Turkey Orders YouTube Blocked Over Clips

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Turkey Orders YouTube Blocked Over Clips

By Associated Press

11:29 AM EDT, September 20, 2007

ANKARA, Turkey - A Turkish court has ordered the country's telecommunications company to block access to the popular video-sharing site YouTube because of clips the court deems insulting to leading political figures.

It was the second time Turkey has blocked access to YouTube. In March, the site owned by Google Inc. was blocked for two days after a complaint that some clips insulted Turkey's founder, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. The ban was lifted after the offending clips were removed.

On Wednesday, a court in the eastern city of Sivas ordered the block, saying video on the site insulted Ataturk, President Abdullah Gul, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the army.

The decision drew criticism Thursday from journalist watchdog group.

"Blocking an entire Web site because of a few videos is a disproportionate measure," the Paris-based Reporters Without Borders said. "We urge the authorities to reverse this decision."

The site could be accessed on Thursday, and it was not clear when the ban would come into effect.

But the bans highlight Turkey's shaky record on permitting free expression.

It is illegal in Turkey to insult Ataturk, a revered figure whose portrait hangs in nearly all government offices

Full story, Source: Newsday

[__Kratos__]

No doubt youtube will once again force censorship onto it's users like they have done in the past. They should have never crumbled... Now that they've censored once, everybody wants their own censorship brand rolled out.

[stevewinn]

sooner or later governments will police the internet heavily in all countries, the internet truly gives the power to the people,