Meanwhile in Pakistan: Gov't bans cheaper late night calling because it is 'against social norms'

Here is an strange way to fight immorality: ban cheaper late night cell phone tariffs. At least, that’s what the Pakistani telecoms watchdog decided would be an effective measure to help clean up the morals of the country.

The idea? Simple, while carriers in the South Asian country are competing in price by offering cheaper call rates at night, the authorities suspect that it’s all promoting vulgar calls.

"We have received a number of complaints from the Supreme Court of Pakistan, the Standing Committee of the parliament, (parliamentarians) and subscribers regarding the promotion of vulgarity through such advertisements and have therefore asked cellular mobile operators to immediately discontinue such packages and to present compliance reports," Pakistan Telecommunication Authority Chairman Farooq Awan said.

Those were qualified as practices "against social norms" and the “values” of the country.

On Facebook and Twitter, many Pakistanis were quick to protest what seems an absurd decision. Some accused the Government of moral policing.

Just about a year ago, Pakistani carriers were forced to filter out SMS messages with against a list of 1,700 ‘bad’ words, and the country is now actively discussing whether it should or should not filter YouTube and Twitter like China.