Afghanistan extends Muslim nations web crusade
Afghanistan has established a new set of rules governing access to the internet in the proto-state. The rules state that all ISP’s must filter any content that contains references to alcohol, dating/social networking, gambling and pornography.
The move follows Pakistan’s announcement that it is to ban 17 websites outright and will start monitoring Google, Yahoo, MSN, Hotmail, Youtube, Bing and Amazon for content it deems to be offensive to Muslims.
This follows controversy over Facebook in the strictly religious state after the social networking site was used to host drawings of the prophet Muhammad, an act considered blasphemous by some.
Facebook has escaped censure this time round after agreeing to block the offending page in Pakistan.
A spokesman for the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority, Khurram Mehran, said: “If any particular link with offensive content appears on these websites, the [link] shall be blocked immediately without disturbing the main site.”