April 6th, 2008, 11:40
SE Asia is becoming an "orange zone" of internet censorship.
Personally, I run across a LOT of anti-Christian 'gobbledygook', esp. as concerns the far right of America, (and the recent example discussed here is no exception to that term) but the Christians seem immune. I can't understand what it is that is so different in Islam.
But someone posted a you-tube video featuring 'translations' to English of verses from the Qu ran, smitherred with scenes of planes crashing into tall buildings. There is also the caricature of Mohammed. I do think that caricature goes a bit far. It is important that free-speech be protected. Google REFUSES to ban the video. The Indonesian government will now BAN youtube and has begun the process of bringing all the Internet service providers across its 1000 island archipelago into line with government censorship. In the meantime, a very populous area of Muslim population is probably fascinated to see the video, and learning more about a radical brand that they might not have known otherwise (including me). I'm sure both the authors and media corporations cashing in on the controversy know what they are doing.
Now the sphere of censorship expands :-(
Indonesia to block YouTube over anti-Islamic film
Thursday, April 3, 2008 (Jakarta)
Indonesia will start blocking YouTube at the end of this week if an anti-Islamic film that has sparked protests here is not removed from the file-sharing site, the government said on Thursday.
The information ministry has written to Internet service providers telling them to prepare to block access if YouTube fails to remove the film, made by the far-right Dutch MP Geert Wilders.
The government wrote to YouTube on Monday asking it to take down the film, which provoked a violent demonstration outside a Dutch consulate building here on Wednesday.
''If there is no response, then we will do it (block the site) from inside the country, with the cooperation of ISPs,'' said Sukemi, a ministry official, adding that the government would wait ''until the end of this week'' for a response from YouTube.
The 17-minute film, ''Fitna'', combines images of the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York and the 2004 Madrid bombings with quotes from the Koran, Islam's holy book.
It has drawn protests from Muslims across the globe, including in Indonesia, a former Dutch colony and the world's most populous Muslim nation.
The government said it had received no response from YouTube, which last week said it strives to balance freedom of expression with the standards set by its video-sharing community.
''The diversity of the world in which we live - spanning the vast dimensions of ethnicity, religion, nationality, language, political opinion, gender, and sexual orientation, to name a few - means that some of the beliefs and views of some individuals may offend others,'' the firm said after the film's release a week ago.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono this week urged Indonesians not to resort to violence over the film, banned screenings and barred Wilders from entering the country.
The protests here have mostly been peaceful, but dozens of members of a Muslim student group on Wednesday attacked a Dutch consulate building, burning a flag and breaking down the gates.
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Personally, I run across a LOT of anti-Christian 'gobbledygook', esp. as concerns the far right of America, (and the recent example discussed here is no exception to that term) but the Christians seem immune. I can't understand what it is that is so different in Islam.
But someone posted a you-tube video featuring 'translations' to English of verses from the Qu ran, smitherred with scenes of planes crashing into tall buildings. There is also the caricature of Mohammed. I do think that caricature goes a bit far. It is important that free-speech be protected. Google REFUSES to ban the video. The Indonesian government will now BAN youtube and has begun the process of bringing all the Internet service providers across its 1000 island archipelago into line with government censorship. In the meantime, a very populous area of Muslim population is probably fascinated to see the video, and learning more about a radical brand that they might not have known otherwise (including me). I'm sure both the authors and media corporations cashing in on the controversy know what they are doing.
Now the sphere of censorship expands :-(
Indonesia to block YouTube over anti-Islamic film
Thursday, April 3, 2008 (Jakarta)
Indonesia will start blocking YouTube at the end of this week if an anti-Islamic film that has sparked protests here is not removed from the file-sharing site, the government said on Thursday.
The information ministry has written to Internet service providers telling them to prepare to block access if YouTube fails to remove the film, made by the far-right Dutch MP Geert Wilders.
The government wrote to YouTube on Monday asking it to take down the film, which provoked a violent demonstration outside a Dutch consulate building here on Wednesday.
''If there is no response, then we will do it (block the site) from inside the country, with the cooperation of ISPs,'' said Sukemi, a ministry official, adding that the government would wait ''until the end of this week'' for a response from YouTube.
The 17-minute film, ''Fitna'', combines images of the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York and the 2004 Madrid bombings with quotes from the Koran, Islam's holy book.
It has drawn protests from Muslims across the globe, including in Indonesia, a former Dutch colony and the world's most populous Muslim nation.
The government said it had received no response from YouTube, which last week said it strives to balance freedom of expression with the standards set by its video-sharing community.
''The diversity of the world in which we live - spanning the vast dimensions of ethnicity, religion, nationality, language, political opinion, gender, and sexual orientation, to name a few - means that some of the beliefs and views of some individuals may offend others,'' the firm said after the film's release a week ago.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono this week urged Indonesians not to resort to violence over the film, banned screenings and barred Wilders from entering the country.
The protests here have mostly been peaceful, but dozens of members of a Muslim student group on Wednesday attacked a Dutch consulate building, burning a flag and breaking down the gates.
NDTV Active
To read the biggest stories of the day on your mobile, type mobile.ndtv.com on your phone browser.