BERLIN
Turkish Transport Minister Lutfi Elvan said Tuesday that they proposed a bill for amendment on the law for internet because the existing law is not functional enough to protect the privacy of individuals and prevent violations of personal rights.
"The existing law covers blocks on sexual harrasment of children, pornographic contents and prostitution but it doesn't require any blocks on content when the personal rights and private life of individuals are at stake," said Turkish Transportation Minister Lutfi Elvan speaking Tuesday at Turkish Grand National Assembly Commision on Planning and Budget.
The existing law required the individual whose personal rights and privacy is violated to apply to the provider and if the provider fails to block the content then he would be able to go to the court to block it.
The court then had to finalize the appeal in three days. However, if the service provider was based abroad the court order was not binding on it, so the content remains on the web for weeks. However with the new proposals internet content from internet providers based abroad could also be blocked and could not be reached from Turkey.
The proposed changes also mean that several government ministries - Ministry of Family and Social Policy, Transportation, Maritime Affairs and Communication as well as the head of the Telecommunications Directorate (TİB) - will be able to order the hosting service provider to block content if the court fails to give an order in 24 hours.
Elvan also said that the amendment bill includes the standards in developed countries such as blocking the content instead of blocking the whole website.
The amendment bill was harshly criticized during a meeting of the budget commission on Tuesday.
The main opposition party Republican People's Party (CHP) deputy Erdal Aksunger compared the amendment bill with the regulations in third world countries and said that the state should not play a policing role on the Internet.
Besides, Nationalist Movement Party deputy Erkan Akcay stated that the bill is a move by the government to protect itself against the documents and videos related to the recent probe allegations to be released on the internet.
The pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) deputy Adil Zozani criticizing the bill said that there are only three other countries, namely China, Iran and Saudi Arabia which have a similar law to that currently proposed by the ruling AK Party.
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