Turkey Lifts YouTube Ban
Today I learned from Turkish blogs that YouTube is accessible from Turkey again. I am glad that a bad decision is reversed but I do not think this is going to make things any better. There has been a lot of negative coverage of the news all over the blogs and I think the damage is done. The lift of the ban did not cause as much discussion as the ban itself as expected. Here is the AP story and Techdirt’s take on the issue. There is also the opinion of The 463 that I was able to find.
An interesting question that came to my attention lately is who removed the videos first: YouTube or the creator of the video. As most people I thought it was YouTube who immediately removed the clip but turns out that the clip was removed by the uploader not YouTube.
I also learned this morning from a comment on my blog in Turkish that someone Turkish created a video in response to the offending one. I think it is a good one among all those stupid and possibly equally offending responses from Turkish people.
So, the ban is gone but the impression that Turkey is a country that restricts free expression remains.
Technorati Tags: youtube, turkey, turkey bans youtube
[tags] youtube, turkey, censorship, law, legislation[/tags]
Etiketler: Turkey
12 March 2007, 8:11 am tarihinde.
I was going to send this to you, but forgot. Figured you’d see it anyway.
It’s a real shame, what with the moves that Turkey has been making lately to join the EU. It seems like they are moving in a positive direction, only to take a giant leap back. At least the ban is gone, but I agree that they are somewhat stained by having the ban in the first place.
If it makes you feel better, the US is a country that restricts free expression and is violating civil liberties far worse than Turkey lately….Strangely, doesn’t make me feel better…