Slashdot Mirror
Pakistan To Scour Google, Yahoo For Blasphemy
sv_libertarian sends in this excerpt from an AP report:
"Pakistan will start monitoring seven major websites, including Google, Yahoo, and Amazon, for sacrilegious content, while blocking 17 other, lesser-known sites it deems offensive to Muslims, an official said Friday. 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. ... 'If any particular link with offensive content appears on these websites, the (link) shall be blocked immediately without disturbing the main website,' [said Pakistan Telecommunication Authority spokesman Khurram Mehran]."
The department that will handle that will one day become larger than the IRS.
So does that mean they are only block my comment from being viewed, but not all of slashdot? I'd like to see how they plan on doing that.
"linux is just DOS with a UNIX like syntax" -- Galactic Dominator (944134)
Imagine if these companies sought to block Pakistan or any other Islamic country. There would be uproar and claims of racism, anti-religious behaviour etc. etc. Yet when these same governments block sites for religious purposes it's considered some sort of right to choose (nevermind that it's on behalf of so many whose rights are stomped). I don't have an issue with people blocking their own access out of stupidity, but this idea that they can choose on behalf of others is a reminder of why religious rather than rational reasoning is so dangerous and has no place in politics.
These posts express my own personal views, not those of my employer
Somewhere, someone on the internet is blaspheming. Duty calls.
Ah, but we do want pakistanis to find this. It is their government that doesn't wish for them to view it.
"linux is just DOS with a UNIX like syntax" -- Galactic Dominator (944134)
Muhammad was just another drugged out nut in the desert. God (or Allah) is just fantasy. There is no God. The entire Islamic faith is based on fantasy.
Come block Slashdot!
The right to protest the State is more sacred than the State.
When you bend over backwards to accommodate radicals. Facebook caved in so easily, now Islam wants to police the entire internet...
There's an old saying: Give them an inch and they will take a mile.
I feel sorry for non radical muslims living in Pakistan because you will soon lose access to slashdot? Why? Because of the following comment:
Mohammed was not the prophet of god, he was a homosexual violence crazed pedophile who enjoyed sneaking pork sandwiches between cock-sucking sessions.
To Pakistan, with love from yours truly and probably quite few of us here on slashdot.
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
This is basically the Pakistani version of the Fairness Doctrine--a government deciding what is fair and what should be read by its citizens. Situations like this are exactly why people oppose this stuff.
An intolerant, closed minded, excuse of a religion deserves true excommunication. Cut off all web contact with Pakistan so that no slight, accidental or deliberate, could occur.
People who insist on living in the past will be buried with it.
The mind conceives, the body achieves, the spirit manifests.
Just because someone is going to get mad, doesn't mean I shouldn't do it. I'll exercise discretion as I please, who are you to dictate your ideas of respect to me?
"linux is just DOS with a UNIX like syntax" -- Galactic Dominator (944134)
There's a comparison in here somewhere between what Pakistan is doing and the Texas school book stuff.
In both cases, we have religion so terrified of concepts that they actively seek to block the dissemination of said concepts.
Mod me down with all of your hatred and your journey towards the dark side will be complete!
Fundamentalist thought in all faith is dangerous, right now: in our time, fundamentalist Muslim thought is our ENEMY. The war will be fought with education, and educating to begin with: the "I may disagree with what you say but will defend to the death your right to say it" is a good start.
If he's going to trample on other people's rights over it, you're damn right I should. This isn't about making people mad. I know some Muslims, they're decent enough, and I don't really care for offending people just for the sake of it, but this isn't about offending people. This is about people who want to control other people's inherent right to free speech , and I would rather stand up and say yes, I have free speech, and if you don't like what I, or anyone else, has to say, if you find it offensive, that's fine, you have the right to be offended, but if you want to stop anyone, go fuck a pig. Warning, link NSFP (not safe for Pakistan).
Oh, and maybe your idea that what other people think should influence what I can say is offensive to me, so you should stop.
It's not about Islam. It's just their version of "Think of the Children!". It's about politicians trying to distract the general public from failings in their government. Trying to pretend that they are actually doing something about something. "We are seriously concerned about family and religious values in our country . . . blah, blah, blah . . . "
Pakistani Press Conference Reporter: "What is the government doing about youth unemployment?"
Government Spokesman: "By the way, have you taken a look at our new Internet Sacrilegious Content Campaign?"
Pakistani Press Conference Reporter: "Um, eh . . I was asking about unemployment . . ."
So it is nothing more than a "Think of the sacrilegious content!" cry.
Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
Just because you know calling another kid a name will make him mad doesn't mean that you should do it. A little respect, please.
When the entire PURPOSE of that anger is to squelch dissent and stifle free speech?
FUCK OFF!!!!
