c'est possible (recevable comme excuse quoi) un problème technique qui touche un seul site et tous les abonnés ?

Moroccans able to access YouTube again

RABAT, Morocco (AP) —
Moroccans were able to access the video-sharing site YouTube on Wednesday for the first time since access was blocked last week.
The site's disappearance provoked a storm of debate on Morocco's blogs, with Internet users voicing fears that it signaled a further rollback of media freedoms that the country began regaining after the accession of King Mohamed VI in 1999.

Morocco's communications minister would not comment on YouTube's absence.

Najib Omrani, a spokesman for the state-controlled telecommunications company Maroc Telecom, said Moroccans were unable to access YouTube due to a technical glitch, but could not explain its nature or why it affected only Google's YouTube.

Some Internet users were skeptical that a technical problem was to blame and noted that the site went down after users posted videos critical of Morocco's treatment of the people of Western Sahara, a territory that Morocco took control of in 1975 after Spain, the colonial power, withdrew.

"They've clearly blocked YouTube," said university student Abdelhakim Albarkani, parked in a Rabat cyber cafe doing his economics homework. "I'm worried, because YouTube allowed us to see things the state newspapers and television won't show."

At his accession to the throne in 1999, Moroccans hoped King Mohamed VI would usher in political and social freedoms absent under his father, the late King Hassan II.

But key issues remain off-limits for public discussion, with Moroccan law still forbidding criticism of the monarchy, Islam and Morocco's occupation of Western Sahara.

Over the past month Morocco has cracked down on students and activists from the territory, with police injuring and arresting dozens as they broke up pro-independence demonstrations. Protesters have posted dozens of videos of these and earlier clashes on YouTube.

The most popular, with around 2,500 views over the past month, purports to show police violently cudgeling a group of Saharawi women protesting in Laayoune, Western Sahara's main city. It was posted last December.

The government has lately tried to stifle such public discussion. In recent years, journalists have been hit with prison sentences, heavy fines and sometimes driven into exile for having dared broach Western Sahara and other subjects.

A report this month by the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists listed Morocco as one of 10 worst backsliders on press freedom.

Authorities have largely refrained from tampering with the Internet. But telecommunications authorities recently clamped down, blocking access to the online mapping tool Google Earth for much of 2006, as well as to sites promoting Western Sahara independence.

Internet use has flourished in Morocco since high-speed access became available in 2004. Tech-savvy Moroccans have started blogs and websites, and the Internet is now the scene of lively debate on many topics off-limits to the country's mainstream media.

Associated Press Writer Marco Oved in Paris contributed to this report.

YouTube Site Returns to Morocco

RABAT, Morocco — Moroccans were able to access the video-sharing site YouTube on Wednesday for the first time since access was blocked last week.

The site's disappearance provoked a storm of debate on Morocco's blogs, with Internet users voicing fears that it signaled a further rollback of media freedoms that the country began regaining after the accession of King Mohamed VI in 1999.

Morocco's communications minister would not comment on YouTube's absence.

Najib Omrani, a spokesman for the state-controlled telecommunications company Maroc Telecom, said Moroccans were unable to access YouTube due to a technical glitch, but could not explain its nature or why it affected only Google Inc.'s YouTube.

Many Moroccans said government censors had been spooked by a spate of videos recently posted on YouTube purportedly showing Moroccan police beating and arresting activists from Western Sahara, a desert territory Morocco has occupied since 1975.

Maroc Telecom 'Technically' Slams Door on YouTube
For reasons not immediately clear, Moroccan ISP Maroc Telecom has blocked access to YouTube as of May 25th, writes Reporters Without Borders.
Maroc Telecom did not respond to inquiries made regarding the block, but the firm's press officer said it was the result of a technical problem.
The technical problem occurred shortly after videos of pro-independence Saharan demonstrations were posted on the site.
Blocking access to a site is illegal unless a court orders it.

YouTube Site Returns to Morocco
May 31,2007

Moroccans were able to access the video-sharing site YouTube on Wednesday for the first time since access was blocked last week.
The site's disappearance provoked a storm of debate on Morocco's blogs, with Internet users voicing fears that it signaled a further rollback of media freedoms that the country began regaining after the accession of King Mohamed VI in 1999.
Morocco's communications minister would not comment on YouTube's absence.
Najib Omrani, a spokesman for the state-controlled telecommunications company Maroc Telecom, said Moroccans were unable to access YouTube due to a technical glitch, but could not explain its nature or why it affected only Google Inc.'s YouTube.
Many Moroccans said government censors had been spooked by a spate of videos recently posted on YouTube purportedly showing Moroccan police beating and arresting activists from Western Sahara, a desert territory Morocco has occupied since 1975.

Morocco: YouTube Site Blocked for Maroc Telecom Subscribers
Reporters sans Frontières (Paris)

Reporters Without Borders has voiced concern about the blocking of access to video-sharing website YouTube by the Moroccan Internet server (ISP) Maroc Telecom since May 25 2007.

The ISP failed to respond to several calls made to it by the worldwide press freedom organisation, but a European journalist reported that the firm's press officer said it was due to a "technical problem."

