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Archive for the ‘OSCE’ Category

OSCE calls on Turkey to stop blocking YouTube | Reuters

VIENNA, Tue Jun 22, 2010 11:14am EDT

VIENNA (Reuters) – Europe’s main human rights and security body told Turkey on Tuesday to stop blocking Google’s video-sharing website YouTube and thousands of other sites banned under its internet law.

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) said the law, introduced in 2007, has been expanded to bar over 5,000 sites in the past two years and is severely damaging freedom of expression and information rights.

‘I ask the Turkish authorities to revoke the blocking provisions that prevent citizens from being part of today’s global information society,’ the OSCE’s media freedoms chief Dunja Mijatovic said in a statement.

Turkey initially passed the law to restrict access to pornography and other content it deemed harmful to children. The Vienna-based, 56-nation OSCE says the law has now been used to go far beyond that.

‘Instead of allowing free access to the internet, new ways have emerged that can further restrict the free flow of information in the country,’ Mijatovic said.

Turkey, an OSCE member, first started blocking YouTube in 2008 after it ruled that some videos posted on the site were insulting to Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, founder of the modern republic.

The Turkish government has also cited offences including child pornography and encouragement of suicide for blocking websites.

The OSCE said Mijatovic had written to Turkey’s foreign minister to complain about new restrictions introduced earlier this month that have hampered access to other Google services such as its instant translation site and web traffic tracker.

Mijatovic said the alleged reason behind the block was an unsettled tax row between Turkish authorities and Google but that this matter was not covered in the original law.

Earlier this month, Turkish President Abdullah Gul used his Twitter page to condemn the ban on YouTube and some Google services. He said he had asked ‘responsible institutions for a solution. I asked for a change in regulations on merit.’

The president’s role in Turkey is largely ceremonial; decisions are taken by the prime minister and cabinet.

(Reporting by Sylvia Westall; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

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.

Technology

Milos Haraszti, media freedom monitor for the 56-nation Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), said Turkey’s Internet law was failing to preserve free expression in the country and should be reformed or abolished.

‘In its current form, Law 5651, commonly known as the Internet Law of Turkey, not only limits freedom of expression, but severely restricts citizens’ right to access information,’ Haraszti said in a statement.

He said Turkey, a European Union candidate, was barring access to 3,700 Internet sites, including YouTube, GeoCities and some Google pages, because Ankara’s Internet law was too broad and subject to political interests.

‘Even as some of the content that is deemed ‘bad’, such as child pornography, must be sanctioned, the law is unfit to achieve this. Instead, by blocking access to entire websites from Turkey, it paralyzes access to numerous modern file-sharing or social networks,’ Haraszti said.

‘Some of the official reasons to block the Internet are arbitrary and political, and therefore incompatible with OSCE’s freedom of expression commitments,’ he said.

Haraszti said Turkish law was still failing to safeguard freedom of expression, and numerous criminal code clauses were being used against journalists, who risked being sent to jail as a result.

‘Therefore ‘reform or abolish’ the Internet Law is our main recommendation … (to ensure Turks can be) a part of today’s global information society.’

Fears for press freedom in Turkey have risen as a result of state attempts to collect a $3.3 billion fine from major media group Dogan in a tax row, part of pressure on Dogan to obey a law limiting foreign ownership of Turkish firms.

In October, the European Commission’s annual report on Turkey’s progress toward EU membership urged Turkey to treat Dogan fairly and said Ankara needed to do more to protect freedom of expression and the press.

(Writing by Mark Heinrich; editing by Tim Pearce)

L’OSCE tance la Turquie sur sa loi sur l’internet trop restrictive – Le Monde.fr

Agence France Presse

18.01.10 | 12h04

Le représentant pour la liberté de la presse de l’Organisation pour la sécurité et la coopération en Europe (OSCE), Miklos Haraszti, a demandé lundi aux autorités turques de ‘réformer ou d’abolir’ la loi sur l’internet trop restrictive aux yeux de l’organisation.

