There’s some more developments in the rather strange Internet censorship system in Turkey. There doesn’t seem to be much a plan and some of the restrictions are well just plain silly. The ban on Youtube has been in place since last year, although as us Identity Cloaker users who surf anonymously know it’s not exactly hard to circumvent. The ban was implemented after someone put some cartoons up which were apparently insulting to Kemil Ataturk.
Well the Internet Technologies Association have challenged the Turkish Government in the European Court of Human Rights. They are citing Article 10 which is quoted below.
Article 10 provides the right to freedom of expression, subject to certain restrictions that are “in accordance with law” and “necessary in a democratic society”. This right includes the freedom to hold opinions, and to receive and impart information and ideas.
Can’t see how they can lose to be honest ! Can we really trust an Internet Censorship System like Turkey have implmented? Think about it, all the vast resources of Youtube, the points of view, the learning materials, music, culture and ok a lot of rubbish, banned because someone decided a video was offensive. Turkey are censoring huge amounts of the internet and damaging the right to Freedom of Speech.
I’m pretty sure Kemil Ataturk wouldn’t have approved
Where there is no freedom, there is death and destruction.
I mean why block the whole of Youtube for a few videos, it’s not that hard to block a few URLs to the offending materials. So anyway the Turkish Government have come up with another plan, they’re asking for their own version of Youtube presumably a heavily censored one.
It’s a worrying development, once Governments start to control and censor the internet, then they usually get carried away. Remember this is a Government deciding what you should read online, they’re not letting you make your own mind up, just deciding for you.
If you want an example of how ridiculous it is allowing such people to decide on what you can see online – here’s another example apparently the singer Richard Digance, his web site is blocked in Turkey. He’s a folk singer and writes little comedy songs as well, you may have heard of him.
Most people suspect that Richard’s crime against the Republic of Turkey which instigated this internet ban is that he penned a song from the perspective of a turkey worrying about Christmas! I don’t think I need to say anything more about that.
