"ALL CAPS IN DEFENSE OF LIBERTY IS NO VICE."

Sunday, October 05, 2014

TURKEY'S WAR AGAINST THE INTERNET

Michael Rubin at Commentary talks about Recep Erdogan's jihad on internet sites, which has led to quite a few being blocked out of the land:
Now, alas, Turkey is no longer willing to simply go after traditional outlets. While Erdoğan’s jihad against social media is long standing, Erdoğan increasingly seeks to control what can be published online. Quite simply, the Internet—and, more broadly, free discourse—frustrates Erdoğan, who would much rather crush dissent than accept the accountability and transparency a free media encourages or address the merits of his opponents’ arguments. As journalists have moved to online outlets to escape Erdoğan’s authoritarian ambitions, the number of Turkish news portals has exploded online.
But some of these sites have been blocked in Turkey too, and it doesn't look to get any better, since Erdogan has them in the crosshairs next. It's no wonder we can't let the UN and Turkey by extension control the internet.

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