CyberLaw Blog

Archive for October 20th, 2008

Since the Turkish Law No. 5651 on the Regulation of Publications on the Internet and Suppression of Crimes Committed by means of Such Publications came into force in November 2007, several websites were blocked by court orders and administrative blocking orders issued by the Telecommunications Communication Presidency (TIB). In terms of statistics, it was revealed by TIB that as of 01 October, 2008, 1115 websites are blocked in Turkey under the provisions of Law No. 5651. 252 (23%) of these websites are blocked by court orders, while majority, 863 (77%) are blocked via administrative blocking orders issued by TIB.

Turkish Blocking Orders as of 01 October 2008

Article 8(1)(a)(1): encouragement and incitement of suicide (article 84 of the Turkish Penal Code); article 8(1)(a)(2): sexual exploitation and abuse of children (article 103(1) of the Turkish Penal Code); article 8(1)(a)(3): facilitation of the use of drugs (article 190 of the Turkish Penal Code); article 8(1)(a)(4): provision of dangerous substances for health (article 194 of the Turkish Penal Code); article 8(1)(a)(5): obscenity (article 226 of the Turkish Penal Code); article 8(1)(a)(6): prostitution (article 227 of the Turkish Penal Code); article 8(1)(a)(7): gambling (article 228 of the Turkish Penal Code); article 8(1)(b): crimes committed against Atatürk (Law No. 5816, dated 25/7/1951); and football and other sports betting (Law No. 5728, article 256).

A detailed assessment of the Turkish approaches to Internet content regulation will be provided in an 80 page long report entitled Restricted Access: A Critical Assessment of Internet Content Regulation and Censorship in Turkey written by Dr. Yaman Akdeniz and Dr. Kerem Altiparmak. This bi-lingual (English/Turkish) report will be published during November 2008 and will be made available as a PDF file through cyberlaw.org.uk and cyber-rights.org.tr pages.

UK-IPO backs international prosecutors’ network: “The UK Intellectual Property Office (UK-IPO) has given its backing to an international group of prosecutors in a bid to help fight cross-border intellectual property related crime.”

(Via OUT-LAW News.)

Fraudsters profit from financial crisis by using fake websites to steal bank details: “Online banking customers have been warned to be on the alert for a fresh wave
of phishing e-mail attacks in the wake of the banking turmoil.”

(Via Tech and Web from Times Online.)

YouTube left bomber’s page open despite police concern: “The YouTube page set up by the Plymouth restaurant bomber Nicky Reilly was
still online this week after he had pleaded guilty to attempted murder and
terror offences. The video-sharing website did not respond to police
concerns about Reilly’s Chechen 233 page but removed it last night after The
Times questioned why it was still live.”

(Via Tech and Web from Times Online.)

UK.gov says: Regulate the internet: “

Eradicate smut and unemployment

As unemployment looks set to soar in the months ahead, quangocrat and soon to be ex-head of Ofcom Lord David Currie appears to have discovered a cunning plan to find jobs for tens of thousands. The time for regulating the internet is nigh – and Ofcom could be the body to do it.…

“

(Via The Register – Public Sector.)

UK.gov looks for ‘consensus’ on PAYG phone registry: “

Voda leads opposition to mobe registry plan

The Home Office insisted today it had taken no decision on whether to force Britons to present photo ID when they buy a pay-as-you-go (PAYG) mobile phone.…

“

(Via The Register – Public Sector.)

Plug Pulled on Hamas’ YouTube Ripoff | Danger Room from Wired.com

By Noah Shachtman EmailOctober 15, 2008 | 4:44:00 PMCategories: Info War, T is for Terror

Aqsatube_grab1 A few weeks ago, Western intelligence officials discovered that the Palestinian jihadist group Hamas had set up a video-sharing site — to spread propaganda and to train would-be terrorists. Now, that radical Islamic answer to YouTube is offline. And jihadists are blaming the FBI for the takedown.

AqsaTube mimicked the mainstream video site in almost every way. Users could watch clips, and upload their own. Even the two logos were basically the same. ‘The Hamas site, however, is devoted entirely to propaganda and incitement,’ explained Israel’s Intelligence & Terrorism Information Center, or ITIC. Material included demonstrations of how to detonate explosives and fire weapons, speeches from Hamas and al-Qaeda leaderships, episodes from a popular Syrian TV drama and clips of kids in military uniforms — while a musician sings, ‘death is fame and victory.’

As we’ve noted before, today’s jihadists don’t just use the internet occasionally. ‘They don’t exist without the web,’ says Naval Postgraduate School professor John Arquilla. Everything from recruiting to training to propaganda is handled online.

AqsaTube also included Google ads, and links to al-Aqsa TV, Hamas’ television channel. However, Samir Abu Mahsen, head of production of al-Aqsa TV, tells the BBC that the video site ‘does not belong to al-Aqsa TV.’

This is the second time in a little more than a month that an extremist video distribution network has been taken offline. The al-Ekhlaas network of sites had long been a primary distributor of videos from al-Sahab, al-Qaida’s propaganda arm. Then, on Sept. 11, al-Ekhlaas.net was suddenly re-registered. All of its content vanished.

As in the case of the al-Ekhlaas takedown, militant forums blamed Western intelligence agencies for the unplugging of AqsaTube. But it appears a little sunlight may have done the trick, instead.

AqsaTube’s internet service provider was the French firm OVH. The company ‘initially denied hosting AqsaTube, according to the BBC, ‘but later confirmed that the website had been hosted by them and had now been taken offline.’