Government is seriously considering a proposal to generate its own internet search engine based on China model to stop disseminating of any anti-Islamic video or materials in future however no one in the Ministry of Information and Technology was willing to officially confirm this.
Sources in the Ministry of Information and Technology said that China gave limited access to google.com. It has its own indigenous search engine 'Baidu'. This helps China to block the dissemination of such material which is against its national interest. According to the China Digital Times, Baidu has a long history of being the most proactive and restrictive online censor in the search arena. Documents leaked in April 2009 from an employee in Baidu's internal monitoring and censorship department show a long list of blocked websites and censored topics on Baidu search.
People in Pakistan can still view the anti-Islam video by using alternate routes to YouTube which has been blocked by Government of Pakistan over displaying the anti-Islam video. Sources in Ministry of Information and Technology acknowledged that the popular video-sharing website YouTube would not be unblocked anytime soon but still there were various links which opened YouTube website. The site has been blocked in other countries including Afghanistan and Bangladesh. The website was blocked some five weeks back over displaying anti-Islam video. Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) and Ministry of Information and Technology officials were determined not to unblock YouTube unless Google decides to take the anti-Islam video offline - internationally or at least for Pakistan - since the decision was covered by a court order.
Sources in Ministry said it was not possible to completely ban YouTube site for internet servers in Pakistan, but denial of direct access to the website reduced the number of users in Pakistan. YouTube, owned by IT giant Google, had been blocked in Pakistan after the release of an anti-Islam film's trailer on the site. Despite requests by the Pakistani government and concerned authorities to block the video or pull it down, Google did not comply and the video-sharing site has been blocked for almost three weeks now in Pakistan. However, Google had blocked the video in Malaysia, Indonesia, Libya, Egypt and India.
It has been said reportedly that procedures were initiated to get the video blocked in Pakistan, but YouTube did not respond as Pakistan has no legal control over the company. The MLAT (Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty) - an agreement between two countries for gathering, exchanging and enforcing public and criminal laws - was an obstacle because Pakistan has not signed MLAT with USA. Although, USA does not have MLAT with Libya, Indonesia or Singapore yet it blocked the video due to US government pressure or on-ground offices in those states.
It has been said that countries where Google has its physical presence or has infrastructure (datacentres) in place were in a better position to get the video blocked. An IT Ministry official said the Prime Minister would not order the restoration of YouTube until the anti-Islam video was blocked in Pakistan as well.