This world will be a much better and safer when Islam is dragged out of the 11th century.
So, this should be equally offensive to Muslims, Christians, and Jews. Those of y’all who consider yourselves believers in a variation of one of those themes, pay attention:
If I were to tell you a story about a talking unicorn who gave a pep talk to the reluctant hero before instructing the hero in how to wield his magic wand, you’d know instantly that I was telling you a make-believe faery tale that has no bearing on reality whatsoever.
If I were to swap out the unicorn with talking shrubbery, you’d still come to the same conclusion, but you’d think it’s a particularly weird story taking even stranger liberties with reality.
But if I were to light the shrubbery on fire, name the hero, “Moses,” and call the wand “The Staff of Aaron,” you’d know that this is the absolute truth, the Word of YHWH, to be accepted uncritically as historical fact. (Exodus chapters 3 and 4, to be specific.) Or, at the very least, it’s some sort of utterly profound morality play from which deep meaning can and should be drawn.
And you’d be a complete and total blithering fucking idiot for doing so.
Cheers,
b&
All but God can prove this sentence true.
Intense concern over matters of religious adherence, blasphemy or other measures of religious adherence, practice or devotion. Focusing this concern on people outside your nation with substantial cultural and/or religious differences from you and/or the Internet intensifies this effect.
The overall impact of this is to make your nation appear filled with superstitious, power-hungry and intolerant zealots. People will not fear or respect you, they will dislike you for this and believe you are petty, small-minded and foolish.
You will be mocked and laughed at and your nation will remain an ignorant backwater, its people suffering from disease and maladies long since cured by more flexible and rational thinking.
I really wonder how they console the idea there are different gods and theirs' the best yet he needs their feeble human help to save his face.
Basically they are ass-wipes and now they have a government working for them.
"The likes of Facebook and WhatsApp are free to those whose privacy is of zero value."
Comparing the Fairness Doctrine to the government blocking access to blasphemous websites shows me how much the Fairness Doctrine has become a catch-all boogeyman term for "censorship".
Whether or not there is some sort of god, I'm not supposed to say/god is a word and the argument ends there-Smog
Having no sense of humor is no excuse for limiting free speech.
You miss the point of this entirely. Prohibition of blasphemy is a rule you set up for the members of *your* faith only, not for others. Trying to impose your rules over people who have not signed up for your religion has to be called on.
It makes me despair that so many people here somehow find a means to feel sympathetic to these guys' opinion (either explicitly or, which is more common, by taking it from their own religious point of view). As soon as you start walking down that path, you're bound to obey every randomly idiotic law some religious nut, somewhere, at some point in time, had the good idea to utter... and at this point, you know where to stick your freedom of speech. And sadly, that holds true for *all* religions.
I sense much beer in you. Beer leads to intoxication, intoxication leads to hangover. Hangover leads to sobering.
Another giant step backwards for mankind. If these people want to be taken seriously, they need to join the 21st century. If you want to live and work alongside the rest of the world, you'll need to toughen up a bit, and not get offended every time someone draws a caricature of Muhammad, or calls him a clown.
If the Internet is contained in the $Holy_Book, it is redundant,therefore useless.
If it is not, it's not only useless, but very dangerous.
Anyone know what the arabic phrase for "epic fail" is?
I believe it goes something like, "Welcome to college, miss. I hope you continue to receive a good education."
PS: This was also considered failure in the Old South.
Muslims read and recite the whole Qu'ran with great interest and study. Say what you want about Evangelicals, but at least they have the good sense to ignore the bible and sing meaningless pop songs about prosperity instead. It makes America a much nicer place to live.
I think if your willing to bum-rush me with a child or a woman with a bomb strapped to their back you can probably kill me. I also think that if your sick enough to say that some one who has done these things in the name of God is beyond any kind of redemption. I hope that eventually the world will decide radical islam is a rabid dog to be put down. Finally, I will say that if you live by the sword be prepared to die by it. You'll never sleep, you'll never be satisfied, you'll never know peace. You claim the same of Americans, but let me tell you, I sleep well at night. Muslims the ones who are always gnashing their teeth and cursing Jews and preparing for war. That's not much of a life in my opinion. Let me ask you something; Say radical Islam is successful in wiping out all Jews, and the Americans are beaten back to the new world and not any threat. Will Islam finally rest? Honestly, my guess is no. There's still the schism between Sunni & Shi'a, and those pesky Sufis always preaching peace... its like a never ending laundry list of violence. Screw Islam, I'm sick of hearing about that nonsense.
Python: 'And then suddenly you have a language which says "we're all stuck with whatever the whiniest coder wants".'
Precisely the reason why I think the government of Palistan is doing a disservice to its people by censoring information that even if shocking to them, will make them think.