Blocking YouTube
Many Google services disrupted in Bangladesh
The government’s blocking of video streaming website YouTube is disrupting many popular Google services in Bangladesh. Most Internet users in Bangladesh are unable to access Google services like Google+ (Google’s social network), Google Maps, Google Drive (cloud storage of Google), Google News, Google sync and Google Play (application store of Google). There have been reports that even Gmail, the free email service of Google, has also been disrupted.
YouTube, owned by Google, was blocked in Bangladesh on September 19, as the site contained the trailer of a controversial anti-Islam film. The film had triggered massive protests in Muslim countries.
Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) is aware of this problem with Google services but technical issues prevent it from solving the problem, claimed an official of the commission.
The official said content management of Google was very dynamic and when an IP address (internet protocol address) of any Google site is blocked, it affects other Google sites as well.
The official also said blocking or unblocking any site depends on the government’s decision and the BTRC just follows government orders.
Smartphone users in the country were reportedly the hardest hit in this service disruption as the popular Android operating system for Smartphone heavily depends on Google services.
However, the most popular service of the giant company, Google search, seems to be unaffected.
Courtesy of The Daily Star
