All Entries Tagged With: "turkey"

Google Services Blocked by ISPs in Turkey

It appears as if Internet service providers [ISPs] in Turkey have blocked various Google services including Google Translate, Sites, Code, AppEngine, Docs, Groups, and Feedburner. According to several tweets and Turkish blogs, ISPs in Turkey have sent letters to customers informing them that Google services are currently unavailable due to “legal reasons.”

Additionally, other Google services such as Analytics and Adsense are said to be working slower than usual. We’re not sure whether the ban is temporary or permanent.

Turkey’s Plans: Develop Its Own Search Engine, Assign Email Addresses to Every Citizen

Turkey’s Information Technologies and Communication Board [BTK] chairman, Tayfun Acarer [pictured], revealed on Saturday that Turkish engineers are currently developing an Internet search engine. He went on to say that most search engines, which happen to reside in other countries, pose a risk to communication.

He expressed the following:

“All internet communication data goes to foreign countries and then it returns. This activity has a security aspect. I believe that our search engine will be popular in Turkic countries and Muslim countries and I am confident that these countries will trust our search engine.”

Turkey Blocks Access to MySpace and Last.fm

According to a Turkish blog, it appears as if the Turkish government has blocked social networking giant MySpace and Last.fm. This is in addition to the already blocked video sharing site, YouTube.

The mentioned blog post goes on to state the following:

“…this ban may be a consequence of a case filed by Turkish Union of Music Producers (MÜYAP) in order to protect music rights.”

Of course, this isn’t the end of the world for users of Last.fm and MySpace. Those who have blocked access can use OpenDNS (free DNS service), instead of using government-controlled DNS.