Indonesia Blocks YouTube

Indonesian ISPs have blocked the video-sharing site for carrying a controversial film about Islam.

Dutch lawmaker Geert Wilders is a controversial figure. He recently released a short film, Fitna (the name means strife or conflict), in which he accuses the Koran of inciting Islamic violence. Inother words, not the most conciliatory attitude.   The film is available on YouTube, and that’s led at least four Indonesian ISPs to block access tothe video sharing site, according to the country’s information ministry.   The film has been banned by the country, although President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has urged that citizens inthe mostly Muslim country demonstrate peacefully against it.   As well as blocking YouTube, at least one of the ISPs, Telekom, has been more pro-active, blocking MySpace as well as actively seeking out other sites where the film has been posted.   The Dutch government has taken great pains to distance itself fromWilders’s film and viewpoint.