( posted from Guatemala / Xeni ) Remember when Turkey banned YouTube this March, over some stupid frat-boy youtube videos that implied a Turkish political icon was gay? Well, they've taken care of that now. The Turkish parliament has just passed a bill that allows authorities to block websites with content perceived as an insult to the Turkish republic's founder, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. The bill was signed into law by President Ahmet Necdet Sezer on May 22.
Reporters Without Borders said today:
The possible consequences of this law are very disturbing. Will subversive content also be banned from chat forums? How far does the government want go to impose its control on online dissent?Previously on BB:Article 8 of Law 5651 on the "Prevention of crimes in the computer domain" calls for content to be blocked if it violates a 1951 law on "crimes against Atatürk." The article says: "When there is sufficient evidence of the improper aspect of content (...) access must be blocked." As well as punishing "crimes against Atatürk," Law 5651 also punishes "inciting suicide" (article 84), "sexual abuse of children" (article 103), "prostitution" (article 227) and "inciting drug use" (article 190).
Internet Service Providers are themselves supposed to take the initiative to block access to content, which they then show to a judge who decides whether or not the blocking should continue. It will be the job of a "Telecommunication Council" to identify these responsible for the content. A complaint will then be submitted to a "Communication Presidency," which like the "Telecommunication Council" is an entity specially created to ensure the new law's implementation.
An Istanbul court ordered the national telecommunications company Turk Telecom to block the video-sharing site YouTube on 6 March because of content regarded as "insulting" to Atatürk. Access was restored two days later after YouTube removed the offending video. Reporters Without Borders put out a release at the time urging the judicial authorities to act with moderation.
UPDATE: Shii says,
I found the horribly offensive YouTube video that caused Turkey to ban the entire website, and have mirrored it on a web host with more balls: Video Link.Absolutely obscene, I tell you. When you see it you will be chilled to your bones.
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Hi I'm Turkish,
Firstly sorry, I'm not good at English. Cause I'm student.
Actually I agree with you. You can't ban big website for this. You should get use to if you are improving yourself. On the other hand, Turkish government warned YouTube, but they didn't speak with Turkish government.
Also YouTube is the fifth popular website in Turkey, that's why banning is weird. Because you can't explain your thoughts and stop something with banning something.
Finally, everybody thinks that Turkish people aren't modern, women MUST wear turban in Turkey ext. These are not CORRECT. You should recognize us.
Thanks...
Mr. K.