NEWS
Date published: 9 April 2007 00:00
Modified On: 5 October 2013 00:15

Draft Legislation on Cyber Crimes Approved

A parliamentary commission approved a draft proposal which would regulate the crimes in cyberspace. The proposal foresees bans on websites which promote the division of the state or insult Ataturk, founder of the modern Turkish Republic.

Ankara
A parliamentary commission approved a proposal Thursday allowing Turkey to block web sites that are deemed insulting to the founder of modern Turkey, weeks after a Turkish court temporarily barred access to YouTube.

The proposal is aimed at regulating the cyberspace, as no specific legislation has been yet passed on the subject.

Recent incidents of child porn and allegations of "anti-state propaganda" on the web brought the issue into public agenda.

Parliament plans to vote on the proposal, though a date was not announced.

On Thursday, lawmakers in the commission also debated whether the proposal should be widened to allow the Turkish Telecommunications Board to block access to any sites that question the principles of the secular system or the unity of the Turkish state -a reference to websites with information on Kurdish guerilla movement in Turkey.

Several prominent Turkish journalists and writers, including last year's Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk, have been tried for allegedly insulting Ataturk or for the crime of insulting "Turkishness".

Last month, Turkey blocked access to the popular video-sharing site YouTube after a complaint that some videos insulted Ataturk. The ban was lifted two days later.(EÜ)

https://bianet.org/haber/draft-legislation-on-cyber-crimes-approved-94350
2024-04-28 08:22:09