Despite web censorship, Turks are heavy social media users

Here is the latest news on Turks into social media:

Turkey: The land that embraced Facebook, FriendFeed and startups
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Furthermore, last year ComScore released a report showing Turkey has the third most engaged online audience in the world, with 30 hours spent online each month ? that?s actually behind the US and Canada. See below:

The EU average is 29 hours. Turkey is also home to the world?s 12th largest Internet market and has 6th largest internet use in Europe user base with 38% penetration. In 2012 it is forecast to grow to 35.8 million users (which will make it the 5th largest internet population in Europe).

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and a roundup from cyber world:

China makes Clinton’s speech look tougher than it was

China’s overwrought reaction to Hillary Clinton’s speech on Internet freedom yesterday has had the interesting effect of making her words seem much bolder and significant than they actually were. Here’s what a foreign ministry spokesman had to say:

Reacting to Clinton?s Freedom to Connect speech

Many good friends are in Washington, DC today to hear Secretary Clinton?s speech on Internet Freedom, and will be offering their reactions across a swath of online and offline media. I?m enjoying my own brand of internet freedom, the one that allows me to get the transcript of her speech as it?s delivered and offer my reactions online, while helping Rachel look after the joy and terror of our lives. I?ll link to their posts or tweet them as they come in, but I was asked by friends at the Index on Censorship to offer some thoughts on the speech, and I thought I?d (expand on and) share what I wrote for them.

Is Hillary Clinton launching a cyber Cold War?

from Net Effect by Evgeny Morozov

Turkey?s Internet law needs to be reformed or abolished, says OSCE media freedom representative

Turkey?s Internet law needs to be reformed or abolished, says OSCE media freedom representative

VIENNA, 18 January 2010 ? Miklos Haraszti, the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, today asked the Turkish authorities to bring Turkey?s internet law in line with OSCE commitments and other international standards on freedom of expression.

Reuters: Turkey blocking 3,700 websites

Reuters: Turkey blocking 3,700 websites

Turkey blocking 3,700 websites: OSCE
VIENNA, Mon Jan 18, 2010 8:37am EST

VIENNA (Reuters) ? Europe?s main security and human rights watchdog said Monday Turkey was blocking some 3,700 Internet sites for ?arbitrary and political reasons? and urged legal reforms to show its commitment to freedom of expression.

France, Germany officials warn against using Internet Explorer

Close enough for rock ‘n’ roll: how the Internet makes the cheap, dirty and experimental possible

My latest Locus column, “Close Enough for Rock ‘n’ Roll,” discusses the way that the net makes it possible to do something almost as good as its offline equivalent for a fraction of the cost, and how that changes everything:

Kids Spend Every Waking Minute in Front of a Screen [STUDY]

The Kaiser Family Foundation has the results in from its latest media usage study, and it was enough to shock the authors.

The last time the Foundation looked at the media usage of 8- to 18-year-olds was five years ago, when they were at just shy of six and a half hours of media consumption per day. At that point, the study authors felt that they must have hit a ceiling on media usage.

Google Attack Part of Widespread Chinese Spying Effort

Google’s decision Tuesday to risk walking away from the world’s largest Internet market may have come as a shock, but security experts see it as the most public admission of a top IT problem for U.S. companies: ongoing corporate espionage originating from China. Google, by implying that Beijing had sponsored the attack, has placed itself in the center of an international controversy, exposing what appears to be a state-sponsored corporate espionage campaign that compromised more than 30 technology, financial and media companies, most of them global Fortune 500 enterprises.

Google’s Eric Schmidt on China and Censorship

Google CEO Eric Schmidt has long defended his company’s decision to do business in China despite the restrictions that Beijing imposes on Internet freedom. Nevertheless, last week the company abruptly threatened to pull out after suffering hacker attacks believed to have originated in China. Schmidt explained why to NEWSWEEK’s Fareed Zakaria in an exclusive interview. Excerpts:

China to Google: You?re Welcome Here Only If You Abide by Our Laws

After Google?s decision to stop censoring content on the Chinese version of its search engine, and threat to completely halt its operations in China, China has shown a slightly indifferent face.

The country has issued a two-pronged response that boils down to these two points: First, if you want to do business in China, you have to abide by China?s laws. Second, China will not stop censoring the Internet.

MAIN FOCUS: Google threatens to quit China | 14/01/2010

Google vs China: capitalist model, virtual wall,

A speech on the theme of internet freedom around the world delivered by Hillary Clinton on 21 January 2010 contained a striking phrase. The United States secretary of state, speaking at Washington?s journalism-focused Newseum, argued that nation-states that chose to limit free access to information risked ?walling themselves off from the progress of the next century?.

Google explains its China Syndrome – by Joe Fay

Searchengineland spotted that users tapping ‘Google China’ into Google will see the usual slew of results, as well as a sponsored link to the blog posting that kicked off the whole Google/China/hacking/dissidents firestorm last week.