founder have also gone on the offensive against Google, tightening a ban on YouTube and cutting public access to a host of Google-owned sites.
The country's communications minister accused the Internet giant of waging a battle against Turkey and dodging taxes.
The country began blocking websites in 2007, after parliament adopted a law against cyber crime to curb child porn and terrorist propaganda. Websites deemed to be disrespectful of Turkey's founder, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, and of religious beliefs were also outlawed.
This month, Turkey expanded the ban to include some Google pages that use the same Internet Protocol addresses as YouTube, to prevent users from circumventing the ban.
The controversy is a setback for Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government, which won plaudits for carrying out democratic reforms but now stands accused of placing Turkey in the same class as countries already notorious for tight Internet controls.
Hundreds of Internet users have signed an online petition denouncing the ban as an affront to "free speech and rights to access information."