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Pakistan to Monitor Websites for 'Blasphemy'

     25 June 2010
   Pakistani Islamists shout slogans during a protest against Facebook in
   Karachi, May 20, 2010

Photo: AFP

   Pakistani Islamists shout slogans during a protest against Facebook in
   Karachi, 20 May 2010

   Officials  in  Pakistan say the government will begin monitoring major
   websites,  including Google and Yahoo, for material it deems offensive
   to Islam.
   The  Pakistan  Telecommunications Authority also said it will block 17
   lesser-known  sites for containing blasphemous content, in response to
   a court order.
   Among the websites that will be monitored are Amazon, MSN, Hotmail and
   Bing.
   Friday's  move follows the temporary blocking last month of the social
   networking  site  Facebook,  after  someone  using  the site sought to
   collect  images  of  the  Prophet Muhammad.  The Pakistani government
   also  temporarily  banned  the  video website YouTube for distributing
   allegedly sacrilegious or profane material.
   In recent years, Western newspapers' publication of caricatures of the
   prophet  have  triggered violent protests in majority-Muslim countries
   including Pakistan.  Islam forbids any depiction of the prophet.

   Some information for this report was provided by AP and AFP.

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