CyberLaw Blog

Archive for August 26th, 2008

More news that YouTube is back to normal in Turkey. BiaNet is also reporting that dailymotion.com is also unblocked by a Court in Turkey. I can confirm that dailymotion is now (26.08.2008 1545 GMT) is accessible in Turkey but access to youtube.com is still blocked at DNS level.

YouTube Is Back: “YouTube and Dailymotion are accessible again. Youtube was closed for three months and Dailymotion was banned since the beginning of August. Last week many internet sites protested this internet censorship.”

Bia news center – İstanbul, 25-08-2008

YouTube, the biggest video sharing site in the Internet, which was banned by the decision of Ankara’s 1st Criminal Court of Peace on May 5, is accessible again. However, the site will not be available before tomorrow because of the updates.

Likewise, the site of Dailymotion, which was banned in the beginning of August, has just become accessible, too.

Both sites were shut down because of having videos that were found offensive to the memory of Atatürk, the founder of the Turkish Republic.
Protest

Wordpress, geocities, Indymedia Istanbul, Gündem, Fırat News Agency (ANF), Ekşi Sözlük, antoloji.com and many other internet sites have been banned either temporarily or permanently.

Last week many internet sites, including bianet, protested the internet censorship by darkening their sites voluntarily. (EÜ/EZÖ/TB)

(Via Latest Bianet/English News.)

Tories want data loss prosecutions: “

Knowing or reckless heads on spikes, please

The Conservatives have repeated their call for those involved in data losses to face criminal charges, following the Home Office’s loss of data on all prisoners.…

“

(Via The Register – Public Sector.)

Lecturer wins £10,000 email libel payout: “A university which sent a department-wide email accusing a lecturer of expenses fraud has paid him £10,000 in an out-of-court libel settlement.”

(Via OUT-LAW News.)

Bank customer data sold on eBay: “An inquiry is under way into how a computer containing the personal details of bank customers was sold on eBay.”

(Via BBC News.)

There are several news items which state that the Turkish court lifted the youtube ban but as of today (26.08.2008) YouTube is still not accessible in Turkey.

Turkish court lifts YouTube ban after online censorship protest | World news | The Guardian: “Turkish court lifts YouTube ban after online censorship protest

Robert Tait in Istanbul, The Guardian, Tuesday August 26 2008″

A court in Turkey has lifted a ban on YouTube, the video sharing website, after hundreds of sites voluntarily blocked themselves in protest at growing internet censorship.

Access to YouTube had been blocked since May in the latest of a series of bans triggered by the posting of videos deemed insulting to Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, founder of the modern Turkish state.

Two previous bans have also been lifted but the latest decision comes after 412 web and blog sites, including the Turkish-English dictionary site, zargan.com, participated last week in an online protest.

They shut themselves temporarily after campaigners revealed that 853 websites in Turkey had been blocked as a result of court orders. Organisers said many of the orders were arbitrary and risked creating a climate of rising censorship.

Users clicking on to many of the protesting sites’ web pages were greeted by a message reading: “The access to this site is denied by its own decision.” This was a reference to the official message greeting those trying to access banned websites, which reads: “The access to this website is prevented by court order.”

The bans on YouTube and other sites have hurt Turkey’s image at a time when its restrictions on free speech are under scrutiny owing to its EU membership bid.

Websites can be blocked under Article 5651 of the Turkish penal code for a range of offences including insulting Atatürk, child pornography and encouraging suicide.

Turkey first banned YouTube in March last year after Greek users posted videos alleging that Atatürk was homosexual.