Andre Yoskowitz
11 Apr 2008 16:53
After banning access to the site on Tuesday, Indonesian ISPs have now stopped blocking YouTube and other file-sharing Web sites. The sites had been blocked because an anti-Islam film produced by Dutch politician Geert Wilders brought complaints from Indonesian users.
Instead, the ISPs will try to block individual pages that host the movie.
"It is like removing cancer from the body without making the patient die," Information and Communication Minister Mohammad Nuh told reporters.
On Tuesday, the Indonesian government ordered the ISPs to block YouTube, MySpace and other video sharing sites but most users had no trouble circumventing the ban.
After the ban, the Jakarta Post newspaper wrote in an editorial that the block "sent a disturbing sign that the president and his advisers are not only dumb, but also dangerous. It shows a mind-set that takes us back a decade to the era of censorship."
The controversial film, which shows scenes of recent terror attacks alongside verses from the Islam holy book, the Quran, has been "condemned as racist and misleading by governments around the world" and has led YouTube to being banned in several countries including Turkey and China.