Note: Updates are being added towards the end of the post. Please keep checking.
A Turkish court has blocked access to the popular blog hosting service Blogger (Blogger.com and Blogspot.com owned by Google), since Friday, October 24th, 2008. According to BasBasBas.com, a Dutch blogger based in Istanbul, who alerted us to the issue:
It is suspected that the reason for this has something to do with Adnan Oktar, by some considered the leading Muslim advocate for creationism, who has in the past managed to get Wordpress, Google Groups, as well as Richard Dawkins’ website.
Turkish Internet users are seeing this message when trying to visit Blogger.com and all blogs hosted on blogspot.com hosting service: “Access to this website has been suspended in accordance with decision no. 2008/2761 of the TR Diyarbakir First Criminal Court of Peace.”
Screenshot of the Turkish blockpage. Source: BasBasBas.com
This is the second instance of a popular blogging service being blocked in Turkey. In August 2007, the Turkish Fatih Second Civil Court of First Instance blocked access to the entire wordpress.com domain after alleged libel of Turkish Islamic-creationist, Adnan Oktar, aka Harun Yahya.
Adnan Oktar has been very harmful to the access of Turkish Netizens to the Internet. He has succeeded in getting a variety of major websites banned by court decisions. Next to these two blogging services, Adnan Oktar also filed a complaint against Google Groups, which led to the ban of the website.
Turkey also blocks access to both video-sharing websites, Youtube and Dailymotion over videos deemed insulting to the country’s founding father, Kemal Atatürk.
Slide, the maker of social networking widgets, has also been blocked by a Turkish court for “harboring pictures and articles that are considered to be insulting to Ataturk.”
Update #1 via Cyber-Rights.Org.TR:
It is now being reported by Turk.internet.com that the blocking order is related to an intellectual property infringement. Digitürk is a subscription based digital TV platform in Turkey which owns the right to transmit the live coverage of the Turkish football league games. Digitürk obtained the blocking order through the Diyarbakir court according to the Turk.internet.com news as there were blog entries providing information and links to known websites which transmit pirated transmission of the live football league games.
Update #2 via CyberLaw Blog: CyberLaw Blog reported today (October 28, 2008) that the ban on blogspot.com blogging platform has been lifted by the Diyarbakir First Criminal Court:
It is, however, unclear why the order has been lifted and it seems like the ban is lifted until Digitürk provides to the court further evidence with regards to its claims for football streaming piracy. Therefore, I would not be surprised to see the blocking order and the ban reinstated.
What’s next? The Internet? Why don’t we simply ban Starbucks for allowing Wifi, which allows internet access, which allows Google search, which allows access to how one would find the latest Turkish blunder?
posted on October 25th, 2008 at 5:42 pm - #13829EU should ban Turkey!
posted on October 25th, 2008 at 6:36 pm - #13836I’m an expat in Turkey who just lost my online forum. I shared photos of my kids with family back home. The horror.
Damn censoring bastards.
posted on October 25th, 2008 at 8:53 pm - #13845Turks shd ban their bloody government for allowing this pathetic war to take place!
posted on October 25th, 2008 at 11:03 pm - #13850For those looking for a backdoor access, try tricking the system into thinking you’re not in Turkey…
see http://unblocked.org/
posted on October 25th, 2008 at 11:13 pm - #13851You can also download UltraSurf free. Then you don’t have to deal with any proxy site URLs and popup windows.
posted on October 26th, 2008 at 12:22 am - #13852What a disaster of a country. They’d ban thinking if it were possible. No doubt.
posted on October 26th, 2008 at 7:19 am - #13861[...] Blogger.com down in Turkey by court order. [...]
posted on October 26th, 2008 at 7:44 am - #13862Dear Colleagues
Your humble writer/ moderator has/had a blog page. There you could read various current articles on Energy issues, news as well as freelance evaluations of our energy markets.
It was in English in order to receive global intellectual contributions as well as to inform what we do at our end. That is something that we are here to add some more to the world output.
Once a sudden that server is blocked by Court Order just because of a complaint until upon new verdict to the contrary. It is hard to evaluate the latest situation. Although it is weird to think that you can block the bloggers, it is harder to tell that in this virtual world of internet, there cannot be any restriction. I check my blog regularly through various interfaces and visualize that there is no less hit than before. I hereby present the situation to your esteemed observations and hope to receive your responses. Kind regards
Haluk Direskeneli
posted on October 26th, 2008 at 11:36 am - #13863http//energynewsletterturkey.blogspot.com
Update #1 via Cyber-Rights.Org.TR: It is now being reported by Turk.internet.com that the blocking order is related to an intellectual property infringement. Digitürk is a subscription based digital TV platform in Turkey which owns the right to transmit the live coverage of the Turkish football league games. Digitürk obtained the blocking order through the Diyarbakir court according to the Turk.internet.com news as there were blog entries providing information and links to known websites which transmit pirated transmission of the live football league games.
posted on October 26th, 2008 at 3:05 pm - #13869citizens of turkey, and those who can read turkish can sign this petition against the blocking order.
posted on October 26th, 2008 at 3:40 pm - #13871http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/blogumig
posted on October 26th, 2008 at 3:40 pm - #13872[...] Turkey has banned blogger. [...]
posted on October 26th, 2008 at 5:07 pm - #13876I’m just relieved to find confirmation! I thought I’d gne nuts – from Thursday to Friday my (apparently highly subversive) blog disappeared! I’m also an ex-pat, and my blog helps my family and friends keep up with my life here. Sometimes, they even learn something interesting about Turkey. (What a horrid idea!) My apologies if the sarcasm drips onto everyone’s computers. And thanks for the tips on how to get around this mess.
posted on October 26th, 2008 at 7:10 pm - #13877Why not ban the ‘offensive’ site, instead of punishing and banning the entire blogging service?
