Despite Constitutional Court, Youtube still blocked. Turkey a growing land of lawlessness?

Turkish Court Says YouTube Ban Is Unconstitutional  NYT > Turkey by By CEYLAN YEGINSU DISPATCHES FROM TURKEY: Popular Twitter User Receives 15 Months of Prison  Bianet :: English E. P., the owner of popular twitter user “Allah CC?, has been convicted to 15 months of prison for ?overtly humiliating religious values accepted by a faction of the society?. … Read more

EFD Rights Watch: “YouTube to remain blocked in Turkey despite court order…

BTK Insists on YouTube Ban Bianet :: English Information and Communication Technologies Authority (BTK) stated that YouTube ban must continue.Telecommunication lawyer Gökhan Ahi said that BTK insisted on YouTube ban arbitrarily despite the court verdict. AKP deputy applies to Constitutional Court for blocking Twitter Hurriyet Daily News Turkish Parliament Constitution Commission?s head Burhan Kuzu applied … Read more

“Facebook increases face-to-face socializing” and a roundup….

Yahoo?s Acquisition Strategy: Technology, Content and Users (Plus Moms and Babies) from Mashable! by Ben Parr The New Facebook Messages: A Walkthrough [SCREENSHOTS] from Mashable! by Ben Parr Study: Facebook increases face-to-face socializing from All Facebook by Meredith Singer Do you ever worry about your preference to message a friend over Facebook then talk to … Read more

kiss kiss banned banned…

… by Sevcan We were trying to organize an event to celebrate the removal of the ban on YouTube in Turkey. But we changed the event topic as DNS Solution instead of YouTube complexity. (We were joking..) So many people were using social media tools to spread their reaction and when I saw @ardaerdik?s twit … Read more

YouTube ban lifted. But not web censorship…

YouTube Ban Finally Lifted from Bianet :: English The access ban to the YouTube video sharing site was lifted after 2.5 years subsequent to the removal of the controversial videos that allegedly insulted the memory of Atatürk, founder of the Turkish Republic. Turkey Lifts YouTube Ban from Mashable! by Stan Schroeder Turkey has lifted its … Read more

YouTube ban lifted for the moment after 2,5 years…

Four videos that insult Atatürk have been removed and the ban is lifted for the moment. It is a just a matter of time. Upload a video again and Turks will apply for the ban and they will continue to embarras themselves… news in Turkish Turkey lifts its ban on YouTube: agency from Yahoo news … Read more

Belated congrats to İstanbul Şehir University

Istanbul gets a new and ambitious reserch university project. A few weeks ago Istanbul Şehir University was officially opened. Several of my friends with great academic credentials begin to teach there. In some respects, this new university reminds me the early years of Bilgi U as it hired so many free spirited academicians. However, we … Read more

F.B.I. vs. Wikipedia

FBI Seal on Wikipedia (Wikipedia) Wikipedia Gets Catty in Legal Dispute Over F.B.I. Seal from Mashable! by Samuel Axon FBI asks Wikimedia Foundation to remove seal from websites, Wikimedia declines from Wikinews Breaking Down the 2009 DMCA Rulemaking, Part 1: Victory for Vidders from EFF.org Updates by corynne Now that the dust has settled on … Read more

REPORT: TURKEY’S INTERNET CENSORSHIP PROBLEM

REPORT: TURKEY’S INTERNET CENSORSHIP PROBLEM The Media Association has released a report analyzing the various aspects of the problem of Internet access blocks in Turkey. The report, looking at the Internet as a new conduit, examines Law No. 5651, which regulates the Internet, as well as the current YouTube and Google IP bans, and makes … Read more

Sevcan Çelik on the March against Web Censorship

Protest against web censorship Today we walked from Taksim Square to Galatasaray in Istkklal street. Once again, I thought that we are not alone, and it was not a simple crowd. A good team was there from our limited cybersphere but it was not enough. [many of photos here are provided by Elif, our other … Read more

17 July: March Against Web Censorship

It is now legal.  Turkish netizens are organizing to march against web censorship on 17 July in Taksim. Organization page here. Banner discussions here.

Banners against web censorship

more banner options for Turkish bloggers can be found here.

Three coverpages that parodizes web censorship (by Selçuk Erdem)

Selçuk Erdem was kind enough to offer these three coverpages he had prepared to be used in campaign against web censorship. Well, I am lazy to translate but google translation will help, I believe… RSF Campaign in defence of online free expression Court Insists on YouTub Censorship from Bianet :: English An Ankara court has … Read more

Web Censorship in Turkey: An Impasse due to a Minister who takes it personal, Kemalist complicity with the politically conservative judiciary and Indifferent user base

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I feel that Mr. Yıldırım takes the web censorship issues in a very personal level in his continuously apologetic speeches. Maybe indifference of Google administrators made him angry and he is also annoyed by netizens who criticize him of web ignorance. He keeps on using nationalistic arguments, he acts as if he is the minister of finance and he keeps telling his successes in infrastructural developments and in the mean time he builds an alliance within the information technology community (see the infotech awards below). His road-making etc is all right but I wish he wasn’t involved in information highways. Yes, during his ministry Turkey succeeded to contain all fiber highways in and out of Turkey so that all web flow can be controlled. Now private companies are not allowed to have their own. All submits the central authority. Very successful Mr. Yıldırım…

In a recent BBC news (see below) head of the Ataturk Thought Association defends their position in complaining about videos etc that insult Atatürk. Her mindset is so small that she cannot see that this in long turn weakens Atatürk’s image. She and her crew live so far away from fellow netizens…

And users are quite tech savvy. They can still access Youtube etc. and they don’t need to protest in any way. I saw tons of videos about Sonisphere are already uploaded to YouTube, which is banned for more than 2 years… But the growing censorship begins to threaten digital economies. That’s what I hear. but this does not have an impact on ordinary users yet…

These are Turkish ways sometimes I like (having such ridiculous situations is not easy to achieve) and mostly I hate…

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Hackers warn Turkish censorship authorities

While businesses are now exposed to economic losses due to the new wave of web censorship, it looks like a small does of revanche was on stage last night. First we thought TİB mistakenly banned itself but later it was announced: It was probably a DoS attack… FF discussions and links to related news here … Read more