Pakistan blocked Facebook on May 19th indefinitely in response to public outrage over a competition that encourages people to post drawings of the prophet Muhammad. This was certain to offend Muslims, who consider all depictions of the prophet to be blasphemous. The Pakistan Telecommunications Authority, which controls internet access, directed service providers to block the website "till further notice" in compliance with a high court order obtained by a group of lawyers. Pakistan has about 20 million internet users in a population of 170 million people.

Although the page is disrespectful and discriminatory, the page is representing a sort of freedom right many of us take advantage of.  Pakistan’s ability to block an entire website because of one page really makes you wonder how far they could actually go. This is not the first time the Pakistan government has censored the internet. A variety of sites are already blocked including those of Sindhi and Baloch nationalists and members of the Ahmedi religious sect, which has suffered decades of discrimination.

There are options for those restricted by this block.  Lockfox offers an all-in-one application that includes the latest version of Firefox, pre-configured to the highest security and data protection settings.  Lockfox employs encrypted networking to provide you with a data safe, private browsing experience unhindered by any website censorship.  Contact us today to take advantage of the secure web browser options we offer here at Lockfox.