Campaign Group "Bytes for All" will challenge PTA decision to ban words and phrases.

Opposition to text messaging ban grows!

On Friday 18th November we advised our readers of the awful decision by the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority to ban a prescribed list of words that they had deemed "offensive".

http://britishpakistanichristian.blogspot.com/2011/11/pakistan-telecom-authority-bans.html

Words such as "Jesus Christ" had been placed on a list of over 1600 words and phrases to be censored from text messages.

The Dawn Newspaper interviewed Shahzad Ahmed Country Coordinator for Bytes for All who told them:

“We are now witnessing a new ruthless wave of moral policing in the digital communication sphere of Pakistan imposed by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority,” 

“By developing extremely detailed lists of allegedly ‘offensive’ words and forcing telecom operators to filter them out to make our society moral and clean, PTA has not only made a mockery of itself but also of the entire country and its government,” he added.

Bytes for All said they would challenge the ban in court, saying it violated rights to free speech and privacy.

Read more here:

http://www.dawn.com/2011/11/20/deadline-looms-on-pakistan-obscene-text-message-ban.html