Pakistan's mobile operators were Sunday scrambling to block text
messages containing any of over 1,600 "obscene" terms banned by the
country's telecoms authority ahead of a Monday deadline.
The list,
including words from "quickie" to "fairy" to "Jesus Christ" and
obtained by AFP, was distributed on November 14 with operators given
seven days to comply, but has met with widespread derision and a threat
of legal action.
"There are more than 1,600 words in the list
including indecent language, expletives, swear words, slang etc, which
have to be filtered," an official at a telecoms firm told AFP, speaking
on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the
media.
"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," he said.
Other words and phrases on
the list of 1,695 terms, issued in English and Urdu, include "monkey
crotch", "athlete's foot", "idiot" and "damn", as well as "deeper",
"four twenty", "go to hell", "harder", "looser" and "no sex".
PTA
officials were unavailable to comment on the ban, which did not appear
to have been implemented on Sunday as messages containing the words were
still transmitted.
The letter accompanying the list says networks must also submit monthly reports on implementation.
Campaign group Bytes for All said it would challenge the order in court, saying it violated rights to free speech and privacy.
"We
are now witnessing a new ruthless wave of moral policing in the digital
communication sphere of Pakistan imposed by the Pakistan
Telecommunication Authority," country coordinator Shahzad Ahmed told
AFP.
"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.
The move in the Muslim-majority country sparked derision from local Twitter users using the hashtag #PTAbannedlist.
"Maybe
all Pakistanis should keep sending expletive-filled text msgs every 10
minutes and wait for the networks to collapse," tweeted user Shoaib
Taimur.
Another Twitter user, Fariha Akhtar, posted: "Damage to #ebanking?" after the word "deposit" was discovered on the banned list.
"The
#PTABannedList is also an excellent opportunity for our street language
and slang to evolve and grow by coming up with newer abuses," tweeted
blogger Shahid Saeed.
"Seriously, why aren't we protesting this
ban? Jokes apart, they've banned words that have no vulgar implications
whatsoever," tweeted Sara Muzzamil.
Several Twitter users also questioned the inclusion of several terms they have never heard of.
It
is the first time the country has sought to censor text messages but
the PTA has previously blocked websites deemed pornographic or offensive
to Islam.
Pakistan blocked Facebook for nearly two weeks in May
last year in a storm of controversy about a competition to draw the
Prophet Mohammed and has restricted access to hundreds of websites
because of blasphemy.
The country briefly banned YouTube in February 2008 during a similar outcry against cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed. AFP