Stupendous at best, idiotic at worst.
The courts, however, have their hands tied. It is the laws that need to be changed/updated/revised and/or brought into the 19th Century.
Speaking of ‘courts’ by the way, to all who can’t access their only method of contact with the outside world, McCain quit the campaign, and Sarah Palin was elected President by the U.S. Supreme Court!
There will be NO elections next Tuesday!
:)
posted on October 26th, 2008 at 8:52 pm - #13879[...] services blocked in the Republic of Turkey, yet another blog service has been blocked Blogspot.com. A court in Diyarbakir Turkey has banned Blogger in relation to an intellectual property infringement…. First time GV blogger, Adam Klempner, translates some of the Turkish bloggers [...]
posted on October 26th, 2008 at 11:12 pm - #13880Haluk, looks like you are more interested in the traffic to your own blog than in what’s really going on in Turkey.
posted on October 27th, 2008 at 1:20 am - #13883Regarding ‘energy issues’; Turkey try to be a pimp but nobody falls in that trap.
Do you know that, for example, Norway is a major oil supplier or/and the Netherlands supplies natural gaz for the last 40 years, domestic and internationally. Google: Slochteren.
Kindest
hans
[...] [Source et photo] [...]
posted on October 27th, 2008 at 10:18 am - #13887[...] Dau: letto ? [...]
posted on October 27th, 2008 at 1:42 pm - #13889[...] [Източник] [...]
posted on October 27th, 2008 at 6:29 pm - #13891Currently blogger is unblocked again while the courts await further evidence. Read here: http://www.basbasbas.com/blog/2008/10/28/bloggerblogspot-unblocked-in-turkey/
posted on October 28th, 2008 at 5:08 pm - #13896[...] Από το Global Voices Advocacy: [...]
posted on October 28th, 2008 at 7:55 pm - #13898[...] Από το Global Voices Advocacy: [...]
posted on October 28th, 2008 at 8:04 pm - #13899[...] to censor online speech one step at a [...]
posted on October 31st, 2008 at 4:58 am - #13921[...] http://advocacy.globalvoicesonline.org/2008/10/25/bloggercom-banned-in-turkey/ [...]
posted on October 31st, 2008 at 2:17 pm - #13931[...] blogs that question Koranic Creationism exist, so a Turkish judge did the only sensible thing: He BANNED THE ENTIRE BLOGGER.COM AND BLOGSPOT.COM DOMAINS, and all the 112 million blogs thereon. [...]
posted on November 4th, 2008 at 12:28 am - #13959Web hosting is the method of putting a website on the Internet with the use of a server. Once a website has been placed on a server, people from all over the world who have access in the Internet will be able to view and visit the website anytime they want
posted on November 15th, 2008 at 3:16 pm - #14111[...] Imagine living abroad, immersed in a different culture, challenged by a different language, far away from family support. If you had the Internet and maybe a blog, you’d start to feel a little more secure, like you still had a connection to all things familiar. Kim has that – or she had it, until the Turkish government banned Blogger. [...]
posted on November 16th, 2008 at 6:45 am - #14119Please sign this petition to protest Turkish Government’s unilateral decision to ban without justification the internet sites.
posted on November 21st, 2008 at 1:30 am - #14197If Turkey claims to be a secular democracy it can not practice despotic,repressive policies of autocratic Nations such as China and Saudi Arabia.
This must STOP!
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/turkish-government-out-of-our-internetdont-repress-let-us-progress-free-press-now
It goes to show that many so-called “progressive countries”, are still practicing the Master-and-Slave way of governing their people.
They should block Turkey from the European Union.
posted on December 1st, 2008 at 10:15 am - #14331I hope the people from Turkey can find a way to bypas this ban.
posted on March 4th, 2009 at 2:23 pm - #15060You are probably one of the stupidest people on the face of this Earth, if you think Turkey is going to be allowed to join the E.U.
Every day, step by step, Turkey is moving further away from being a democracy witch represents its people. The march 29 municipal elections are going to be the last elections Turkey has for a long long time.
People should really realize this and rise up against one of the most oppressive government a democracy can have.
posted on March 8th, 2009 at 7:02 pm - #15110I hope I will never see the day when Turkey is allowed to the EU, unless they have a complete makeover, which is unlikely.
However, I don’t think we have to fear that Turkey will be allowed to join the EU, they pile up their mistakes one after another.
posted on June 14th, 2009 at 11:21 pm - #17549