"The world is much bigger than you and I," spoke the sage into the looking-glass

Wednesday, March 08, 2006

The blog bans in Pakistan

Most people have heard of the bans on blogspot and blogger.com imposed by the Government, after some of the blogs reproduced the caricatures of Prophet Mohammad (SAW). I won't go into the brainlessness of this act - those who are in Pakistan are much aware of this already. I can only imagine their frustration at our Government's lack of understanding.

Unfortunately, there's really no way to circumvent the ban, other than using a bypass proxy server that sits outside the banned network. I'm sure most people are doing this already. I'm also sure that some won't have access to these.

My point? This is a time for action. A lot of people on the blog network have already posted groups that frustrated Pakistani bloggers can join. If we all speak in one voice, we have a better chance of catching the Government's ears. DrPak (http://drpak.blogspot.com) has created a group on google where people can speak out in one voice. There's also another website dedicated to this cause:


The Government's not going to understand unless we explain it to them. I suggest we get cracking.