Kuwait blocks, then unblocks, Youtube

A KUWAITI bogger reported Monday that the Kuwait government issued an order to the country's ISPs requiring that they immediately block all access to the online video sharing website Youtube.

The Persian Gulf bog scribbler, known only by the handle Bashar, posted an image of the Kuwait Ministry of Communications directive in Arabic along with an English translation:

"Subject: Blocking an offensive website to Holy Quran and Holy [Prophet]

"Reference to the above mentioned subject, and in tribute to the book of God and the holy [prophet], and in compliance to law order # 17 …, which states on banning porn sites and site offensive to the ethics and Islamic regulations, and since there is a site that sings the Holy Quran, God Forbid, and publishes offensive photos of the holy prophet by searching for “Quran singed and composed” in the below mentioned website, therefore you are requested to act upon and block this site immediately.

"1- YouTube.com"

Bashar noted that Youtube is the third most popular website among Kuwaiti wibblers and accounts for fully 15 per cent of all Internet traffic in the country. He apparently thought the Ministry's action unwarranted because, as he pointed out (and we have paraphrased):

(1) it isn't the case that "singing and composing" the Koran is Youtube's principal function,

(2) Kuwait's authorities didn't seem to give Youtube any credit for its entertainment value,

(3) Islamic TV channels, even in Kuwait, carry content that might offend other religions,

(4) the offending video(s) had already been removed by Youtube, and

(5) searching on "Quran Singed and Composed" found only unobjectionable Koran videos.

Then Bashar writes, "If they still [want to] move forward, despite that YouTube did really act upon the video, [listened] to people['s] [complaints], and there [aren't] really any such videos right now, then I have a list of suggestions to push our country [further] forward, carefully selected from Alexa top 100 sites in Kuwait:" (spelling corrected for readability)

He then proceeds to list 89 of the Alexa top 100 websites visited by Kuwaiti web surfers and recommends banning almost all of them, according to Islamic religious authorities' principles, strictly applied. It's a hilarious rant but at the same time, acutely argued and perhaps worth notice and considering by Kuwait's Ministry of Communications censors.

A comment appended to Bashar's bog notes that Kuwait's ban on Youtube was later lifted.

But here's to Bashar who neatly skewers his government's bureaucrats, and rightly so. µ

See Also
Indonesia blocks YouTube
Pakistan blocks Youtube
Turkey bans Youtube
Aussie state bans YouTube

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