Turkish court shuts down YouTube

miércoles, marzo 07, 2007



FT.com / World / Europe

Turkey’s largest internet services provider shut down access to the YouTube video-sharing web site on Wednesday after a court ruling that some of its content insulted Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey. The decision followed days of furious insult-sharing among Turkish and Greek users of the popular and controversial site.



The result was a flood of complaints to the site and to the media from Turkish users angered by what one newspaper said were “fanatic Greeks broadcasting videos” insulting Ataturk. Turk Telekom acted first by removing the offending items, but a court ordered access to the site to be blocked late on Tuesday after prosecutors brought a case against YouTube.



A message posted on the site late on Wednesday said access had been suspended following a decision by an Istanbul court. One video posted on the site allegedly claimed that Ataturk and Turks were “homosexuals”. Ataturk, who died in 1938, is a revered figure in Turkey and it is a crime to “insult” him or state institutions. Many writers, including the Nobel literature laureate Orhan Pamuk, have faced trial for work that allegedly breaches this law.


Turkish court orders YouTube blocked - Yahoo! News

The video prompting the ban allegedly said Ataturk and the Turkish people were homosexuals, news reports said. The CNN-Turk Web site featured a link allowing Turks to complain directly to YouTube about the "insult."



On its front page on Wednesday, the newspaper Hurriyet said thousands of people had written YouTube and that the Ataturk videos had been removed from the site. "YouTube got the message," the headline said. Insulting Ataturk or "Turkishness" is a crime in Turkey punishable by prison.
So someone in a video insults Turks and a whole site of internet is shut?? Wouldn't it be sufficient to remove it?

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Un juzgado turco ha ordenado el acceso a YouTube después de que durante la semana pasada hubiera una "guerra" entre griegos y turcos en el sitio de internet. El cierre se ha realizado en base al mismo artículo por el que se condenó al famoso escritor Orhan Pamuk.



Al parecer, en uno de los vídeos se decía que Ataturk y los turcos eran homosexuales. La CNN de Turquía puso a disposición de sus usuarios la posibilidad de mandar una queja a YouTube. Así que mucha gente escribió a Google quejándose.



Me parece una decisión totalmente injustificada. Incluso si consideramos que el vídeo era insultante -que lo era...-, no me parece normal que impidan el acceso a TODO un portal sólo porque hay UN vídeo (o VARIOS) que sean insultantes.



Incluso quitar el vídeo me parece un poco excesivo..., teniendo en cuenta lo mal que se llevan griegos y turcos.





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