‘Dans sa forme actuelle, la loi 5651, connue sous le nom de loi turque sur l’internet, limite non seulement la liberté d’expression mais en plus elle restreint sévèrement le droit des citoyens à l’accès à l’information’, a affirmé M. Haraszti, dans un communiqué publié à Vienne.

Selon un rapport sur les limitations de l’accès à l’internet en Turquie, préparé par l’expert international Yaman Akdeniz pour les services de M. Haraszti, ‘3.700 sites internet sont actuellement bloqués en Turquie, incluant YouTube, GeoCities et des sites Google’. Le rapport souligne que la loi en question n’arrive pas en revanche ‘à sanctionner des sites dangereux, comme ceux propageant des photos de pornographie infantile’ par exemple.

‘En bloquant l’accès à des sites dans la totalité de leurs contenus en Turquie, la loi empêche l’accès à de nombreux sites de communication et de socialisation’, a noté M. Haraszti.

Il a relevé que lors de son séjour en Turquie la semaine dernière, lors de la présentation de ce rapport à la Bilgi University à Istanbul ainsi qu’à celle d’Ankara, entre autres, lui-même n’a pas pu consulter le site YouTube de l’OSCE.

‘Les résultats ne justifient pas les moyens’, commente-t-il, en ajoutant que ‘certaines des raisons avancées pour bloquer l’internet sont arbitraires et politiques et ainsi incompatibles avec les engagements de l’OSCE en matière de liberté d’expression’.

M. Harazsti a en outre une nouvelle fois tancé les autorités turques pour les limitations au travail des journalistes contenues dans le code pénal.

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.

OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Miklos Haraszti (r) in a panel discussion with Turkish Internet experts Dr. Yaman Akdeniz (l) and Dr. Kerem Altiparmak (c) at Ankara State University, 14 January 2010. (OSCE/Nora Kovacs)

“In its current form, Law 5651, commonly known as the Internet Law of Turkey, not only limits freedom of expression, but severely restricts the citizens’ right to access information,” said Haraszti, commenting on a new report commissioned by his office on the blocking measures provided by the law.

The report, prepared by Yaman Akdeniz, an internationally renowned expert on cyber rights, contains a legal review and detailed recommendations.

“At present, 3,700 Internet sites are blocked in Turkey, including YouTube, GeoCities, and Google sites. Even as some of the content that is deemed ‘bad’, such as child pornography, must be sanctioned, the law is unfit to achieve this. Instead, by blocking access to entire websites from Turkey, it paralyzes access to numerous modern file sharing or social networks,” said Haraszti.

Haraszti, who presented the report at Bilgi University in Istanbul, Ankara State University and at the International Law Congress of the Ankara Bar Association on 13 and 14 January, noted that, while in Turkey, he was unable to access even the OSCE’s YouTube website.

“The results make the means unjustifiable,” he said. “Blocking access inside of Turkey is an affront to the public’s right to the entirety of the Internet. Additionally, some of the official reasons to block the Internet are arbitrary and political, and therefore incompatible with OSCE’s freedom of expression commitments.”

He added: “Besides pointing out the dangers of the Internet law, I also have to repeat that the Turkish legal framework still fails to protect freedom of expression. Numerous Criminal Code provisions are applied against media workers, and as a result, journalists risk imprisonment for carrying out their work.”

“Therefore ‘reform or abolish’ the Internet Law is our main recommendation. I hope that the Turkish authorities will soon remove the blocking provisions that prevent Turkish citizens from being part of today’s global information society.”

The report is also available at www.osce.org/fom.

OSCE conference: Get Rid of Penal Code for the Media – Bianet

OSCE Representative on Freedom of Media Haraszti critisized in the recent conference: ‘The government waits for a ‘mature’ media before granting full legal implementation of freedom of media’. IT lawyer Akdeniz demanded: ‘The internet law should be amended or abolished’.

