Internet users in Morocco have been unable to access youtube and it is believed that this is being done deliberately by the government because of the additions of pro-independence demonstrations in the western Sahara. One of the videos shows police beating female protesters in the Western Saharan city of Laayone. The state run telecom provider claims that the site was blocked because of a technical glitch yet this site has been blocked since the 25th of may. Additionally people who can afford the private service providers have still been able to access it. Prety odd for a glitch to affect only one site. It seems that youtube is becoming one of the new standards for how much freedom countries truly allow their citizens. Pakistan also blocked the site recently but it had a much wider effect (blocking youtube access globally for an hour)
Sunday, February 24, 2008
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"Pakistan blocks 'objectionable' YouTube"
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/02/25/pakistan.youtube/index.html
The Pakistani government has now openly decided to block all access to YouTube, saying that videos on the site offend Islam. The Pakistani government has also requested that all "objectionable content" be removed from the site. According to a spokeswoman for the Pakistani Telecommunications Authority, if YouTube removes videos that concern Pakistan,the government may once again let its people post and view videos.
According to this CNN article, "authorities in Brazil, China, Iran, Morocco, Myanmar (also known as Burma), Syria and Thailand have blocked access in the last few years, according to Reporters Without Borders, a press advocacy organization. The countries acted after concluding that YouTube videos were subversive (China), immoral (Iran), embarrassing to well-known figures (Brazil) or critical of a country's king (Thailand), the group said."
Reporters Without Borders issued a statement, saying that "It should not be up to the (Pakistan Telecommunications Authority) to order this kind of blocking...Such a decision should be taken by the courts, not by a body that is under the government's control."
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