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Turkish Government Censors Darwin, Evolution

by Anna Klenke

Concerns about censorship have risen in Turkey since November when the Council of Information Technology and Communications (BTK) placed blocks on websites that contain the words “Darwin” and “evolution.” This filtering system blocks websites about the theory of evolution, along with pornographic sites, to any Turkish computer user who has the children’s security profile activated on his or her computer.

Websites that remain unprotected include those referencing the theory of creationism, Intelligent Design and anti-evolution sentiments. While Turkey is often considered one of the most secular Islamic countries, it also houses a significant population of Islamic creationism believers. The Telegraph reports that it may be the sentiments of this group that provided the impetus for the evolution website filtering. Journalist Tom Chivers writes: “A 2006 survey of 34 countries put Turkey 34th, just behind the US, in the rate of popular acceptance of evolution.”

Chivers questions the increasing number of Turkish medical and biology students who are rejecting evolution, the very foundation of their studies. He argues that denying evolution is equivalent to denying gravity, and that students sell themselves short if they believe otherwise.

To me, the censorship of any scientific theory unrelated to obscene or inappropriate content is a cause for concern. Internet users can check which sites are forbidden on guvenlinet.org and vote against having sites banned. It is unclear, however, how many votes are necessary to remove a website from the filtering program.

via Turkish Government Censors Darwin, Evolution | Care2 Causes.

January 9, 2012
Turkey Blocks Web Pages Touting Darwin’s Evolution Theory

Dorian Jones | Istanbul, Turkey

Photo: Reuters

Demonstrators protest against the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey [TUBITAK] over the exclusion of articles commemorating Charles Darwin’s 200th birthday from a scientific journal published by TUBITAK, in Ankara, Turkey, March 2009. (file photo)

The blocking by Turkish state authorities of Web pages advocating the theory of evolution has put the focus on wider concerns by teachers and academics that the ideas of Darwin increasingly are being undermined by the Islamic-rooted government.

Numerous web pages advocating the theory of evolution recently were deemed unsafe for children by Turkey’s regulatory board controlling the Internet.

Yaman Akdeniz of Istanbul’s Bilgi University is an expert on Internet freedom.

“The authorities are trying to establish one view, one morality that the youngsters of our generation should subscribe to,” said Akdeniz.

Undermining evolution

The result was an outcry by the media and academics. Soon after, regulatory authorities re-instated the web pages, with the regulatory authority claiming the ban was a “clerical error.” Recent media reports, however, say the evolution sites still remain blocked in schools.

The controversy is not only confined to the Internet. Professor Asli Tolon is a molecular biologist at Istanbul’s Bosphorus University. She has been tracking the changes in how evolution is taught in school text books.

Tolon said the idea of evolution increasingly is undermined by creationists who argue the world was created by God.

“Here, there is this, how life evolved. This part is quite scientific, but then right after that, it starts with the creation, the view of creation, which should really not be in a scientific book, because this is a religious view,” said Tolon.

Tolon said the result of such changes are increasingly being felt by her students.

“They sometimes get the idea, that I am trying to teach them my own views. But this is not mine, because evolution is one of the basic theories,” said Tolon.

Balancing the teaching

Mustafa Akyol, columnist and writer on religious affairs, said alternative theories to evolution have a place in education.

“There are some scientific facts in nature that point to a design by some intelligent being which is not a part of nature, this being might be God. This cannot be a reason to reject data just simply because it’s compatible with religion. I think a fair and objective scientific education should allow Darwin evolution and also critics of Darwin evolution,” said Akyol.

Turkey’s teachers are now increasingly being caught in the middle of the deepening dispute.

The country’s main teaching trade union frequently complain that science teachers are facing increasing intimidation by the education ministry, local authorities controlled by the governing AK party and even religious parents.

The government has dismissed such claims. But one teacher, who did not want to give her name, said teaching evolution is increasingly difficult.

“In my school, three out of five science teachers now only teach creationism,” she said, adding that she faces daily pressure from fellow teachers who are religious, and from some families of children who complain about her teaching evolution.

For teachers advocating evolution in Turkey’s schools, they seem destined to be on the frontline of this ongoing struggle for the minds of the nation’s young.

via Turkey Blocks Web Pages Touting Darwin’s Evolution Theory | Europe | English.

December 25, 2011
New Internet filtering system condemned as backdoor censorship

An Internet content filtering system that Turkey’s Information Technologies and Communications Authority (BTK) introduced on 22 November is proving controversial both domestically and abroad. The outcry has coincided with a conference on the Internet in Turkey that began in the southwestern city of Izmir on 30 November.

