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Wikipedia Banned in Pakistan

23 points by ryzvonusef 4y ago

ryzvonusef 4y ago
> Wikipedia was approached for blocking/removal of the said contents by issuing a notice under applicable law & court order(s). An opportunity of hearing was also provided, however, the platform neither complied by removing the blasphemous content nor appeared before the Authority.
UltraViolence 4y ago
[flagged]
boeingUH60 4y ago
Because of so-called “blasphemy”. I really don’t have any pity for corrupt nearly failed states like Pakistan…they’ve chosen to be backwards, corrupt, and poor with their decisions, and I say more power to them.
- 34611 4y ago
  [dead]
beardyw 4y ago
Long discussion here https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34610517 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34610517 Also this title is misleading. Degraded is not Banned.
- ryzvonusef 4y ago
  It's banned for me, I literally cannot open en.wikipedia.org, and I am getting a similar error I get for other "banned" websites. (like Deutsch Welle, for instance https://twitter.com/HamidMirPAK/status/1621566287125020672 https://twitter.com/HamidMirPAK/status/1621566287125020672) I think they have moved from degraded to outright blocked
- ryzvonusef 4y ago
  https://wikimediafoundation.org/news/2023/02/03/wikimedia-foundation-urges-pakistan-telecommunications-authority-to-restore-access-to-wikipedia-in-pakistan/ https://wikimediafoundation.org/news/2023/02/03/wikimedia-fo...
m-p-3 4y ago
If you want an offline copy of Wikipedia, I'd recommend getting Kiwix and grab the largest copy you can (95.2GB). It's not updated frequently, but it's IMO the safest and most private way to access Wikipedia in an oppressive state. You can easily carry it on a MicroSD card. If you think possessing a copy of Wikipedia is illegal in that country, then please take the necessary precautions to avoid putting yourself in trouble. https://library.kiwix.org/?lang=eng&category=wikipedia https://library.kiwix.org/?lang=eng&category=wikipedia magnet:?xt=urn:btih:ab13148ab9b64f11c9548fb87bf05f8ce64cb15a&xt=urn:md5:054c8bd86af847d2a8f9c832db26a038&xl=95199730590&dn=wikipedia_en_all_maxi_2022-05.zim&as=http://download.kiwix.org/zim/wikipedia/wikipedia_en_all_maxi_2022-05.zim&tr=https://tracker.openzim.org:6969/announce&tr=udp://tracker.openzim.org:6969/announce
antihoney 4y ago
Most of us are using (usually free) VPN to circumvent the current ban like we do every single time the PTA bans some other website for whatever they've deemed as blasphemous content du jour. It's just another day in this country at this point. Tumblr's been banned for awhile so I have to use VPN for that, TikTok kept getting banned and unbanned multiple times, YouTube was banned for a few years, and many people use VPN/proxies to access nsfw/porn sites regardless of how illegal they are. Haven't seen anyone in my cohort worry about the stance taken against Wikipedia, they'll probably unban it eventually.

23 points by ryzvonusef 4y ago

> Wikipedia was approached for blocking/removal of the said contents by issuing a notice under applicable law & court order(s). An opportunity of hearing was also provided, however, the platform neither complied by removing the blasphemous content nor appeared before the Authority.

UltraViolence 4y ago

[flagged]

boeingUH60 4y ago

Because of so-called “blasphemy”. I really don’t have any pity for corrupt nearly failed states like Pakistan…they’ve chosen to be backwards, corrupt, and poor with their decisions, and I say more power to them.

34611 4y ago
[dead]

beardyw 4y ago

Long discussion here https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34610517 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34610517 Also this title is misleading. Degraded is not Banned.

ryzvonusef 4y ago
It's banned for me, I literally cannot open en.wikipedia.org, and I am getting a similar error I get for other "banned" websites. (like Deutsch Welle, for instance https://twitter.com/HamidMirPAK/status/1621566287125020672 https://twitter.com/HamidMirPAK/status/1621566287125020672) I think they have moved from degraded to outright blocked
ryzvonusef 4y ago
https://wikimediafoundation.org/news/2023/02/03/wikimedia-foundation-urges-pakistan-telecommunications-authority-to-restore-access-to-wikipedia-in-pakistan/ https://wikimediafoundation.org/news/2023/02/03/wikimedia-fo...

m-p-3 4y ago

If you want an offline copy of Wikipedia, I'd recommend getting Kiwix and grab the largest copy you can (95.2GB). It's not updated frequently, but it's IMO the safest and most private way to access Wikipedia in an oppressive state. You can easily carry it on a MicroSD card. If you think possessing a copy of Wikipedia is illegal in that country, then please take the necessary precautions to avoid putting yourself in trouble. https://library.kiwix.org/?lang=eng&category=wikipedia https://library.kiwix.org/?lang=eng&category=wikipedia magnet:?xt=urn:btih:ab13148ab9b64f11c9548fb87bf05f8ce64cb15a&xt=urn:md5:054c8bd86af847d2a8f9c832db26a038&xl=95199730590&dn=wikipedia_en_all_maxi_2022-05.zim&as=http://download.kiwix.org/zim/wikipedia/wikipedia_en_all_maxi_2022-05.zim&tr=https://tracker.openzim.org:6969/announce&tr=udp://tracker.openzim.org:6969/announce

antihoney 4y ago

Most of us are using (usually free) VPN to circumvent the current ban like we do every single time the PTA bans some other website for whatever they've deemed as blasphemous content du jour. It's just another day in this country at this point. Tumblr's been banned for awhile so I have to use VPN for that, TikTok kept getting banned and unbanned multiple times, YouTube was banned for a few years, and many people use VPN/proxies to access nsfw/porn sites regardless of how illegal they are. Haven't seen anyone in my cohort worry about the stance taken against Wikipedia, they'll probably unban it eventually.