Friday, March 28, 2014

Turkey's YouTube Traffic Drops Sharply

from online.wsj.com

Google Says Turkey's Share of Global YouTube Traffic Fell Significantly After Government Blackout

March 28, 2014 6:03 p.m. ET

Internet traffic for YouTube took a blow in Turkey on Friday, a day after the country's government implemented a blackout before local elections.

Turkey's share of YouTube's global traffic fell by as much as two thirds on Friday afternoon, compared with its levels at the same time on prior days, according topreliminary statistics published by YouTube parent Google Inc. GOOG +0.53% The data indicate that, while not completely effective, the government measure successfully kept out a large number of the site's millions of Turkish visitors.

"This is obviously very disappointing for the many people and businesses in Turkey who use YouTube to share and access information, and we hope that YouTube will be back up in the very near future," a Google spokesman said.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in an interview late Thursday with Turkish broadcaster ATV: "We are determined on this subject. We will not leave this nation at the mercy of YouTube and Facebook. FB -1.57% We will take the necessary steps in the strongest way."

5 Things to Know About Turkey's Social-Media Battle

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The sharp decline underscores a delicate dance for the Google video site. YouTube has become a popular form of entertainment and communication in parts of the world with heavy government control over media—from helping spawn the Arab Spring to rebroadcasting an allegedly blocked Ukrainian TV channel. But the site increasingly must weigh that popularity against orders to remove content those governments say is illegal.

That tension is particularly high in Turkey. YouTube is the country's third-most popular website, with 19 million visitors in December according to trade organization IAB Turkiye. But Turkey also makes frequent requests to remove content—with more than 1,500 to Google in the first half of 2013—nearly triple any other country, Google said.

YouTube's popularity has helped put it at the center of a power struggle, after the government of Mr. Erdogan was hit by a corruption probe last year. Anonymous accounts on YouTube have since mid-February regularly leaked phone conversations and other recordings that purport to connect Mr. Erdogan to the investigation, allegations he denies.

But Mr. Erdogan has also used the site to his advantage ahead of local elections on Sunday. At rallies, he has lambasted it, along with social media cousins Twitter Inc.TWTR +2.12% and Facebook Inc., as part of a foreign conspiracy. Last week, beforeblocking Twitter, he called the microblogging site a "menace to society."

Given how easy it is for opposition voters to circumvent the blackouts using software known as virtual private networks, some observers suggest that the blockages are more an electioneering move aimed at rallying supporters than a direct attempt at censorship.

"They are not trying to block social media; they are trying to taint it," said Zeynep Tufekcy, an assistant professor at the School of Information at the University of North Carolina. "Circumventing these blocks is easy and legal, and they know it will happen."

It is unclear how much money is at stake for Google in the Turkey blockage. YouTube makes just over half of its net advertising revenue outside the U.S., according to research firm eMarketer. But the entire Turkish video-display advertising segment in the country was only around $20 million in 2012, the latest year for which data is available from IAB Turkiye.

Google often regularly pushes back against government requests to remove content, current and former executives say. The company says it complied world-wide with only of 36% of requests to remove content in the first half of 2013. Despite the threat of a blackout, the company declined in recent weeks to remove a handful of videos in Turkey, because it believed orders to remove them weren't legally valid, people familiar with the matter said last week.

The showdown between activists and governments often happens without website owners' cooperation. In some countries, regimes can use filtering technology to monitor Web traffic and black out individual videos or Web pages, rather than entire websites. Turkey, however, hasn't yet fully rolled out such technology and had to resort to a "crude" blackout, one Western technology executive said

"But that may change," the executive said.

—Fercan Yalinkilic, Alistair Barr and Rory Jones contributed to this article.

Write to Sam Schechner at sam.schechner@wsj.com

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Turkish Court Overturns the Government’s Ban on Twitter

from nytimes

By SEBNEM ARSUMARCH 26, 2014

ISTANBUL — A court in Turkey ruled on Wednesday that the government could not ban Twitter, as it sought to do five days ago, and ordered the country’s telecommunications authority to restore access to the service. The action by the government had been met inside and outside the country with an uproar about respect for freedom of expression.

