Vice News Employees Charged With Terrorism In Turkey... Because They Used Encryption
from the insanity-rules dept
If you thought US law enforcement's freakout about "going dark" due to encryption was insane, leave it to Turkey to take the insanity to new levels. Two journalists and a "fixer" working for Vice News in Turkey were arrested and charged with "engaging in terrorist activity" because they used the same encryption tools that ISIS uses. Really.Three staff members from Vice News were charged with "engaging in terrorist activity" because one of the men was using an encryption system on his personal computer which is often used by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), a senior press official in the Turkish government has told Al Jazeera.In the article, some point out that this may really just be about scaring journalists away from the area, though it may also serve a double purpose of scaring more people away from using encryption. Just the idea that using encryption is seen as "suspicious" is already ridiculous, but to be charged with terrorism solely because you encrypt your messages is utter insanity.
[....]
The Turkish official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Al Jazeera: "The main issue seems to be that the fixer uses a complex encryption system on his personal computer that a lot of ISIL militants also utilise for strategic communications."
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Filed Under: encryption, isis, journalism, reporting, terrorism, turkey
Companies: vice
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That speaks volumes on the hypocrisy of government officials...
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No country is in need of a strong man (dictator), which is why they should accept the latest parliament election result instead of using government institutions to stifle dissenting utterances and change governance to presidential instead of parliamentarian!
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The turkish government was helping the IS up until a month ago simply because they were killing kurds. It shouldnt be hard to find some politicians who are in bed with them...
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... And Syrians. The Syrian regime is predominantly Shia, same as Iran. On the other hand, Turkey is in the Sunni camp along with the Saudis and (yes) Israel, and USA.
It's very confusing, I know, why Muslims appear to think nothing of killing other Muslims, but after 1400 years they're on a roll and can't seem to stop.
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It's utterly unacceptable to constantly demonise encryption, just because it makes it harder to prop up police states.
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Just another represive government not wanting accountability
The dominant Turkish party recently lost it's parliamentary majority in the last election, when a number of Kurdish parliament members were voted in. That party is calling for another election (a do over) to correct this aberration.
At the same time the Turkish government has been stepping up their attacks on the 'PKK' [Kurdistan Workers' Party in English ]. Some speculate that in predominately Kurdish areas, it will be impossible for a truly free/open election to be held. Other speculate that this is the purpose for the crack down.
Initially the Turkish government claimed the arrested reporters were working for both the PKK and ISIS/ISIL. Which on it's face it just silly.
This was then changed to they had video of 'PKK' activity (such as fighters making munitions) and one of the reporters notebook has notes including the names and abbreviations used by/ describing terrorist organizations. Of course, most of the Western nations expect a reporter to have that sort of information, because that's what they are reporting on.
Now they are apparently trying to run the scary encryption flag up the pole. What's next? The reporters were using the same brand of laptop as the terrorists were known to use. Perhaps the same brand of toilet paper?
The Turkish government says they respect 'freedom of the press', but these particular reports broke their anti-terrorist laws. Conveniently their anti-terrorist laws make it a crime to contradict the official government line.
Of course our (U.S. of A. for any non-USA readers) Pentagon has a policy that says that reporters often do the same things as spies and so it's O.K. to treat reporters acting without local government approval as potential terrorists/spies. So I'm waiting for the Turkish government to respond with; "We are just following the same guidelines as the U.S. military..."
So much for the United States having any claim to a moral high ground.
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Re: Just another represive government not wanting accountability
I would have thought that working for both was suicidal, rather than silly.
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Smoke and Mirrors
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The offending technology
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You know what else ISIL uses!
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Gee, the same !@#$ their targets use. How 'bout that? Son of a gun. Whatever works, right? Pragmatism wins the day! We don't need morals, ethics, yada, yada, when the goal is righteous!
"You will be assimilated. Comply!"
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