PAKISTAN HAS BANNED THE BLOGS
I am bewildered, dazed and confused, but most of all disappointed and hurt that Pakistan saw fit to block there own bloggers from posting or even viewing there own and other blogs.
Some of the nicest and most interesting blogs that I thoroughly enjoyed visiting where those from Pakistan.
They were all written by highly intelligent and interesting people. One that I can think of was particularly enjoyable. It had wonderful stories of this persons travels in their own beloved country, Pakistan. Their writing was so descriptive and beautiful that I felt as though I was taking these wonderfully enjoyable trips with them. You will be dearly missed!
There were no blogs that I read from the people of Pakistan that were offensive to their own country, but instead they were informative interesting and helped people like me ,to know of and understand things about there holidays , customs and religious beliefs for which I am very grateful.
For some of us that are not as lucky as others to be able to travel and visit other countries blogging is the only way to get to know each other and try to understand each other. It is a wonderful way for some of us to make new friends around the world. To the government of Pakistan I ask that you please reconsider and allow it to continue.
If only the government of Pakistan could realize that most of their bloggers have helped not hurt their country. They have been the best ambassadors that they could have.
I can only hope and pray that the government of Pakistan in their wisdom, will realize that if this ban has arisen from someone posting something unpleasant, that everyone should not be punished for the actions of one.
And since I have no other way to convey this message I hope that someone, somewhere, someplace with the knowledge or the power that I do not have, will find this post and do something to help.
Some of the nicest and most interesting blogs that I thoroughly enjoyed visiting where those from Pakistan.
They were all written by highly intelligent and interesting people. One that I can think of was particularly enjoyable. It had wonderful stories of this persons travels in their own beloved country, Pakistan. Their writing was so descriptive and beautiful that I felt as though I was taking these wonderfully enjoyable trips with them. You will be dearly missed!
There were no blogs that I read from the people of Pakistan that were offensive to their own country, but instead they were informative interesting and helped people like me ,to know of and understand things about there holidays , customs and religious beliefs for which I am very grateful.
For some of us that are not as lucky as others to be able to travel and visit other countries blogging is the only way to get to know each other and try to understand each other. It is a wonderful way for some of us to make new friends around the world. To the government of Pakistan I ask that you please reconsider and allow it to continue.
If only the government of Pakistan could realize that most of their bloggers have helped not hurt their country. They have been the best ambassadors that they could have.
I can only hope and pray that the government of Pakistan in their wisdom, will realize that if this ban has arisen from someone posting something unpleasant, that everyone should not be punished for the actions of one.
And since I have no other way to convey this message I hope that someone, somewhere, someplace with the knowledge or the power that I do not have, will find this post and do something to help.
posted by EXSENO at 5:02 PM
17 Comments:
That's so sad, I can't imagine living somewhere, quite so restricting, then again, I don't want to jinx us and get the FCC's attention....
I wish Preident Musharraf could read your post.
However, I'm told it's not the Gov. that's behind it; it's some technical problem that they are facing.
Id it is,
Unfortunetly that is not true, Bloggers in Pakistan that were using blogspot are no longer able to view there own blogs the the blogs of anyone else that is using blogspot to post.
Thanks for this. I deeply appreciate this.
@ id it is: There is no technical problem. Blogs hoisted at blogspot can't be viewd here. There are some tedious but possible ways to bypass the ban though.
Thanks exseno, that was a very kind commentary on Pakistani bloggers.
Here is a way to get around the ban:
For all blogspot users you may view Pakistani blogs (and Paksitani bloogers can access and post as well) by using CDN & the following url to the blogspot address:
http://blogspot.com.nyud.net:8080 or http://blogspot.com.nyud.net:8090
for example:
http://sajshirazi.blogspot.com
add .nyud.net:8080 to the end of it like:
http://sajshirazi.blogspot.com.nyud.net:8080
the html pages come after the slash like:
http://sajshirazi.blogspot.com.nyud.net ... ocked.html
NYUD is developed by CDN - Content Distribution Network which is
peer-to-peer content distribution network, comprised of a world-wide
network of web proxies and nameservers. It allows a user to run a web site that offers high performance and meets huge demand. CDN & the NYUD block is an academic testbed built on top of PlanetLab by the Network Systems Group at Princeton University. Currently, proxy servers have
been deployed on many PlanetLab nodes. These proxy servers behave both as request redirectors and server surrogates. They cooperate with each other and collectively provide a fast and robust web content delivery service to NYUD users.
Blogspot users in Pakistan have 3 main open/stable located close to
them:
2 main nodes and 5 sub nodes based in Bangalore (ERNET & IIT )
1 Main node and 3 sub nodes based in Lebanon (AUBNET - beirut)
You find the network status of these nodes over here:
http://mapcenter.in2p3.fr/planetlab/
the node alarms don't work currently as the mapserver is down - [sorry!]
_____________
Blogs on blog*spot can still be accessed using translation tool of
google. You just need to type the following URL:
http://www.google.com/translate?langpair=en|en&u=www.forbiddensite.com
(www.forbiddensite.com stands for the URL you need to go to...)
Dear Exsenso ! As a pakistani blogger, this post comes as a very nice surprise and great encouragement to all of us who dedicate time to blogging.
Thankyou !
Dear Exenso,
Many thanks for theh post.
Simpler way to get around the ban:
www.hidemyass.com
Shirazi,
You are welcome, but the problem is how do we get the right people to read this. It needs to be viewd in Pakistan.
the olive ream,
Thank you I will have a look. I'm so sorry that you are having this problem. I sincerely hope that the ban will be lifted.
a sane voice in a mad world,
Thank you for the URL's I'll try them I understand the first but I'm not sure about the rest. I'm very new at using computers, I have a lot to learn.
Mansoor,
Thank you for coming here and commenting, but I am sorry that you find it surprising. Don't take offense I mean it jokingly.
If you knew me it wouldn't be a surprise to you at all.
I judge no one by their race or country, but as an individual, if everyone in this world would do the same it would be a much better world for us all. There are good people and bad people everywhere. The problem is most people don't take the time to get to know one another. Good luck to you I hope the ban is lifted soon.
zainub,
Thank you very much that one looks easier for a computer dummy like me to use.
Exseno, you comments were greatly appreciated by the Pakistani bloggers. Can you put up the banner? If you put the following website: http://help-pakistan.com/main/dont-block-the-blog/ and get the code there it will show up. Just copy the code and paste it into your text. You can preview to see. Yours is a very lovely post and most helpful.
nancyb,
I'll be happy to if I can, I'm not sure what you mean, I'm very new with computers but I will have a look and try.
Rally sad that they have bloked the blogs,really blog r a great help,it help to create a space in this world for yourself.hop0e mush gets this right...
EFF.org
They are doing things to help protect blogger's rights in America and overseas too.
Hi, Exsenso, thanks so much for putting up the banner. Could you put it at the top of your next post so that everyone can see it when they go to your blog?
Great job on learning how to put up the banner!
Thanks for saying this about Pakistani blogs - I feel the same way.
Blogs can be an important way of learning about the values and traiditons of a culture - especially of cultures that seem so foreign to us or are demonized in the media.
How in the world can they stop the citizens from blogging? Unless all the routers are in Control of the Government. Can they stop Satelite Internet as well?
Mojo,
I don't know. It is Blogspot they are stopping them from getting to. I believe they can still blog in their own country. From what I understand they can post and edit, but can not view their own blogs.
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