Blogland has 600,000 fewer bloggers according to a BBC report today - Blogspot banned in football row. The BBC reports that "A court in Turkey issued the ban in response to a copyright complaint by satellite TV firm Digiturk. It complained when it discovered that some matches it was broadcasting were showing up on blogspot blogs written on the Blogger site". This can be done in Turkey because "copyright protection laws allow for entire services to be shut down".
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| Image from Wikipedia. |
I'm with Cyber-rights activist Yaman Akdeniz has said that the ban was a "disproportionate response" and that "banning all these websites will not solve the issue". Digiturk should maybe go after the bloggers who are infringing copyright - not everybody. This is like banning everybody from driving just because a few motorists are speeding.
Here in Ireland we are rightly celebrating blogging with the Irish Blog Awards. While I made the long list of nominations for an award, this blog lost out to the many excellent short listed blogs :-(
So - while we are celebrating blogging in Ireland, spare a thought for our Turkish colleagues who today have been prevented and censored from doing what we can freely do. There is a lot wrong with our country, but we should cherish the freedoms that we have.
Turning Blogspot back on should be a condition for Turkey to join the EU!
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