Tech Companies Fighting Apple's App Store... >>
<< Winklevii Lose Again: Only Choice Now Is...
 tdicon 

Free Speech

by Mike Masnick

Mon, May 16th 2011 9:57pm




Filed Under:
censorship, free speech, turkey


New Internet Censorship Plans Lead To Protests In Turkey

from the don't-touch-my-internet dept

We've discussed in the past how out of touch the bureaucracy is in Turkey when it comes to censoring the internet. Over the past few years, we've seen Turkey ban (repeatedly) various Google sites, with YouTube frequently being blocked across the board over a single childish video. Bureaucrats have defended the blocks, claiming that it's about "respect" and they're not worried about how others feel about it. Yet, as the government has announced plans for further censorship, in the form of filters and restrictions on domains, thousands are apparently taking to the streets to protest, speaking out against such attempts. The government is trying to play down the new efforts, claiming they're not really about censorship, and will be voluntary, but when asked how that fit with bans on certain domain names (e.g., you cannot have a domain name with the word "blonde" in it), the Turkish regulator (BTK) just sent the Wall Street Journal reporter "an email with a dozen of the rudest words in the Turkish lexicon, without comment or explanation." Well, that clears it right up, then.

14 Comments | Leave a Comment

If you liked this post, you may also be interested in...

Reader Comments (rss)

(Flattened / Threaded)

  1.  
    identicon
    Anonymous Coward, May 16th, 2011 @ 11:15pm

    This strikes me as a particularly stupid time in history to try introducing new restrictions on speech in an otherwise peaceful middle eastern country.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  2.  
    identicon
    Anonymous Coward, May 16th, 2011 @ 11:57pm

    first they came for a dozen of the rudest turkish words and i didn't speak out because i wasn't a turkey

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  3.  
    identicon
    Mehmeh, May 17th, 2011 @ 12:17am

    Turkey not ready for EU?

    More fuel for those who say that Turkey is clearly not ready for entry into the European Union.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  4.  
    identicon
    Ena, May 17th, 2011 @ 12:40am

    Re: Turkey not ready for EU?

    Well, EU is trying to bring a great wall of EU firewall on internet, so who is ready for what ?

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  5.  
    icon
    Angry Puppy (profile), May 17th, 2011 @ 12:44am

    Naughty Turkish Words

    Let me guess...the first dirty word is Freedom?

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  6.  
    identicon
    FuzzyDuck, May 17th, 2011 @ 1:05am

    Re: Re: Turkey not ready for EU?

    I agree, and I would even say that the EU countries are pretty hypocritical when it comes to dealing with Turkey anyway. I just said it will be used by those who oppose Turkish membership.

    Besides I don't think too many EU countries have gone this far down the road of censorship. For instance, none has banned YouTube because it contained a video that they considered insulting.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  7.  
    identicon
    Anonymous Coward, May 17th, 2011 @ 1:24am

    Blonde hair is illegal in Turkey? Hmm... On the one hand, no more dumb blonde jokes. On the other hand, no more Marilyn Monroe.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  8.  
    identicon
    chuck, May 17th, 2011 @ 5:21am

    well, guess if I want those Turkish eyeballs I will have to change my site to "Brunettes on Blacks"

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  9.  
    icon
    CK (profile), May 17th, 2011 @ 7:12am

    Constantinople

    is Istanbul, now Constantinople. Why did Constantinople get the works? That's nobody's business but the Turks.

    But it's always good to see civil disobedience against censorship.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  10.  
    identicon
    SilverWolf, May 17th, 2011 @ 1:54pm

    There's no cencorship

    People who helded meeting only want porn.. You can check pictures from meeting..
    http://pornomadokunma.blogspot.com/ They only want Porn.. You can read plecards (posters) they carried.. 'DONT TOUCH MY PORN' 'I like porn..' 'All we are porno lovers..' I think these kind of posters enough to understand those peoples aims..

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  11.  
    identicon
    SilverWolf, May 17th, 2011 @ 1:57pm

    Re:

    Nonsense.. There are hundreds of blonde women here.. Dont belive those stupid news..

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  12.  
    icon
    techflaws.org (profile), May 18th, 2011 @ 2:45am

    Re: There's no cencorship

    So what? And who are you or your government for that matter to prohibit people from watching porn?

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  13.  
    identicon
    Anonymous Coward, May 18th, 2011 @ 10:45am

    Re: Re: There's no cencorship

    actually no one's banning porn. it brings four different filter profiles that can be activated by user, if users feel the need and filter profiles can be deactivated any time by user.standard profile has no limitations other than occasional unnecessary site blocking of youtube and the likes. but filters and site blocking is two different issue.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  14.  
    icon
    techflaws.org (profile), May 19th, 2011 @ 12:17am

    Re: Re: Re: There's no cencorship

    Both of which have the same effect: someone else abritrarily telling people what they are allowed to see or not.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]


Add Your Comment

Have a Techdirt Account? Sign in now. Want one? Register here
Get Techdirt’s Daily Email
Save me a cookie
  • Note: A CRLF will be replaced by a break tag (<br>), all other allowable HTML will remain intact
  • Allowed HTML Tags: <b> <i> <a> <em> <br> <strong> <blockquote> <hr> <tt>
Tech Companies Fighting Apple's App Store... >>
<< Winklevii Lose Again: Only Choice Now Is...
 tdicon 
Follow Techdirt
Flattr rss rss
A word from our Sponsors...
Sponsored Resource
Essential Reading
Techdirt Reading List
Techdirt Insider Chat

A word from our Sponsors...
Recent Stories

Saturday

12:00pm: Sophisticatedjanedoe / FightCopyrightTrolls Favorite Techdirt Posts Of The Week (20)
9:00am: Awesome Stuff: Cool Product Designs (4)

Friday

7:39pm: Rice University Professor: SkyNET's Gonna Take Ur Jerbs! (44)
6:33pm: Make Art, Not Law (7)
5:27pm: AP's Attempt At DRM'ing The News Shuts Down (12)
5:00pm: DailyDirt: DIY Junk Food (3)
3:40pm: Suburban Express Goes Double Or Nothing On Their Aggressive Behavior (6)
2:34pm: Want To Destroy Any Hope Of Serious Cybersecurity? Give The DOJ Its Desired Backdoor Wiretaps On All Communications (18)
1:34pm: Nintendo Exchanges Goodwill For Control; Issues Mass Monetization Claims On Let's Play Videos (31)
12:32pm: Indian Publishing Firm Can't Take A Little Criticism, Threatens Blogger With $1 Billion Lawsuit, Criminal Charges (12)
More arrow
A word from our Sponsors...

Close

Email This