Turkish Government Makes Changes to Its Internet Filtering Plan

The Turkish government makes changes to its heavily criticized Internet filtering plan by removing two of the filter packages and delaying the implementation date from Aug 22 to Nov 22. While a draft of the new system will be online for 10 days to receive feedback from the public, some experts say there should be no filters

The Turkish government is amending its heavily criticized Internet filtering plan and delaying its implementation by three months in order to create a new infrastructure to support the change.

The implementation date has been pushed back from Aug. 22 to Nov. 22 and the number of filtering packages that will be offered has been reduced from four to two.

The modifications came following extensive meetings with nongovernmental organization representatives from all parts of Turkey in order to create a more acceptable system of Internet filters. A draft of the system is also available online for 10 days in order to receive feedback from the public.

The new system will offers two filters, “family” and “child,” that will be provided to Internet users free of charge. Those who decide against using a filter will continue with their normal Internet access.

The initial system proposed that all Internet users in Turkey would have to choose among one of four Internet filtering packages, under a regulation by the Prime Ministry’s Information and Communication Technologies Authority, or BTK.

Good sign

According to Yaman Akdeniz, a law professor who specializes in Internet law, however, the regulations will still actually go into use by Aug. 22, but as a trial run.

“The regulations will still start Aug. 22, but there will be a test period for three months in which users can try out this system,” Akdeniz said, adding that the changes definitely show a step back from the previous draft.

“I still do not think that the government should bring a filtering system to the Internet, but the fact that they removed two of the filtering systems [‘standard’ and ‘domestic’] is a good sign,” he said.

The European Commission had previously warned Turkey about its attempts to control and filter the Internet, stating that it was closely following developments regarding the filtering of online access in Turkey and other restrictions on the Internet.

In a letter to Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, or OSCE’s, representative on media freedom alsoexpressed concern about the Turkish government’s plans to introduce mandatory content filtering for all Internet users.

More recently, a top State Department official reiterated U.S. concerns about the new filtering system. Speaking at a forum on Internet freedom held in the House of Representatives complex in Washington, Daniel Baer addressed the fact that more than 5,000 websites have been blocked in Turkey.

“We understand that these restrictions have been made in order to protect children against harmful content on websites,” Baer said. He added, however, that “If Turkey desires to secure the modern, prosperous and peaceful structure of its society, it should not limit Internet access, which is a part of human rights.”

August 5, 2011
SOURCE: Hürriyet Daily News