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Bianet: Turkey Inquired about Internet Censorship

EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS
Turkey Inquired about Internet Censorship

The European Court of Human Rights examines two applications from Turkey regarding cases of internet censorship in 2009. Turkish authorities were allowed time till 9 June to submit a response. Internet expert Akdeniz emphasized the international importance of the decision.

Istanbul – BİA News Center
10 March 2011, Thursday

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) is examining the application against internet censorship filed by Turkish nationals Ahmet Yıldırım and Yaman Akdeniz. The international court expects an item of written comment from Turkey until 9 June.

According to a written statement published by the Cyber-Rights.org.tr news site on 7 March, the ECHR merged the files regarding the access ban to Google sites and to LastFM.com on 31 January. The restrictive decision (No. 2009/337) on the Google services was given by the 2nd Magistrate Criminal Court of Denizli (western Turkey) on 23 June 2009. Access to the music sharing site LastFm.com was banned by the Beyoğlu (Istanbul) Public Chief Prosecution on 26 June 2009 (decision no. 2009/45).

On 16 February, the ECHR posted the particularities of both applications on its website together with a list of questions forwarded to the Turkish authorities.

The court allowed time till 9 June for Turkey to respond to the questions. Cyper-Rights.org.tr reported that the court in Strasbourg announced 24 April as the deadline for non-governmental organizations that applied for co-plaintiff status to submit their point of view.
Akdeniz: Important decision for all members of the Council of Europe

Assoc. Prof. Yaman Akdeniz commented the issue on behalf of the website as follows:

‘The Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu emphasized several times the decision ‘not to make a defence regarding trials (at the ECHR) on freedom of thought’. However, only in June 2011 we will see whether this political decision is also valid for applications filed to the ECHR’.

‘The Strasbourg Court examines [the applications related to] internet censorship. These two applications carry importance not only for Turkey but for all member states of the Council of Europe’, Akdeniz indicated. (EÇ/VK)

Hurriyet Daily News: European court asks Turkey to explain its Internet bans

Wednesday, March 9, 2011
ERISA DAUTAJ ŞENERDEM
ISTANBUL – Hürriyet Daily News

A European court has asked Turkish authorities to explain their use of the country’s law to ban websites, responding to applications by two complainants who say the bans violate their right to freedom of expression.

‘Users of different websites are being punished because others infringe legal provisions,’ said complainant Yaman Akdeniz, a cyber-rights activist and a law professor at Istanbul Bilgi University. He applied to the European Court of Human Rights on April 6, arguing that the Turkish government’s ban on the website Lastfm.com.tr violated his rights.

The decision to consider the case is a landmark one, Akdeniz said, explaining that it was the first time the court had taken up a complaint related to Internet bans.

‘The court’s final decision will set an important precedent for all Council of Europe member countries,’ Akdeniz told the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review on Wednesday.

Responding to the applications by Akdeniz and another Turkish complainant, the European court issued a request last month to Turkish authorities, asking them to answer by June 9, three questions of a general nature about the use of Turkish law to ban certain websites.

‘The court asked Turkish authorities for explanations regarding the application of legal provisions to ban websites,’ Akdeniz told the Daily News.

Fellow complainant Ahmet Yıldırım, a 28-year-old doctoral student at Boğaziçi University in Istanbul, applied to the European court Jan. 12, 2010, saying his personal website on Google Sites, which he used to publish his academic work, had been banned by Turkey. Both Akdeniz and Yıldırım said they appealed to the European court after having exhausted all domestic legal avenues.

Both applications were made before Turkish authorities’ recent ban of the popular blogging platform Blogger. The website, a property of Google Inc., was blocked in response to a complaint by the satellite television provider Digiturk about bloggers illegally posting football matches broadcast on Digiturk’s Lig TV channel.

The decision to ban Lastfm also involved a rights dispute; authorities used Turkish Law No. 5846 on artistic and intellectual works to issue the ban, arguing that the site had been used to illegally publish artistic works to which the user did not own the rights.

According to Akdeniz, who initiated the Lastfm-related case, authorities should identify and punish individuals who break the law, rather than punishing all Internet users by issuing blanket bans on websites.

Lastfm was banned in Turkey on Sept. 19, 2009, following a lawsuit brought to court by the Turkish Phonographic Industry Society, or MÜ-YAP.

In his complaint related to Google Sites, Yıldırım argued that Turkish authorities sought to ban access to the website for breaching provisions of Turkish Law No. 5651, on the regulation of publications and copyright infringements on the Internet. He said this violates his right to freedom of expression, guaranteed by Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

Turkey’s controversial Internet bans have been a subject of much debate by experts as well as by millions of Turkish Internet users who have lost access to popular sites. Experts have criticized the implementation of Law No. 5651 and related laws to ban websites, saying that those who break laws must be tracked down and punished for their actions, rather than making all Turkish internet users pay the price.

Questions from the European court

The first question posed to Turkish authorities by the European court was related to Akdeniz’s application. ‘As a user, can Mr. Akdeniz claim to be a victim of an infringement to rights guaranteed by Article 10 of the Convention?’ it asked.

Another question dealt with whether the complainants’ freedom of expression had been infringed upon, particularly their right to receive or communicate information or ideas according to Article 10, Paragraph 2 of the Convention. The European court also asked Turkish authorities whether Turkish law permitted it to put an end to unjustified infringements on freedom of expression, and whether it had responded to the demands of Article 13 of the Convention.

“GoogleSites” Hit by Turkey’s Censorship: “A court in Denizli has banned access to GoogleSites, which contains thousands of sites. The reason for the ban is not known.”

Istanbul – BİA News Center
30 June 2009, Tuesday

GoogleSites allows users to create their own websites, and there are thus thousands of sites available.

Now the 2nd Criminal Court of Peace in Denizli, western Turkey, has banned access to GoogleSites.

The decree of 24 June 2009 does not give any justification for the decision.
Call for protests

The Alternative Informatics Association (Alternatif Bilişim) has criticised the closure, calling for Internet users to protest to the Telecommunications Department by fax, email and telephone and for those who have sites on GoogleSites to protest, too.

The association has offered legal advice for anyone wanting to write a letter of objection or wanting to proceed legally.

The association says that between 23 November 2007 and 11 May 2009, access to 2,601 web sites was banned. Youtube, for instance, has been closed to users in Turkey since 5 May 2008. Other sites used by millions of people, such as wordpress.com, geocities.com, myspace.com, dailymotion.com and alibaba.com have also been banned.
Freedom of expression constantly violated

Alternative Informatics has criticised Turkey’s authorities for their censorship and for their expectation that web sites with users from around the world abide by Turkish legislation.

“The Internet is a space where thoughts can be expressed freely, but sites which contain dissident opinions are being banned one after the other.”

For the association, access to Internet and effective use is “one of our most basic rights”. It has called on people to defend this right. (EK/AG)

(Via Bianet: English.)