Erol ÖNDEROĞLU – hukuk@bianet.org
Istanbul – BİA News Center
15 January 2010, Friday

‘Pluralism in society guarantees freedom of press’ said Representative on Media Freedom Miklos Haraszti from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in the ‘Freedom of Media’ conference held at Bilgi University in Istanbul on 14 January.

The conference was initiated by the Human Rights Law Application and Research Centre of the Bilgi University Law School. Faculty member Prof. Dr. Turgut Tarhanlı indicated that OSCE does not only monitor violations of media freedom. Furthermore, the organization effectively puts forth the development of standards of media freedom in the perspective of commitments signed by the member states.
‘Government should keep their hands off media contents

Haraszti will finish his duty this March after being with OSCE for the last six years. He stated, ‘At a point where Turkey cannot be compared any more to the times of military administration, I nevertheless observe unwillingness towards full liberation. Although the government is aware of the discrepancy between article 301 of the Turkish Criminal Code (TCK) and freedom of press, political reasons prevented the undertaking of measures’, Haraszti argued.

‘The government should keep their hands off media contents within the scope of freedom of expression, regardless of Kemalist, religious or national contexts. It is article 301 that casts a shadow over this neutrality. If problems in the Criminal Code can be solved by the Media Law, the government is mistaken to insist on a solution within the criminal law. Exhibiting press activities as crimes is unacceptable’, Haraszti explicated.

‘The government’s approach of stalling legal guarantee of press freedom until ‘the media becomes more mature’ is wrong. In fact, only a fully liberated media can carry full responsibility. Reciprocity is nothing that can be imposed on the media’ Haraszti said and moreover criticized the implementations imposed on Taraf newspaper and the Doğan Group.

‘Cultural understanding should be mutual’

Haraszti pointed out that the 56 member states of OSCE all have their specific problems. In Ireland, for instance, the organization required to abolish the regulation on punishment for ‘attacks on religion’. He also told the audience about the similar case of Pakistan, where the United Nations was not able to solve the problem despite an initiative carried out via the Islamic Development Organization (IDO). ‘Efforts should be concentrated on other issues but thinking in terms of penalties’.

Haraszti also mentioned the caricature crisis in Denmark, which highlighted the media’s diverse readership considering global and cultural areas. ‘A mutual cultural understanding should be really mutual. The Danish newspaper had to consider the reactions coming from the Muslim world’, he said.

Akdeniz: Internet law should be amended or abolished

Bilgi University faculty member Assoc. Prof. Dr. Yaman Akdeniz prepared a report on ‘Turkey and Internet Censorship’ commissioned by OSCE. He called Turkey for reforms of law no. 5651 on the ‘Regulation of Publications on the Internet and Suppression of Crimes Committed by means of Such Publication’ according tot he proposals he made in his report.

Akdeniz gave a brief summary of his report. He drew attention to the internet site youtube which has been blocked to access for one and a half years now. According to Akdeniz, youtube officials refrain from opening an office in Turkey because ‘they do not want to deal with obstacles such as access bans and similar demands frequently issued by courts and the Telecommunications Communication Presidency (TİB)’.

Akdeniz also reminded that apart from TİB’s referring to ‘catalogue crimes’ regulated in law no. 5651, access has been blocked to Özgür Gündem, Keditör, Günlük newspapers and websites belonging to Richard Dawkins by implementing regulations related to insult. Akdeniz claimed, ‘Law no. 5651 should either be revised or abolished’. (EÖ/VK)

Report of the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media on Turkey and Internet Censorship (PDF file)

Prepared by Dr. Yaman Akdeniz, Associate Professor, Human Rights Law Research Center, Faculty of Law, Istanbul Bilgi University.

