Turkey Keeps Banning More And More Of Google
from the why-not-just-turn-off-the-internet dept
Turkey seems to have a problem with Google and its services. The country has issued multiple bans of YouTube, which has resulted in plenty of criticism from the tech press in the country. Also banned was Google’s Blogger service, because a Turkish TV service was upset that some Blogger users posted links to unauthorized streams of Turkish football matches. Now, Slashdot points us to the news that Turkey has apparently banned a whole bunch of Google IP addresses with no explanation. Among the services banned: translate.google.com, books.google.com, tools.google.com, docs.google.com, AppEngine, Feedburner and Google Analytics. Given how many other sites rely on things like Google Analytics and Feedburner, you have to wonder if folks in Turkey are having a lot of trouble reaching many sites these days.
Comments on “Turkey Keeps Banning More And More Of Google”
Is this seriously a country trying to get accepted into the EU? Perhaps they should try getting accepted into China, because that’s where they belong if this article is to be believed.
Ne cehennem
I could almost understand books.google.com or docs.google.com, but translate.google.com? Do they think that increased communication between nations is a bad thing?
(“Ne cehennem” is “What the hell” in Turkish according to translate.google.com.)
Re: Ne cehennem
translate.google.com is a great way to get around host or domain based bans. If http://www.example.com is banned you can go to translate.google.com and ask for an English to English translation of http://www.example.com. It was likely banned to plug this hole.
Re: Re: Ne cehennem
I did the same thing but at babelfish.yahoo.com when the local proxy was blocking things.
Re: Re: Ne cehennem
translate.google.com won’t let me translate english to english. It says that it is not allowed. I had to translate to spanish and use my mediocre spanish to get to sites that were blocked.
Re: Ne cehennem
The reason is that translate.google.com work as anti-filter for many websites.
Re: Ne cehennem
Do they think that increased communication between nations is a bad thing?
Apparently, or as Douglas Adams puts it in H2G2:
“Meanwhile, the poor Babel fish, by effectively removing all barriers to communication between different races and cultures, has caused more and bloddier wars than anything else in the history of creation.”
>_< Oh bother Mike!
>>from the why-not-just-turn-off-the-internet dept
Stop encouraging and giving them ideas!
turkey used to have a secular gov’t.
not anymore. go figure.
consequences for Iran
This is bad news for those of us following the developments in Iran. As someone who relies on Turkish contacts to get information in and out of Iran, the blocking of some of these websites may have a significant impact on the quality and quantity of information available from inside the Islamic Republic. As a result, it will be easier for the government of Iran to persecute its people with immunity from the international community.
Re: consequences for Iran
Use a VPN! I recommend ipredator — it’s cheap and reliable, and you get encryption and a Swedish IP address.
Why would they ban a US spy agency?
That’s what all the parasite / javascript is. You can view it as merely commercial spying, but it’s spying. I ban Analytics and Feedburner personally through a hosts file.
Re: Why would they ban a US spy agency?
Turkey is against letting arbitrary and untrusted code execute on their machines. How can they ever be accepted into the civilized world?!
its response to Israel blockades guys
now they are saying they will put the Turkish prime minister on one of the aid boats
and Israel said that will be an act of war
THIS should be fun turkey actually has a pretty decent army, and i wonder how many more nations Israel can piss off
Re: its response to Israel blockades guys
I’m not completely sure but, those aid boats never actually got into Israels’ territorial waters did they? If Israel wants to call something an ‘act of war’ shouldn’t they wait until someone actually violates their sovereign territory?
P.S. Turkey IS PART of N.A.T.O
better start reading, if turkey turns to the other side of things the whole region gets heated up a few more degree’s
Israel should be doing more to get an agreement on aid
blocking
For years I have used Privoxy to block all of Google Analytics and most of Feedburner. It has improved my browsing experience.
Update: Turkey vs Google
An update (09/06/2010) on Turkey vs Google;
In Turkish:
http://www.internethaber.com/turkiyeden-googlea-tarihi-vergi-cezasi-259056h.htm
or you can translate it on Google Translate.
In brief:
Sometime ago Turkey’s Ministry of Communication and Transport requested from Google to establish a local contact point (in Turkey). However, this was dismissed by Google and the ministry made a second move just today, fining Google 30 million Turkish Liras (approx. £12 million). So it seems like this not barely censorship, but more like a “you open an office in Turkey and pay me tax”.
Let’s see what happens or gives up first.
NHNR
Update 2: Turkey vs Google
On Friday, June 11th 2010, Google Europe officials requested a meet with the Turkish Communication Board (Ministry of Communication and Transport). A date will be set for the meeting and the current disagreement/situation will be discussed. NHNR
Update 3: Turkey vs Google
After series of meetings between Turkish Communication Board and Youtube, the controversial videos were removed from the Youtube cloud. As a result, today (October 31) Turkey lifts its ban on YouTube (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-11659816).