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Turkey Overreacts Yet Again: Bans All Of Blogspot Because Of Copyright Infringement On A Few Blogs

from the is-there-no-one-who-understands-the-internet? dept

Tue, Mar 8th 2011 1:05am — Mike Masnick

We've discussed at length Turkey's absolutely ridiculous on again/off again bans on YouTube and other Google sites due to a single example of content that the government doesn't like. Now it appears to be doing it again. The government has now banned all of Google's blog hosting operation, Blogspot, because there are a few blogs out there that are embedding or linking to streaming versions of satellite TV provider Digiturk's TV shows. This is not the first time that the government has banned Blogspot over the identical issue. Seriously, go back and read that post from over two years ago, where it yet again involves Digiturk complaining about Blogspot because some users posted links to unauthorized streams of Turkish football matches. It didn't work last time, why does anyone think it makes sense this time around?

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Filed Under: censorship, copyright, free speech, turkey

26 Comments

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Ben (profile), 8 Mar 2011 @ 1:19am

Good job the US doesn't do the same
They'd never block a domain with 84,000 legitimate users because of a few bad eggs
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- ethorad (profile), 8 Mar 2011 @ 6:09am
  
  Re: Good job the US doesn't do the same
  ... because of a few *alleged* bad eggs
  
  They haven't been proved guilty of anything yet as far as I know
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Zauber Paracelsus (profile), 8 Mar 2011 @ 1:27am

Oh no, my blog is hosted on blogspot! Oh wait... I rarely ever write blog posts on it anyways.
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Kurata, 8 Mar 2011 @ 1:39am

Man, so many problems with Internet.
We should definitely just outright turn it off, I mean come on, it's obvious that Internet brought more harms than benefit!
In the harm side, you have more copyright infringement, more and more people protesting using Internet, information spreading faster, and uncontrollably; and man, the number of scams and lawsuits! oh the lawsuits!
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GeneralEmergency (profile), 8 Mar 2011 @ 1:39am

Careful Mike...
...You are bordering on "Insulting Turkishness".

Or does that just happen by default these days when reporting on any news out of Turkey??

Ooops.

.
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- Zauber Paracelsus (profile), 8 Mar 2011 @ 1:54am
  
  Re: Careful Mike...
  It's not Turkey that's bad, it's their government.
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  - grumpy (profile), 8 Mar 2011 @ 5:03am
    
    Re: Re: Careful Mike...
    Turkey is a democracy. Government == majority of country. Being that the government is acting like a bunch of tossers and there aren't that many protesters in the streets, the country as such must have a majority of less-than-sane citizens.
    
    Or have I misunderstood something about democracies?
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    - freak (profile), 8 Mar 2011 @ 5:41am
      
      Re: Re: Re: Careful Mike...
      I suppose you must have. Because by that idea, the people in the US seem to be completely behind the gov't lying to them about, y'know, torturing and meaningless wars, and claiming civilian deaths as enemy deaths to make it look good.
      
      And, y'know, funding a private corporation to sell young boys into sex slavery.
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      - grumpy (profile), 9 Mar 2011 @ 1:47am
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Careful Mike...
        They like it enough to not do anything about it. That looks a bit incriminating to me. So what exactly is the voter population doing if they aren't stopping illegal activities? Where does the personal responsibility begin? AFAIK there was a bunch of trials in the forties about this whole thing and the result wasn't nice for many of the participants...
        
        Besides, it's not as if the Turkish government is trying to be discreet about this.
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  - Chargone (profile), 8 Mar 2011 @ 2:08pm
    
    Re: Re: Careful Mike...
    which... is a fairly meaningless distinction to those outside of the country unless there's revolutions/invasions plotted or ongoing.
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- Anonymous Coward, 14 Aug 2011 @ 6:22am
  
  Re: Careful Mike...
  There is no doubt that on http://allgamesonline.org
  you can find the most coolest Strategy Games Online
  Is there anyone with different opinion ?
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Capitalist Lion Tamer (profile), 8 Mar 2011 @ 2:54am

I'm sure cars will be next....
They're always being linked with criminal activity. In fact, you can't have carjacking or auto theft if you don't have cars. Take 'em away.

You'll think twice about robbing a convenience store or surprising your new neighbors with a home invasion when your getaway vehicle is public transportation. And if you really want to rob a cabbie, you're going to have to make the effort to walk to their house, rather than just conveniently relieve them of their wallet while riding comfortably in the back seat.

