TURKEY BANS YOUTUBE, AGAIN
Chris Peredun
DailyTech, IL
Jan 21 2008
Deja vu all over again
In what is becoming a bit of a recurring event, YouTube has once again
found itself banned from Turkey for having clips available that insult
the first president and founding father Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.
After a ban in March of 2007, Turkish citizens were once again free
to peruse YouTube's collection of poorly-rendered karaoke footage
and clips of bodily harm. A court ruling in September threatened to
re-enact the ban, but it was never enforced -- and the most recent
ruling passed on January 17th resulted in the current blockade.
"Insulting Turkishness" is a criminal act in Turkey, and even being
able to view the objectionable video was deemed enough to warrant a
ban on the entire site. The supposed clip in question compares Ataturk
with a monkey, and attempting to browse to the YouTube homepage from
anywhere within Turkey results in an error stating "Access to this
web site has been suspended in accordance with decision no: 2008/55
of T.R. Ankara 12th Criminal Court of Peace."
At least 65 people -- including many journalists and writers -- have
been charged with "insulting Turkishness" since the introduction of
the law in June of 2005. The law calls for a sentence of between six
months and three years in prison for "anyone who openly denigrates the
government, judicial institutions or military or police structures"
-- or even mentioning past transgressions of the nation, such as the
Armenian massacres or Kurdish questioning.
Chris Peredun
DailyTech, IL
Jan 21 2008
Deja vu all over again
In what is becoming a bit of a recurring event, YouTube has once again
found itself banned from Turkey for having clips available that insult
the first president and founding father Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.
After a ban in March of 2007, Turkish citizens were once again free
to peruse YouTube's collection of poorly-rendered karaoke footage
and clips of bodily harm. A court ruling in September threatened to
re-enact the ban, but it was never enforced -- and the most recent
ruling passed on January 17th resulted in the current blockade.
"Insulting Turkishness" is a criminal act in Turkey, and even being
able to view the objectionable video was deemed enough to warrant a
ban on the entire site. The supposed clip in question compares Ataturk
with a monkey, and attempting to browse to the YouTube homepage from
anywhere within Turkey results in an error stating "Access to this
web site has been suspended in accordance with decision no: 2008/55
of T.R. Ankara 12th Criminal Court of Peace."
At least 65 people -- including many journalists and writers -- have
been charged with "insulting Turkishness" since the introduction of
the law in June of 2005. The law calls for a sentence of between six
months and three years in prison for "anyone who openly denigrates the
government, judicial institutions or military or police structures"
-- or even mentioning past transgressions of the nation, such as the
Armenian massacres or Kurdish questioning.
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