Court Insists on YouTube Censorship

The Ankara 1st Criminal Court of Peace has not accepted an appeal of the Internet Technology Association (İNETD) against the ban of the video sharing website YouTube in Turkey.

Access to YouTube in Turkey was banned by the court on 5 May 2008, on the grounds that it contained videos insulting the memory of Turkish statesman Atatürk.

Many people in Turkey have circumvented the ban by using different IP addresses. Recently, Ankara prosecutor Kürşat Kayral from the department of media crimes applied to the Telecommunication Ministry to find out whether new IP addresses are being used to access YouTube. The Ministry identified 44 new IP addresses.

The prosecution then applied to the court in order to add an amendment regarding the IP addresses to the original ban. This was accepted by the court and has affected Turkey's access to other services by Google, too.

Evaluating the appeal by the Internet Technology Association, the judge Hayri Keskin insisted on rejecting it "as long as objectionable violations of the law continue" on the site.

Following the appeal, the file was sent to the Duty 13th Criminal Court of First Instance. (EÜ/AG)