Lahore: Pakistani authorities have acknowledged for the first time that the country has no technology to block blasphemous contents on websites, including videos posted on YouTube.
After 10 months of "hard work", authorities have failed to evolve any mechanism to filter content on YouTube or to block blasphemous materials, officials said.
"The government can open YouTube on its own as we can`t guarantee the blocking of blasphemous videos," said Pakistan Telecommunication Authority Director General Wasim Tauqir said.
"We have informed the federal government that the PTA has no advanced technology with it that could block all the controversial sites," he said.
Pakistan banned YouTube in September last year after violent protests erupted over the posting of clips of the controversial movie "Innocence Of Muslims" on the video-sharing website.
Efforts to lift the ban have revolved around an attempt to devise a mechanism to filter the contents of websites like YouTube.
Tauqir said the Information Technology Ministry had been working on acquiring such technology but it had not found success so far.
Experts said in the wake of the admission by the PTA, the ban on YouTube may not be lifted till Pakistan manages to acquires the required filtration technology.
Yesterday, the PTA also informed the Lahore High Court about its inability to block controversial and blasphemous material on websites. The court was hearing a case on the ban on YouTube.
On the other hand, Google refused to send a representative to the High Court to brief the judges on why it is not removing content on YouTube perceived as blasphemous by Pakistan.
PTI