It was not immediately clear whether the ruling would be appealed or overtaken by a new court order.

The court in Ankara, the capital, ruled in response to complaints by Turkey’s bar association and its journalists’ union, arguing that the attempt to block Twitter contravened the freedom of information and communication. The prohibition has been widely bypassed by Twitter users, who have reached the service through alternative channels.

The telecommunications authority imposed the ban on the ground that Twitter refused to remove content that violated personal privacy. But government critics had used Twitter to publicize leaked recordings of telephone conversations that were said to show widespread corruption among government officials and people close to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, including his son. Mr. Erdogan said his adversaries had fabricated the recordings.

Twitter welcomed the ruling, saying that the government ban had been disproportionate and illegal and that the complaints the government had about content had already been addressed.

Legal experts said on Wednesday that the telecommunications authority had the right to appeal the Ankara court’s ruling, but that it should comply and end its attempts to block Twitter. A statement from the Justice Ministry hinted at a delay, saying that the authority had 30 days to comply and that a regional administrative court would have the final say in the case.

Yet another court, the Constitutional Court, was expected to rule on a separate complaint about the Twitter ban, filed by two academic experts on cyberlaw who asserted that the blocking of Twitter infringed on a constitutional right to information.

“We welcome the ruling of the Ankara court, but remain concerned,” said one of the two experts, Yaman Akdeniz of Bilgi University in Istanbul. He said he and the other expert, Kerem Altiparmak of Ankara University, expected the Constitutional Court to agree with the Ankara court. They filed a similar complaint on Wednesday at the European Court of Human Rights.

Mr. Erdogan has continued to assail Twitter, saying the ban will remain in place unless the service complies with local Turkish court rulings to remove some content. Twitter’s general counsel said in a statement that the company had already complied, by suspending two accounts that violated its rules and blocking content of a third from being visible to Turkish users.

Mr. Erdogan also criticized YouTube, which like Twitter has been used to publicize leaked telephone conversations and videos.

“What is this thing called Twitter, anyway?” Mr. Erdogan said late Tuesday on NTV, a privately owned Turkish news channel. “It is a company, involved in communication, social media, et cetera. Now, you look at it and actually see YouTube behind this. They do not have a representative here, but work with the lawyers of YouTube.” He seemed to be referring to the fact that Twitter had hired the same law firm that YouTube used during a dispute with the Turkish authorities in 2008.

Sunday, March 23, 2014

Q&A: Tackling Twitter in Turkey

from aljazeera

'We cannot get along with Twitter' - Turkish official Burhan Kuzu defends the move to ban the microblogging site

Istanbul, Turkey - The war of words continues to reverberate in Turkey after a decision to ban Twitter and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's promise to "wipe out" the social media website.
Turkey has accused Twitter of "systematic character assassinations" after it hosted accounts with secret recordings allegedly exposing government corruption. Erdogan has called the recordings "vile" fakesconcocted by his rivals.
Also on Saturday, the clampdown was reportedly expanded to Google's Domain Name System (DNS), which had provided many Turkish Twitter users an alternative means of gaining entry.
Among the high-level officials to disregard the ban were the country's President Abdullah Gul, Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc, and Melih Gokcek, the mayor of the capital Ankara and a member of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).
While Gul criticised the ban in a few tweets, Gokcek tweeted out a spate of messages and photos.

Turkey pushed through new legislation last month allowing authorities to shut down websites and track users' browsing histories [EPA]

