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Pakistan to censor words like "athletes foot" in text messages
Pakistan's communications regulator, the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority, has been exploring censorship for words deemed too inappropriate for texting. There are mixed reports about whether or not the changes have taken effect yet, but it should be any day now according to a letter sent to mobile operators from watchdog director, Muhammad Talib Doger.
The amalgamation of offensive words contains roughly 1,600 entries and is comprised of about two-thirds English words and one-third Urdu, Pakistan's national language. The document was leaked onto Google Docs, but public permission to that item has since been pulled at the time of this writing. However, a version of the list made it here (warning: explicit language) which contains all of the current English words and phrases.
A mobile operator representative told the AFP news agency:
"There are more than 1,600 words in the list including indecent language, expletives, swear words, slang etc, which have to be filtered. The filtering is not good for the system and may degrade the quality of network services—plus it would be a great inconvenience to our subscribers if their SMS was not delivered due to the wrong choice of words"
Blocked language includes the likes of "flogging the dolphin", "tongue", "hobo", "Kumquat", "Axing the weasel", "Got Jesus", "hole" and "Satan". While many of the words and euphemisms included are unmistakable obscenities, many require a vivid imagination and some just seem non sequitur. Among the censored phrases are swaths of religious references, words used in every day speech, names of football players and other "pro-western" language. Needless to say, some Pakistanis feel their constitutional free speech rights are being violated, resulting in various open letters and lots of activity on Twitter.
Mohammad Younis, a PTA spokesman claims the ban was a, "result of numerous meetings and consultations with stakeholders," and went on to point out that "nobody would like this happening to their young boy or girl." Mr. Younis also added that the list was never intended to be distributed publicly and was only intended to be used for testing purposes. According to the spokesman, a more finalized, shorter list will be released after more consultation is done.
Another PTA regulator also told mobile operators that constitutionally guaranteed free speech is "not unrestricted", as shown by precedents set in Pakistani courts. The official also pointed out that PTA has a responsibility to prevent "obnoxious communication", suggesting that PTA feels it is within its bounds.
User Comments (48)
Post a comment|
Guest
on November 22, 2011 4:20 PM |
If your blocking words like "Athletes foot" and "Tongue" you might as well call your self a retard and end your life so no one can see where stupidity really came from. |
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Guest
on November 22, 2011 4:28 PM |
@Guest, there's no need to include words such as 'end your life' in your comment. If that's stupid I don't know what is. |
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treeski
on November 22, 2011 4:28 PM |
Guest said: If your blocking words like "Athletes foot" and "Tongue" you might as well call your self a retard and end your life so no one can see where stupidity really came from. If you block anything, you should do the above. People should have 100% freedom over what they send in their own PERSONAL text messages. |
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Guest
on November 22, 2011 4:35 PM |
"@Guest, there's no need to include words such as 'end your life' in your comment. If that's stupid I don't know what is." Its ok guest you can add that to the Block list for pakistan ;D .... apart from that why not? if the maker of that list did end his life then the world would be a much better and less stupid world as I don't want to see people's text not going through just because they texted "Our block has a black out so people coming to fix" which it is blocked in pakistan so do you really want people that block words like that to ruin others lifes? no I dont think so |
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Recycle
on November 22, 2011 4:43 PM |
Apparently the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority knows more slang than I do! |
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Guest
on November 22, 2011 4:47 PM |
So this way if a woman is "raped" or "molested" she won't be able to text it. I seem to remember something like this happening in the book 1984. that ended well |
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gwailo247
on November 22, 2011 4:49 PM |
Heh, the PTA is censoring things. An example of convergent evolution. |
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ramonsterns
on November 22, 2011 5:13 PM |
Yay, religion. |
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veLa
on November 22, 2011 5:14 PM |
What a joke |
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Guest
on November 22, 2011 5:30 PM |
Sir, is the term "behen ke laude" and "gaandu" and "land ke tope" also banned now? |
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Guest
on November 22, 2011 5:41 PM |
The name "Jesus Christ" is also on that list... |
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fimbles
on November 22, 2011 5:49 PM |
"Flogging the dolphin" This i agree with, Animal cruelty should not be tolerated :P |
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Rick
on November 22, 2011 5:51 PM |
fimbles said: "Flogging the dolphin" This i agree with, Animal cruelty should not be tolerated :P I totally agree. If you're going to censor stuff, there should be zero tolerance for animal cruelty. :-) |
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treetops
on November 22, 2011 5:54 PM |
People in Pak have cell phones? |
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Butch
on November 22, 2011 6:05 PM |
fimbles said: "Flogging the dolphin" This i agree with, Animal cruelty should not be tolerated :P ^^ Ha! Good stuff! |
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spydercanopus
on November 22, 2011 6:27 PM |
Censorship is not an effective method of preventing transmission of disease, such as athlete's foot. Censorship is however effective at bringing down the system in full revolt. Just according to history, that is. |
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Opus
on November 22, 2011 6:45 PM |
I guess PTA has become a bunch of losers, who, instead of concentrating on the improvement of cell phone services i.e. issuance of 3G, 3G+ licenses, is now more focused on banning free speech. |
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Opus
on November 22, 2011 6:48 PM |
words like "caress" and "fiancé" are banned, stupid PTA. |
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Guest
on November 22, 2011 6:51 PM |
If you had more intelligence than a snail, you would have known the amount of cell phones Pakistanis have. |
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RH00D
on November 22, 2011 8:53 PM |
They blocked Boobies... |
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red1776
on November 22, 2011 8:58 PM |
They blocked Boobies...  well if everyone would sit down, we could see them! |
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Mindwraith
on November 22, 2011 9:32 PM |
it would be great if they could censor trolls on the internet. imagine how much nicer it would be if all insults and swearing was replaced with ******* |
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treetops
on November 22, 2011 10:11 PM |
Guest said: If you had more intelligence than a snail, you would have known the amount of cell phones Pakistanis have. mm they must not have jokes in pakistan |
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Wendig0
on November 22, 2011 10:14 PM |
I needed a good laugh, that list is hilarious! |
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red1776
on November 22, 2011 10:20 PM |
mm they must not have jokes in pakistan
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