Not only that, but stealing a car is EXACTLY like hosting infringing content, or just a bunch a bunch of links to infringing content, or hosting a site that carries a bunch of links to infringing content.
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Pixelation, 8 Mar 2011 @ 2:57am

"It didn't work last time, why does anyone think it makes sense this time around?"

It's a governmental overreaction. If you don't like a blog, remove them all. If you need to kill an ant, get a tank. If you need to oust a dictator, blow up his city with billions in smart weapons, invade the country and spend trillions occupying it. If people don't like you for it, too bad.
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Anonymous Coward, 8 Mar 2011 @ 3:26am

The Chronicles of Rick Roll.

All your base are belong to us.
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Anonymous Coward, 8 Mar 2011 @ 3:46am

Blogspot is a cesspool of infringement.

Sounds like Turkey views illegal activity more seriously than the US.

And they have for years. They have real drug laws there and they don't mess around with nuance when it comes to them.

Turkey realizes that there's no point in having a law if you're not going to bother enforcing it. Good for them.
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- Greg G (profile), 8 Mar 2011 @ 6:20am
  
  Re:
  Linking to a site isn't infringement.
  
  It's simply pointing to something, like if I were standing at the flea market pointing at the fake Gucci or Louis Vuitton purses. I'm doing absolutely nothing wrong, yet Turkey would kick me out of the flea market for talking about the aforementioned purses, leaving the vendor there. (possibly kicking them out later, but maybe not since they pay for the booth.. ie, Turkey receives payola.)
  
  Repeat, and please try and let this seep into your brain: Talking about something and pointing to something (linking) is NOT infringement.
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  - Anonymous Coward, 8 Mar 2011 @ 7:06am
    
    Re: Re:
    like if I were standing at the flea market pointing at the fake Gucci or Louis Vuitton purses. I'm doing absolutely nothing wrong, yet Turkey would kick me out of the flea market for talking about the aforementioned purses, leaving the vendor there.
    
    Horrible analogy, and horribly wrong. It's more like you are holding a bullhorn that the fake gucci bag booth is using to promote their products. You have to remember that every link to a site like that lends it credibility. Every paid ad accepted gives them credibility.
    
    You are analogy challenged.
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    - Anonymous Coward, 8 Mar 2011 @ 7:44am
      
      Re: Re: Re:
      I believe you are analogy challenged. His analogy is rather spot on. Like it or not, pointing something out is all a link really does. If that link were a flashing banner ad, then it would be akin to shouting about it through a bullhorn.
      
      Your analogy is more like going after the state because they allow billboards along the highway the drug runners use.
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- techflaws.org (profile), 8 Mar 2011 @ 7:45am
  
  Re:
  > Blogspot is a cesspool of infringement.
  
  Says who? You? It must be true then!
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Anonymous Coward, 8 Mar 2011 @ 4:07am

Geminoid DK expresses what I feel right now.
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Bengie, 8 Mar 2011 @ 4:38am

Internet Union
An internet union should be formed, so when a site gets block, all other sites refuse traffic from said blocker.

All or None.
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- Chronno S. Trigger (profile), 8 Mar 2011 @ 4:59am
  
  Re: Internet Union
  An internet union did get formed. It didn't turn out that nicely. Maybe you heard of them, they're called Anonymous.
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  - Anonymous Coward, 8 Mar 2011 @ 5:59am
    
    Re: Re: Internet Union
    yeah, a few of them got arrested, and a few more got contacted by police. When their parents found out what they were doing, they lost internet access at home. The problem sort of solved itself.
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    - techflaws.org (profile), 8 Mar 2011 @ 7:46am
      
      Re: Re: Re: Internet Union
      Right, as HBGary can confirm.
      [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Bas Grasmayer (profile), 8 Mar 2011 @ 5:21am

Again!

Seriously... I was living in Istanbul when they first blocked Blogger/Blogspot because some blogs were linking to football matches hosted on other sites.

If I remember correctly, the PM promised to update the system for these takedowns, but apparently the phenomenon of empty political promises is not unknown to Turkey.

*sigh*
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Anonymous Coward, 8 Mar 2011 @ 1:51pm

Blah blah blah some foreign country doesn't get it blah blah same countries that still heat houses with manure and cover womens faces blah blah big surprise another country reacted differently than we would have liked blah blah yet another gosh I'm shocked useless posting
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