Turkish Twitter users changed DNS settings and used Virtual Private Networks to reach Twitter's website, and traffic has not dropped off significantly after the ban.
According a report from Twitturk, which records Turkish Twitter user data, more than half a million tweets were posted in just 10 hours despite the block.
The average number posted in the country is about 1.8 million per day.
Al Jazeera spoke with Burhan Kuzu, head of Turkey's parliamentary constitutional commission and a senior member of the AKP, about the Twitter ban.
Al Jazeera: What is the reason behind blocking Twitter in Turkey?
Burhan Kuzu: We cannot get along with Twitter. This is not the first time something like this happened. In the past, Turkey had to block YouTube as well, as it did not remove the insulting content [against Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of Turkey] in line with the court decisions in Turkey. Twitter does not implement the principles it uses for the US, United Kingdom, France, Canada, et cetera for Turkey. They do not recognise Turkey and Turkish court verdicts. This is the most important issue for us. There are insults, swearing and porn about Turkish citizens on Twitter.
When a court verdict is given about a complaint, Twitter does not implement it. The issue comes to a point where Turkey says, "If you do not recognise me, I do not recognise you, either". There are millions of Twitter users here. I don't understand why Twitter is doing this, particularly in commercial terms.
The second issue is that Twitter does not pay any taxes here although it has millions of users. There are no representatives or commercial offices in Turkey. They should fix this.
Al Jazeera: The new Internet regulations in Turkey allow authorities to block only specific web pages, not websites as a whole. The court rulings given as the base of the Twitter ban also point at specific links, not to Twitter as a whole. Why did Turkey's telecommunications authority [TIB] block the whole social media platform?
Kuzu:If Twitter had abided by the court rulings and closed down those specific links, this would not happen. A lot of verdicts have piled up and the TIB took this decision.

Turkish and global social media users have mocked moves by the government to restrict access to Twitter [Al Jazeera]

Al Jazeera: Turkey is the only country among the European Union member or candidate states to ban Twitter. Don't other nations face the same problems with the website?
Kuzu: In the countries I referred to before, Twitter follows related court verdicts. Or some European countries can handle some content as a society while Turkey cannot. There is content where photos of women are used in porn through Twitter. Turkish society cannot handle that. It is a matter of perception.
Two young people were sentenced to four years in prison each for inciting riots in England. In France, it is not allowed to spread content against Jews and Armenians. And Twitter follows these regulations in cases of complaints… We are not happy about the blocking of Twitter either. I am a user myself.
Al Jazeera: What do you think about AKP members breaking the ban and tweeting right after Twitter was blocked?
Kuzu: We should not think of it as breaking the ban with a motivation to protest it. They might have done it in a moment of urgency, in order to announce something. It is not an act against the decision.
Al Jazeera: Do you think the blocking of Twitter will affect the results of local elections?
Kuzu: I don't think it will have a major influence. There might be a partial effect on young people. Older generations are aware of the reasons for the ban. We are trying to explain the reasons to the youth.
Follow Umut Uras on Twitter: @Thriceee

When news stories compete for attention

from cbs

MARCH 23, 2014, 10:52 AM|"Face the Nation" host Bob Schieffer says the mystery surrounding Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 should not blind us to the importance -- and potential danger -- of the crisis unfolding in Ukraine.

Friday, March 21, 2014

Turkish attempt to ban Twitter appears to backfire

Turkey’s telecommunications authority said it had blocked access to the social media network hours after Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened to “rip out the roots” of the website. Tweets have proliferated with links to recordings that appear to incriminate him and other top officials in corruption.

Flowers bloom near the Dutch Windmill in the Queen Wilhelmina Tulip Garden in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, California March 20, 2014. Spring officially began on Wednesday in the northern hemisphere, and is known as both the spring or vernal equinox. REUTERS/Robert Galbraith (UNITED STATES - Tags: SOCIETY TRAVEL ENVIRONMENT)

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Turkey in the past has blocked access to YouTube, but this is the first ban on Twitter, which is hugely popular in the country — to the point where Turkish hashtags routinely appear in global trends. The social network was instrumental in organizing flash protests against the government last year.

By midday Friday, tweets were continuing unabated as users swapped instructions online on how to change settings. One enterprising user spread the word by defacing Turkish election posters with instructions on beating censors.

President Abdullah Gul was among those who circumvented the order, which he contested in a series of tweets. Gul, once a political ally of Erdogan, has spoken out against Internet censorship in the past, although last month he approved government moves to tighten controls over the Internet.

“I hope this implementation won’t last long,” he wrote.