After a legal bid by the news and human rights website Bianet to prevent the system’s introduction, the Alternative Information Association (Alternatif Bilisim Dernegi) petitioned the Council of State on 4 November to block it, claiming that it is illegal and unconstitutional.

Although use of the filtering system is optional, it is misleading. It is supposed to protect Internet users, especially minors from “objectionable content” by censoring certain keywords. But tests of the new system have established that access to websites is being blocked arbitrarily.

“The BTK wants us to believe that, by giving Internet users a choice, it is not practicing censorship,” Reporters Without Borders said. “Claiming that use of this filtering system makes an Internet connection secure is disgraceful. Some websites may be inaccessible but that does not make the Internet connection any safer.

“Trying to shield Internet users, especially children and youths, from online pornography is a worthy initiative in principle, but the proposed solution is not fit for purpose and threatens online free expression, as the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled a week ago, above all because of the risk of overblocking. If only porn is supposed to be blocked, why are terms related to Kurdish separatist movements, for example, on the list of censored keywords?

“We condemn a policy of backdoor censorship. The BTK must abandon this system, which is reinforcing Internet censorship in Turkey. We appeal to all the agencies that control telecommunications in Turkey to stop trying to outdo each other in censorship measures. Everyone must be guaranteed unrestricted access to the Internet and it should be up to families, not the state, to decide which content they find objectionable.”

Anyone can sign up for the filtering system, which comes in a family version and a child version. So far only 22,000 of the country’s 11.5 million Internet users have signed up. Internet Service Providers are required to offer it to all their clients. Porn websites and other “suspect” sites that were previously blocked by court decisions will now be automatically filtered out for anyone who adopts the system.

Reporters Without Borders calls on the authorities to provide precise information on the way the filtering works, as it is not at all clear.

The filtering criteria are defined by a commission consisting of 11 members. As most of them are government officials, the commission’s independence and impartiality are questionable. It has so far drawn up a list of 130 “harmful” keywords in Turkish, English and German. The list includes “pornography,” “sex,” and “Verbot” (the German word for “ban”). It also includes such words as “mother-in-law,” “incest” and even “gay.”

This eclectic and often discriminatory list will extend the censorship to ordinary news websites and prevention campaign sites, while encouraging homophobia. Keywords related to separatist political groups such as the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) are also filtered, which clearly shows that the BTK is not just targeting online porn.

As well as the websites targeted by the authorities, it is clear that many other sites are going to be blocked by the censorship system. Google, online social networks and news websites are all liable to be the victims of overblocking.

The system is “arbitrary,” says Yaman Akdeniz, deputy head of the law faculty at Istanbul’s Bilgi University and founder of Cyber-Rights. “The Internet is gradually coming under the government’s control,” he told Reporters Without Borders. “The fact that [this filtering system] is optional does not resolve the problems it creates. We are going to pursue our legal initiatives on behalf of free expression and democracy.”

According to Akdeniz, those who install the “child” option cannot access evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins’ website (see screenshot below) but they can access the site of Adnan Oktar, an Islamic creationist.

Reporters Without Borders’ correspondent has used an online tool called Guvenlinet to identify some of the sites that are blocked by the system. Yasam Radyo (Radio Life), for example, a site that broadcasts cultural programs for minorities, is blocked by the “child” version.

The “child” version also blocks access to Facebook and the online video-sharing website YouTube. Facebook cannot be accessed with the “family” version either, unless the user specifically requests access. Akdeniz said blocking a five-year-old child’s access to YouTube is understandable, but denying access for adolescents over 14 is exaggerated.

The BTK’s filtering system has not left Turkish Internet users indifferent. The Senin Yüzünden – Because of You website is inviting them to post photos of themselves blindfolded in a protest targeted at the Izmir conference that ends on 2 December.

Turkey is listed as a “country under surveillance” in the latest Reporters Without Borders report on “Enemies of the Internet,” which was released on 11 March.

via New Internet filtering system condemned as backdoor censorship – Reporters Without Borders.

December 3, 2011
Internet censoring in Turkey postponed

ANKARA. – Internet censoring in Turkey is postponed for three months.

Official from Turkish Ministry of Transportation and Communications Serhat Ozer said that “Safe Internet” service which had to come into effect on August 22 is postponed for three months due to necessity to make certain changes in the project, Anadolu news agency reported.

Internet censoring made a big fuss in Turkey. At the same time, famous international Anonymous hacking group as a protest against the initiative attacked Turkey’s state websites several times.

via Internet censoring in Turkey postponed | Armenia News – NEWS.am.

August 6, 2011
Internet blocking practices a concern, access is a human right, says OSCE

The FINANCIAL — VIENNA, 8 July 2011 – The Internet should remain free and access should be considered a human right, said the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatović at the presentation of a report on regulations affecting new media in the OSCE region today.

