Chris Peredun - January 21, 2008 2:52 PM
In what is becoming a bit of a recurring event, YouTube has once again found itself banned from Turkey for having clips available that insult the first president and founding father Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.
"Insulting Turkishness" is a criminal act in Turkey, and even being able to view the objectionable video was deemed enough to warrant a ban on the entire site. The supposed clip in question compares Ataturk with a monkey, and attempting to browse to the YouTube homepage from anywhere within Turkey results in an error stating "Access to this web site has been suspended in accordance with decision no: 2008/55 of T.R. Ankara 12th Criminal Court of Peace."At least 65 people -- including many journalists and writers -- have been charged with "insulting Turkishness" since the introduction of the law in June of 2005. The law calls for a sentence of between six months and three years in prison for "anyone who openly denigrates the government, judicial institutions or military or police structures" -- or even mentioning past transgressions of the nation, such as the Armenian massacres or Kurdish questioning.
What are your thoughts on this?
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16 comments:
I think that YouTube is a good website if you are using it right. If people are using it in a wrong way, it can be very offensive and hurtful. I think that if it is very insulting that they should get in trouble for using it inappropriately. These people should be punished and YouTube should watch the videos posted and make sure they are appropriate and not harmful. The people who are doing this should be punished.
I think that YouTube is a good, funny website if it is used in the right way. There are funny, appropriate vidoes that are fun to watch and have a good laugh. But, there are also some videos that are mean, offensive, and inapproprite. I think that the people that post things like this should be punished and, if they could, YouTube should regulate the videos that can be posted. If they are inappropriate, YouTube should not allow the person to post it. I think that the people who are doing this in Turkey should be punshed.
I feel that this is a great judgement on turkishes side. If they do not want anyone to harm there culture or findings then they have the right to take away that freedom. They might have been able to not have such harsh punishment for the whole country but this might be able to help the problem to not happen again. I feel that YouTube should not be mistreated and should not have such discriminating videos on it.
YouTube can be very helpful is used in the proper manner. Some videos on the site are very educational and can help you in school and others are really funny and can help you have a good time. I think Turkey should unblock it for the public to use but I don't think it's that important that they would really care.
I think that You Tube can be used in many successful ways. However, if you take it too far and use it for inappropriate reasons or uses, it can be harmful. I think it is too bad that some people of Turkey are using it against their government and first president. There are things that you should have enough respect for that you don't have to have a law prohibiting the use of certain Interent access. However, if people misuse their priveledges, certain measures do have to be taken.
I think that this new law is enfringing the rights of the citizens of Turkey in that they are not allowed to express thier opinions about thier leader. It is understandable that the leader is afraid of criticism because there is the possiblility that it could lead to revolt, but that possibility is ten times greater when the leader is restricting thier natural right to express thier opinions.
If it is against the law to insult the culture I guess they can ban the site. However there are other sites with those same videos. Banning youtube will not end the problem. They should just go after the people with the video.
I think that it is really stupid. They cant talk out against the government without getting in trouble. Thats violating freedom of speech, but i dont think turkey has that law so they cant say what they want. Thats dumb. And i dont think that YouTube should be banned it can be usefull and good if used right. But im not sure.
I think You Tube would be fine in every country. That is unless they are using it to plan on attacking the government using videos. If they start sending terrorist threats on Youtube, then it should be banned in that country.
I think the whole deal is pretty dumb. If the Turkish government is taking time out of their day to worry about people on youtube making fun of them, that's kinda sad. That country has bigger thing to worry about.
I don't really care. I think it is stupid and most the time it is getting used unappropriately. I think that it should be the country's choice in banning it and if that's what they want then good. I don't however get why the country cares so much.
I think that the people who make those videos discriminating other people deserve being put in jail. YouTube was not made for bad videos such as this, it was made to post fun videos and give people laughs. That video is harassing the people from Turkey and that is a federal offense.
If you use YouTube, you should use it wisely. Dont be looking up things that could get it taken away for everybody. If you live in Turkey dont look up things bashing Turkey. Im not gonna look up things bashing Jesus or the government
I guess it all really depends on what you are using it for which seems to be coming up a LOT lately..You just have to remember that things can get traced back to you and you can get in a lot of trouble for posting things that you shouldnt be..but Youtube is both a good and bad thing sometimes it just gets taken too far..
i think that youtube is an ok site if used properly. If people are using it inappropraitly then they should be punished. If that is they are harmful to an bad purposed then they shouldn't be able to post them on youtube. i think that the whole thing is just dumb. The people who are posting these inappropraite sites then they should be punished.
YouTube is good and bad. Many people misuse it and make it bad for the people. The people of Turkey, for instance, are taking it too far by using it against people. It should be an appropriate site for people to go on to not harmful.
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