"We wonder how a 'technical problem' can affect only one website," the organisation said. "No official statement has supported this version. Blocking access to a site is illegal unless ordered by a court."

Users of the smaller privately-owned ISPs Wana and Méditel are still able to access YouTube, which may have been blocked by Maroc Telecom after videos were posted on it of independence demonstrations for Western Sahara.

Morocco has blocked access since last year to Google Earth and Livejournal. Websites close to the Western Sahara independence movement Polisario were blocked in December 2005
( http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=15809 ).

Moroccan YouTube ban elicits negative reaction from citizens Rabat (Morocco) -
Moroccon Internet users have been banned from accessing YouTube for over a week, and now some are beginning to doubt the government's response that the problem is due to a "technical glitch".

The video sharing site has been blocked from subscribers of Morocco's Maroc Telecom, a state-run company that provides the majority of Internet access, since last Friday. A government spokesperson told the Associated Press it was unable to comment, and Maroc Telecom would not go further than to say it was a glitch.

However, skeptics are wondering how a glitch would prevent access to only one site, and why it hasn't been fixed in four days. "They've clearly blocked YouTube," said local student Abdelhakin Albarkani. It "allowed us to see things the state newspapers and television won't show."

Videos criticizing the country's treatment of Western Sahara, a Moroccon-owned territory, went up on the site shortly before it became unavailable to Maroc Telecom subscribers.

Morocco is in the same category as Thailand, with strict laws that prohibit overt criticism about the government and its ruler. Thailand received international attention when it banned YouTube because of a video that insulted the country's king.

Morocco unbans YouTube
Was Western Sahara to blame?
By John Oates

Video sharing website YouTube has been unbanned by the Moroccan government after five days of unavailability in the desert kingdom.
The site has been offline since 25 May, reportedly prompted by videos from the Western Saharan independence movement including footage of Moroccan police beating female independence protestors in Laayoune.

Such videos are available on the site among many calling for independence, and many calling for continued violence against such protests. Videos mocking the country's king are also still available.
A spokesman for Maroc Telecom told journalists the unavailability was due to a technical fault.
Reporters San Frontieres welcomed the change of heart from government-owned Maroc Telecom, which provides the vast majority of Moroccan internet connections. The group questioned how a "technical problem" could lead to just one website being blocked.
The Polisario has been fighting for independence for the Western Sahara since 1976 - first against Spanish occupation then, when the region was handed over, against Morocco. Since 1991 they have been observing a ceasefire imposed by the UN.

Morocco: YouTube is Blocked, and the Blogoma is Not Happy

Late Friday night, A Moroccan in Washington D.C. broke the news that YouTube had been blocked in Morocco. He remarked that “It’s quite saddening to see such a thing happening in Morocco;a country that has made giant steps in freedoms and socio-economic reforms in the span of short 8 years.”

YouTube is not the first site banned in Morocco. Last year, Livejournal, one of the first blogging sites; and Google Earth, which offers satellite photos in sharp detail of most of the world were blocked. Certain sites and blogs documenting the Western Sahara conflict have been banned for years now, although a few in English remain.

By Saturday morning, the blogoma had exploded in commentary on the subject, some remarking upon why YouTube had been banned, others criticizing the censure. Motic was the first to speculate, saying:

This new censorship, as illegal and unacceptable as all the others, has nothing to do with security. It demonstrates once again how clumsy and awkward the Moroccan policy is towards IT and the internet. Moroccan authorities go another step farther away from mastering this tool. Censoring a site secretly and illegally comes to recognizing the enemy’s arguments! Is this the best thing that Morocco can do in order to defend its territorial integrity? Censorship is obsolete, it is a reflex of an older era. It can only be interpreted as a sign of defeat and despair.

The blogger made several other posts in French, documenting the reasons behind the censure.

Au début était le blog (fr) also expressed dismay over the censure:

Vous avez sans doute remarqué que depuis deux ou trois jours que la vidéo de Nass El Ghiwane insérée dans ce billet ne fonctionne plus. Ne cherchez pas d’explications techniques lointaines. Le site Youtube est tout simplement censuré au Maroc par Maroc Telecom, filiale de la multinationale Vivendi! Vous avez très bien lu: on censure encore au Maroc.

You have undoubtedly noticed that in the past two or three days the video of Nass El Ghiwane inserted in this blog does not function any more. Do not seek remote technical explanations. The YouTube site is quite simply censored in Morocco by Maroc Telecom, subsidiary of the Vivendi multinational! You read correctly: censorship still occurs in Morocco.
In the Maroc IT blog, (fr) Omar el Hyani posted a piece urging readers to boycott Maroc Telecom, which seems to be the culprit, and encouraged bloggers to post a graphic in support of the boycott:

Je demanderais à tous les lecteurs de ce blog, de boycotter les produits de Maroc Telecom, et pour ceux qui possèdent un blog ou une page personnelle, d’afficher le logo anti-censure sur leur page

I would ask all the readers of this blog, to boycott the products of Maroc Telecom, and for those who have a blog or a personal page, to post the anti-censorship logo on their page.