A ridiculous decision
It has been now over 2 months since the BTRC, at the behest of a government directive, clamped down on the YouTube site, affecting the services of Google in general. In the wake of the violence in Africa spurred by the controversial movie clip, the Bangladesh government understandably adopted a safety-first and politically correct approach.
One, however, is bemused at the laid-back attitude of the BTRC in finding an alternative for stakeholders who are critically dependent on the global services of Google. For the BTRC to say that it is merely following government order is not only laughable but an indictment on our telecommunication sector. Despite having an overwhelmingly Muslim majority, countries like Egypt, UAE have not banned YouTube. Surely they have had the same outrage at the movie clip but instead of banning the access, they have worked out ways around it without causing any disruption to services that are globally required. One such way is to localize YouTube for the host country, which allows the host country's regulator to control the contents. Sadly, it is quite apparent that the BTRC is unaware of such arrangements and here we are expecting them to build a Digital Bangladesh!
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