Turkish Forum

Tag: google ban

  • Court: Turkey wrong to block internet access

    Court: Turkey wrong to block internet access

    Court: Turkey wrong to block internet access

    shutterstock 69909043 internet hands 300Judges say Turkey was wrong to block access to Google Sites which hosted an website whose owner was facing criminal prosecution for insulting the memory of Atatürk.

    As a result of the decision, access to all other sites hosted by the service was blocked, the court found in its examination of the complaint Ahmet Yıldırım v. Turkey.

    In its 18 December decision, which is not final, the European Court of Human Rights held, unanimously, that there had been

    a violation of Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

    Just satisfaction (Article 41)

    The court held that Turkey was to pay the applicant 7,500 euros (EUR) in respect of nonpecuniary damage and EUR 1,000 in respect of costs and expenses.

    via Court: Turkey wrong to block internet access | HUMANERIGHTSEUROPE.

  • Google Says Governments Requesting More Content Removals

    Google Says Governments Requesting More Content Removals

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    Kerem Uzel/Bloomberg

    The National Assembly in Ankara, Turkey. Turkey’s government made 501 requests to remove content from Google searches, up from 45 in the previous period.

    Google Inc. (GOOG) said government requests to remove content from its search results and other services rose 71 percent in the first half of the year, according to a new report.

    Enlarge image Google Says More Nations Led by Turkey Ask for Content Removals

    In Germany, Google Inc. complied with a court order to remove eight search results that linked to sites allegedly defaming a politician’s wife. Photographer: Michele Tantussi/Bloomberg

    The owner of the world’s largest search engine said there were 1,791 requests in the six months through June, up from 1,048 during the last six months of 2011, according to its Transparency Report. Turkey’s government made 501 requests to remove content, up from 45 in the previous period, while the U.S. followed with 273, up from 187.

    Google is under scrutiny from companies and governments around the world over what type of content it shows. Some countries are being more aggressive in seeking content removal from search results and sites such as video-sharing service YouTube. While the company may receive such requests, Google may choose not to comply, according to the report.

    “We think it’s important to shine a light on how government actions could affect our users,” Dorothy Chou, senior policy analyst at Google, said in the report. “The number of government requests to remove content from our services was largely flat from 2009 to 2011. But it’s spiked in this reporting period.”

    Shares of Mountain View, California-based Google declined less than 1 percent to $662.39 as of 2:47 p.m. in New York. The stock had advanced 3.1 percent this year as of yesterday’s close.

    Court Orders

    In Turkey, the company received requests to take down content related to alleged criticism of the government, national identity and the republic’s founder, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, according to the report. Google also received petitions concerning blogs discussing minority independence and those that disclose details about the private lives of politicians. Turkey has in the past taken action against Google’s YouTube and Internet service providers for such content.

    In Germany, Google complied with a court order to remove eight search results that linked to sites allegedly defaming a politician’s wife. In France, Google removed search results that allegedly violated the privacy of an individual because of a court order, the report said. Germany made 247 requests to remove content, up from 103, and France made 72, up from 31.

    Google also said government surveillance is on the rise, with demands for user data increasing again in the first half of 2012. There were 20,938 requests for such information, up 15 percent from the second half of 2011.

    The U.S. had the most user data requests at nearly 8,000, up 26 percent from the previous period. That was followed by India with 2,319 and Brazil with 1,566.

    — Editors: Reed Stevenson, Ben Livesey

    via Google Says Governments Requesting More Content Removals – Bloomberg.

  • Google Says China, Turkey Internet Curbs Act as Trade Barriers

    Google Says China, Turkey Internet Curbs Act as Trade Barriers

    Google Inc., owner of the world’s most popular Internet search engine, urged the U.S. to combat Internet censorship abroad as an unfair trade barrier.

    China, Vietnam, Iran and Turkey are among countries that have shut off of search engines, blogging platforms or social- media websites such as Facebook, Google said in a white paper released today. Those actions are harming the ability of U.S. companies to profit, Google said.

    “Governments around the world are restricting, censoring, and disrupting the free flow of online information in record numbers,” according to Google’s paper, which was posted today on its blog. “These actions unnecessarily restrict trade, and left unchecked, they will almost certainly get worse.”

    Google disclosed in January that Chinese hackers had targeted its mail servers and announced that the company would no longer censor search results in the country. Google then began redirecting all searches in China to a site in Hong Kong.

    China is the world’s biggest Internet market with 384 million Web users at the end of 2009, according to the China Internet Network Information Center, a government agency that registers online domain names.

    The Google paper outlines a series of rules under the World Trade Organization that might apply to Internet censorship. WTO rules call for reasonable, objective and impartial rules, and say that “exceptional measures” must be narrowly applied.

    “The WTO negotiators set clear limits on the ability of members to invoke such exceptions,” the Google paper said.

    Google also asked U.S. negotiators to strengthen protections for Internet freedom in pending agreements with South Korea, in the Doha Round of global trade talks and in a broader Asian measure known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

    To contact the reporter on this story: Mark Drajem in Washington at mdrajem@bloomberg.net

    To contact the editor responsible for this story: Larry Liebert at lliebert@bloomberg.net.

    via Google Says China, Turkey Internet Curbs Act as Trade Barriers – Bloomberg.

  • Turkish president uses Twitter to condemn YouTube ban

    Turkish president uses Twitter to condemn YouTube ban

    Abdullah Gul tweets his disapproval and says officials will look at ways of reopening access

    Associated Press in Ankara

    Abdullah Gul TwitsTurkey’s president, Abdullah Gul, has used Twitter to condemn the country’s ban on YouTube and some Google pages. Photograph: Ates Tumer/EPA

    The Turkish president has used his Twitter account to condemn the country’s ban on YouTube and some Google services.

    In separate tweets, Abdullah Gul said he did not approve of the bans and had instructed officials to examine legal ways of reopening access.

    Courts have blocked access to YouTube since 2008 after Greek users posted videos alleging that Ataturk was homosexual.

    Last week Turkey extended the ban to some Google pages using the same internet protocol addresses as YouTube.

    In January the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe urged Turkey to abolish or reform a law allowing it to block around 3,700 Internet sites.

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

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/jun/11/abdullah-gul-twitter-turkey-youtube-ban, 11 June 2010