Links to leaked recordings have been popping up on two Turkish Twitter accounts, including one in which a voice resembling Erdogan’s instructs his son to dispose of large amounts of cash from a residence amid a police graft investigation. Erdogan, who denies corruption, said the recording was fabricated and part of a plot by followers of an influential U.S.-based Muslim cleric to discredit the government before March 30 local elections.

Erdogan has cast the elections as a referendum on his rule.

“Prime Minister Erdogan’s move spells the lengths he will go to censor the flood of politically damaging wiretap recordings circulating on social media,” said Emma Sinclair-Webb, senior Turkey researcher at Human Rights Watch.

Andrew Przybylski, a researcher at Britain’s Oxford Internet Institute, said the ban appeared to be working through Domain Name System — or DNS — blocking, which was easy to work around.

He said many Twitter-hungry Turks manually changed the DNS settings on their computers and in their phones to point to Google’s Domain Name System, which isn’t affected by the ban.

Earlier, many users trying to access the network instead saw a notice from Turkey’s telecommunications authority, citing four court orders.

Turkey’s lawyers’ association asked a court to overturn the ban, arguing it was unconstitutional and violated Turkish and European human rights laws. Turkey’s main opposition party also applied for a cancellation.

“Turkey now stands along with countries such as North Korea, China, Saudi Arabia, Iran and Russia on Internet freedom,” columnist Yavuz Baydar said in an email.

Twitter’s @policy account earlier sent out messages telling Turkish users in both English and Turkish they could send out tweets by using short message service, or “SMS.” It was unclear how those tweets would be viewable.

European Commission Vice President Neelie Kroes criticized the Twitter ban in Turkey — a country that is seeking to join the European Union — as “groundless, pointless, cowardly.” Other EU officials also voiced concerns.

Lutfi Elvan, Turkey’s minister in charge of transport and communications, said Turkey was merely obeying court orders — although an Istanbul lawyers group argued the court decisions were about blocking access to websites deemed to be violating privacy — not the entire website. The telecommunications authority accused Twitter of violating “personal rights and the confidentiality of private lives” and said access would be restored only when Twitter removes illegal content.

“Turkey is not a country that bans the Internet,” Elvan said. “We have to stand together against insults and unlawfulness.”

Technology Minister Fikri Isik said officials were holding talks with Twitter and that the ban would be lifted if an agreement is reached.

Turkish technology minister is quoted as saying that officials are holding talks with Twitter and that the ban will be lifted if some kind of an agreement is reached

The original source of the leaked recordings is unclear. The ban comes amid rumors and news reports that even more damaging recordings are about to emerge.

“Conspiracy or not, limiting freedom of speech is no way for the Turkish government to tackle a political crisis,” said Sinclair-Webb of Human Rights Watch.

In Berlin, the German government’s human rights commissioner, Christoph Straesser, called on Turkey to reverse the decision immediately, saying “limiting freedom of the press and opinion on this scale is unacceptable.”

Britain’s Foreign Office also expressed concern, saying that social media has a “vital role to play” in modern democracy and helps promote transparency and public debate.

Raphael Satter and Cassandra Vinograd in London, Raf Casert in Brussels and Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed.

Wednesday, March 19, 2014

Satellites spot possible Malaysian plane debris off Australia

from Reuters

BY JANE WARDELL AND SIVA GOVINDASAMY

SYDNEY/KUALA LUMPUR Thu Mar 20, 2014 12:51am EDT

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Family members of a passenger onboard the missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 hug each other as they wait for news about the missing plane at a hotel in Beijing March 20, 2014. REUTERS-Kim Kyung-Hoon

Family members of passengers onboard the missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 write messages to their missing relative on a board at a hotel in Beijing March 20, 2014. REUTERS-Kim Kyung-Hoon

A relative of a passenger onboard the missing flight MH370 is seen through a door while he waits for news at a hotel in Beijing March 19, 2014. REUTERS-Kim Kyung-Hoon

1 OF 14. Family members of a passenger onboard the missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 hug each other as they wait for news about the missing plane at a hotel in Beijing March 20, 2014.

CREDIT: REUTERS/KIM KYUNG-HOON

Relatives of Chinese passengers on board missing Malaysian flight demand answers

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