Thousands gathered in more than 30 cities around Turkey on Sunday in order to protest against a new system of internet filtering, which the opposition considers to be Internet censorship.
The Turkish Information and Communications Technologies Authority BTK is going to require internet providers to offer consumers four choices for filtering the Internet, which would limit access to many sites as of August 22. The regulations will bring four mandatory filtering options to Turkey’s internet users. The filters will be “family,” “child,” “domestic” and “standard.” The criteria by which websites will be filtered will be determined by the BTK. Circumventing these measures will be considered a crime and anyone doing or attempting to do so will face heavy fines. Many websites are expected to be blocked by the filters regardless of their content.
Currently there are a number of sites in Turkey with denied access, including YouTube. Access to YouTube has been banned since 2007, after it published a video insulting Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of the modern Turkish state.
