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posted by janrinok on Monday March 05 2018, @05:59PM   Printer-friendly
from the more-you-tighten-your-grip dept.

Turkey, positioned geopgraphically on the edge of Europe and politically inside of NATO, has been heading in a troubling direction for some time in regards to speech. Crackdowns on dissent and even open speech are increasing and Internet communications are the specific focus of some of the recent actions. Coming up is legislation intended to curb the Internet (WWW) in ways similar to how television and radio have already been limited:

Having already brought Turkey's mainstream media to heel, and made considerable headway in rolling back Turkish democracy, the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has set its sights on a seemingly innocuous target: a satellite television preacher named Adnan Oktar.

[...] "It is just about control," said Kerem Altiparmak, a human rights and media lawyer. "Considering what has been happening in Turkey, I have no doubt this is a hegemonic power, controlling newspapers, TV and the judiciary, that is now out to control the [I]nternet sector."

All the restrictions are made that much easier through increased use of and dependence on centralized services like Facebook by the remaining opposition.

Source : Erdogan's Next Target as He Restricts Turkey's Democracy: The Internet


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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Arik on Monday March 05 2018, @08:16PM

    by Arik (4543) on Monday March 05 2018, @08:16PM (#648140) Journal
    "I think it can probably be done (at least far better than what we have), but the constitution could end up thick as a bible. "

    I suspect your thoughts are fatally flawed in that respect. A longer, more intricate, Constitution would not be more effective at restraining the government - to the contrary, it's likely to be less effective. The more complicated something is the easier it is to play games with it.

    A good consitution would be as simple as possible, but no simpler.

    I don't think the US Constitution is perfect but it seems to be in the right ballpark there.

    Which is why it's taken so long for some of the basic guarantees to be eroded by practice. For the most part, the provisions are simple enough that you don't need a team of lawyers to understand them, which has helped to give them practical force.

    --
    If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
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