The study, commissioned by the office of the Representative and authored by Yaman Akdeniz, a professor at Istanbul Bilgi University, measures the level of Internet content regulation in the OSCE area and assesses national laws in light of OSCE commitments and international standards of free expression and access to information.

The Study on legal provisions and practices related to freedom of expression, the free flow of information and media pluralism on the Internet is the first ever OSCE-wide review of laws regulating the Internet. Mijatović said the rapid development of Internet technologies and growth in user numbers were factors that inspired the report, which offers recommendations on how to keep the Internet open.

“We will use the study as an advocacy tool to promote speech-friendly Internet regulation in the OSCE participating States,” Mijatović said.

“Some governments already recognize access to the Internet as a human right. This trend should be supported as a crucial element of media freedom in the 21st century.”

The study found that some participating States had problems submitting information for the study because legal provisions or relevant statistics were not easily retrievable. It also emphasizes that this lack of clarity makes it difficult for users to understand Internet regulation regimes.

Akdeniz expressed concern about the level of blocking practices encountered in the OSCE region. “Restrictions to freedom of expression must comply with international norms. No compliance could lead to censorship,” he said.

The Representative highlighted other key trends revealed in the survey.

“Legislation in many countries does not recognize that freedom of expression and freedom of the media equally apply to Internet as a modern means of exercising these rights and in some of our states, ‘extremism’, terrorist propaganda, harmful content and hate speech are vaguely defined and may be widely interpreted to ban speech types that Internet users may not deem illegal,” Mijatović said.

The study argues that filtering and blocking measures are in most cases incompatible with freedom of expression and the free flow of information, both of which are basic OSCE commitments.

It is also a concern that several countries allow for complete suspension of Internet services at times of war, in a state of emergency and in response to other security threats, added Mijatović.

via The FINANCIAL – Internet blocking practices a concern, access is a human right, says OSCE.

July 9, 2011
The conspiracy theory that Turkey forgot

Turkey’s growing Internet filtering debate could stand a reboot to sync up with the world. A critical link is missing between the two discussions.

Most of the world, particularly the United States, is on alert to the threat of “cyber terrorism.” Just days ago, the U.S. electronic spy authority known as the National Security Agency began a “voluntary” program of filtering the data run through Internet Service Providers, or ISPs, to snare lethal viruses aimed at military infrastructure.

“We hope the… cyber pilot can be the beginning of something bigger,” U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary William Lynn told a Paris security conference last week. “It could serve as a model that can be transported to other critical infrastructure sectors…” Privacy groups and civil libertarians are wary, fearing “back door” eavesdropping and expansion of filtering into private and personal lives.

In Turkey, however, we’ve skipped virtually any discussion of cyber terror, save a documentary on TV’s Channel 8 and some discussion in defense policy circles. Instead, we’ve gone straight to government filtering mandates amid cries to protect family values. The result has set the government against web denizens and Internet companies. Executives, including the chief of Google, are flocking to Ankara while the skirmish plays out with hack attacks on government websites and two major street protests so far in Istanbul and Adana.

My sympathies are with the wary in Turkey and abroad. But the absence here of concern over cyber terror may yet prove the debate we should have had.

Most international discussion turns on the mysterious and devastating “Stuxnet” virus that, vectored via those little UBS memory sticks we all use, apparently set back Iran’s nuclear program last year by disabling research centrifuges. The curious should also Google “Farewell Dossier,” a Cold War-era coup by the Americans against a trans-Siberia gas pipeline (Nabucco was to come along later as a kinder means to prevent Russian domination of European energy markets). The Soviets were stealing American pipeline software. Rather than bust them, the Americans dusted the software with a virus. “The Trojan Horse” triggered a pipeline explosion in the Siberian wilderness equivalent to a fourth the firepower of Hiroshima back in 1982.

The technology behind all of this is dizzyingly complex. But it boils down to something we hardly ever think of; little boxes the size of a cigarette pack called programmable logic controllers, or PLCs, in techspeak. PLCs are the hidden slave labor of what we often think of as “low tech” industry. They run the processes in virtually every textile factory. They start and stop the metro running between Taksim and Levent. They open and shut the sluice gates on every dam in Turkey, not to mention the valves on the Baku-Ceyhan oil pipeline.

Like the cough of a passenger on an airplane, a lab-made virus can spread from a memory stick or web file throughout industrial systems, essentially taking over and paralyzing the PLCs that quietly run our lives. This technology runs Turkey. The threat to it is real.

Turkey loves conspiracy scenarios. Somehow, this is one we’ve missed.

via The conspiracy theory that Turkey forgot – Hurriyet Daily News.

June 26, 2011