Indonesia ceases blocking file-sharing websites

Indonesian Internet service providers have annulled the ban over YouTube and other file-sharing Web sites that the government had ordered because of a film made by Dutch MP Geert Wilder (photo right) and regarded as highly offensive by Muslims and available on these sites.

As we informed you, on Tuesday, the government with most numerous Muslim citizens decided to get YouTube, MySpace and other sites blocked by Internet service providers, although for some users there was hardly any problem evading the interdiction.

The new policy the online service providers said will be adopted will be focused on blocking access to individual pages on the sites containing the short anti-Islamic film.

"It is like removing cancer from the body without making the patient die," Information and Communication Minister Mohammad Nuh declared.

When asked about the film UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon depicted it as "offensively anti-Islamic". In February, Pakistan blocked access to YouTube's website due to a movie trailer for Wilders' film available on the site; however, the ban only lasted a few days.

Wilders' film was a mixture between scenes of recent terrorist attacks, verses taken from, Islam's holy book, the Koran and speeches made by Islamic extremists instigating at violence against non-Muslims.