Executive Summary

The following survey was commissioned by the office of the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media. It analyzes Law No. 5651, widely known as the Internet Law of Turkey which has served since 2007 as the basis of a mass blocking of websites in Turkey. The report offers recommendations on how to bring the law in line with international standards protecting freedom of expression. The aim of the survey is to provide a useful tool to the Turkish authorities in their current efforts to reform the much-debated legislation.

The Turkish government enacted Law No. 5651, entitled Regulation of Publications on the Internet and Suppression of Crimes Committed by means of Such Publication, in May 2007. The enactment of this law followed concerns about defamatory videos available on YouTube involving the founder of the Turkish Republic Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, combined with increasing concerns for the availability of child pornographic, and obscene content on the Internet, and websites which provide information about suicide, or about illegal substances deemed harmful or inappropriate for children.

Since then, up until December 2009, access to approximately 3700 websites have been blocked under Law No. 5651. This includes access to a considerable number of foreign websites- including prominent sites such as YouTube, Geocities, DailyMotion, and Google- that have been blocked in Turkey under the provisions of this law, by court orders and administrative blocking orders issued by the Telecommunications Communication Presidency (TIB). Similarly, websites in Turkish, or addressing Turkey related issues have been subjected to blocking orders since Law No. 5651 came into force. This is particularly prevalent in news sites dealing with south-eastern Turkey, such as Özgür Gündem, Keditör, and Günlük Gazetesi. However, Gabile.com and Hadigayri.com, which combine to form the largest online gay community in Turkey with approximately 225,000 users, were also blocked. Furthermore, access to popular web 2.0 based services such as Myspace.com, Last.fm, and Justin.tv have been blocked on the basis of intellectual property infringement.

This study therefore provides a review of the implementation and application of Law No. 5651, and includes an analysis of the current legal provisions under Law No. 5651, an analysis of the Law’s application by the courts and by TIB, an assessment of related Internet website blocking statistics, the identification of the legal and procedural defects of Law No. 5651, and an assessment with regards to Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

The detailed study shows that the impact of the current Turkish regime and related procedural and substantive legal deficiencies are widespread, affecting not only the freedom to speak and receive information, but also the right to receive a fair trial, so far as blocked websites are concerned.
The study further shows that lack of judicial and administrative transparency, with regard to blocking orders issued by the courts and TIB, continue to be a major problem. Furthermore, the fact that TIB has not published the blocking statistics since May 2009 is a step backwards.

As this study outlines, at least 197 court ordered blocking decisions were issued outside the scope of Article 8 of Law No. 5651. As of December 2009, the extent of this breach and blocking remains unknown, as TIB did not publish the blocking decisions beginning in May 2009.

The study argues that there could be a breach of Article 10 of ECHR if blocking measures or filtering tools are used at state level to silence politically motivated speech on the Internet, or the criteria for blocking or filtering is secret, or the decisions of the administrative bodies are not publicly made available for legal challenge. Based on such concerns, and ongoing censorship of the YouTube website since May 2008, an appeal has been lodged with the European Court of Human Rights by INETD (The Society for Internet Technology). INETD challenged the YouTube blocking order issued by the Ankara 1st Criminal Court of Peace having exhausted all the possible national legal remedies.

As will be argued in this study, blocking orders issued and enforced indefinitely on certain websites could result in “prior restraint”. In this connection, it is argued that prior restraint and bans imposed on the future publication of entire newspapers, or for that matter websites such as YouTube, are incompatible with the European Convention standards.

Based on legal and procedural deficiencies related to Law No. 5651 practice, the study will conclude that the government should urgently bring Law No. 5651 in line with OSCE commitments and other international standards on freedom of expression, independence and pluralism of the media, and the free flow of information. If kept in its present form, the law should be abolished. It will be argued that the government should commission a major public inquiry to develop a new policy which is truly designed to protect children from harmful Internet content while respecting freedom of speech, and the rights of Turkish adults to access and consume any type of legal Internet content.