The Sunni Islamic State of Turkey blocked 166 websites

[Anthea]

Bloomberg

Turkey Blocks Twitter, YouTube and Facebook Over Images

Turkey moved to block access to some social media websites including Twitter and Facebook after they circulated images of a prosecutor who was taken hostage and killed.

Ibrahim Kalin, spokesman for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said the order to bar access was demanded by a prosecutor who equated the distribution of the images to terrorist propaganda. Shares of Turkcell, the country’s largest mobile operator, fell as much as 1.8 percent in Istanbul after the announcement.

An Istanbul prosecutor died April 1 from injuries sustained after he was taken hostage in a courtroom by members of leftist militant group DHKP-C. Pictures of him with a gun held to his head were published by several newspapers and websites.

Turkey has passed several laws to tighten control over the Internet since December 2013 after hundreds of tape recordings allegedly showing corruption among politicians were posted on social media. Erdogan, who was prime minister at the time, said the recordings were fabricated and part of an effort by his foes and foreign forces to undermine him.

National Newspapers

A prosecutor has started an investigation against four national newspapers for printing images of the prosecutor, while Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said the distribution of the photos was “unacceptable.” Parliament, which is dominated by Davutoglu’s ruling AK Party, passed a law in March that allows the government to ban websites without a court order.

Kalin said the order to block the websites that showed the images had yet to be implemented. As of early afternoon local time, Twitter, YouTube and Facebook could not be accessed through some providers. Twitter and YouTube said they were working to restore access “as soon as possible.” Facebook removed material to comply with a court order it received but will object to the ruling, according to an e-mailed statement.

The social media ban is “another disproportionate response restricting press freedom, free speech,” Marietje Schaake, a Dutch member of the European Parliament, said on Twitter.

The decision was reported earlier by Hurriyet newspaper, which cited Bulent Kent, head of the Access Providers’ Association.

If access to some social media websites remains barred for a long time, the ban is “definitely going to have an impact on mobile data revenues,” Toygun Onaran, an analyst at Teb Investment, a brokerage in Istanbul, said by phone. “Most of the usage is coming from social websites.”

Security Threat

The new legislation allows the government to block websites it considers to be a threat to national security without a court order. It is similar to another law the nation’s top court rescinded last year. The Constitutional Court in October revoked the authority of the government’s Internet watchdog to shut down websites and gather data on individual users.

The government’s attempts to curb freedom of speech and strengthen its grip on the Internet have drawn criticism from the European Union, which Turkey aspires to join. The latest ban on social media comes as no surprise to investors, who are more concerned about Turkey’s general political environment than the blockage of Twitter, according to Nicholas Spiro, managing director at Spiro Sovereign Strategy in London.

“Turkey’s international reputation was tarnished quite some time ago,” Spiro said by e-mail.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/ ... r-hurriyet

[Anthea]

Today's Zaman

US urges Turkey to unblock access to social media sites

The United States has urged Turkish government to unblock access to Twitter and YouTube, and ensure free access to all social media platform.

Anthea: So that US is able to spy on the users

State Department spokesperson Marie Harf told Today's Zaman on Monday that her country supports freedom of expression in Turkey and opposes any action to encroach on the right to free speech.

Anthea: "country supports freedom of expression" does it heck as like - over recent years the US government has removed many of it's freedoms

Turkish authorities briefly shut down Twitter, Facebook and YouTube on Monday and vowed to block the access to Google after midnight. The access to Twitter and Facebook resumed as of Monday night after they removed photos of a terrorist pointing a gun on a Turkish prosecutor on Monday. Turkish government banned the publication of that particular photo and pressed charges against four newspapers for "spreading terrorist propaganda" after they published the photo. Mehmet Selim Kiraz, the İstanbul prosecutor seen in the pictures, was later killed in a shoot-out between his hostage takers and police last week.

Google said it is working to restore the access to the video service as of Tuesday night.

"An independent and unfettered media is an essential element of democratic, open societies," Harf said after the social media bans.

Turkey has a very vibrant presence on the social media, particularly on Facebook and Twitter. But it also tops the list of countries cracking down on both platforms. Turkey filed over five times more content-removal requests to Twitter than any other country in the second half of 2014, data published in February by the micro-blogging site showed. Turkey's request to remove content on Facebook almost doubled in the second half of last year, becoming the second country cracking down on Facebook after India, the company said last month.

Harf said Washington urges the Turkish government to unblock its citizens’ access to Twitter and YouTube and ensure free access to all social media platforms. She added that freedom of expression is a key element in every healthy democracy and is enshrined in the Turkish constitution and OSCE agreements.

Turkey temporarily blocked Twitter and YouTube in March and April last year, after audio recordings purportedly showing corruption in then-Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's inner circle were leaked on their sites. Last year, Turkey tightened laws allowing sites to be blocked by the authorities more easily

http://www.todayszaman.com/national_us- ... 77315.html

[Anthea]

Turkish authorities have blocked access to Twitter, Facebook and YouTube over their initial refusal to remove photos of a prosecutor who was taken hostage by militants in Istanbul, but the ban was revoked as all three social media platforms complied with a court order after eight hours.

A recent court ruling seen by daily Hürriyet ordered authorities to block a total of 166 websites that published the controversial photos. Beside the world's largest social media websites in the list, there are also specific links to the stories published by Turkish newspapers.

The decision, signed by Bekir Altun, the judge at Istanbul’s 1st Criminal Court of Peace, was taken after Istanbul’s Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office’s Terror and Organized Crime Investigation Bureau demanded the ban on news and videos.

The decision stated content removal would be implemented and a possible blockage would be put in place if this was not done.

A number of Turkey's leading Internet service providers implemented the ban in the afternoon of April 6, an official confirmed after widespread complaints about access problems to the social media websites.

Speaking to daily Hürriyet, Internet Service Providers Union (ESB) Secretary General Bülent Kent stressed that "the procedure continues" as all service providers are expected to implement the ban immediately.

Tayfun Acarer, the head of the Information and Communications Technologies Authority (BTK), told daily Hürriyet that the ban on Facebook had been lifted after it rapidly complied with the court ruling on April 6.

YouTube.com ran the text of a court ruling on its site saying an "administration measure" had been implemented by the country's telecommunications authority (TIB).

Google said it was working to restore service to the YouTube video-sharing site, which it owns. Twitter also said it was working to restore access for its users.

In the evening hours, ESB Secretary General Kent announced that Twitter had also complied with the ruling and its service will return shortly. At 7 p.m., Kent said YouTube also removed the content that the court deemed illegal, which led to the revocation of the ban on all global social media platforms.

The Sunni Islamic State of Turkey banned 166 websites

The world should stop worrying about Iran and start worrying about Turkey