From: tcmay@got.net (Timothy C. May)
Date: Mon, 19 Feb 1996 08:42:19 +0800
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Turkey says: "But even the U.S. censors its Net!"
Message-ID: <ad4d02fe08021004393f@[205.199.118.202]>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


At 10:46 PM 2/18/96, yesim ozben wrote:
>Some news from Turkey. Up to now all connections to Internet were
>established and managed by TR-NET the collaboration of a university
>(METU) and the the national scientific research center (Tubitak).
>Recently the phone company opened a tender for this task and I think the
>same group or some company or foundation they were part of won it. Today
>I read that they are trying to pass some law for the net to be controlled
>by a monopoly and the reason is to be able to control things. So it's
>spreading.

I'm sorry to hear this, but it's predictable.

One of the worst aspects of the Communications Decency Act is that it
undermines criticism of similar acts in other countries. If Germany,
Turkey, Singapore, or China censor their computer users and establish
controls, critics will be met with a pointer to the U.S. policies. If even
the country that spends the most effort bragging about its love of liberty
is seen as censoring the Net, then surely it is a reasonable thing to do.

(We've seen similar cases in other contexts, where the United States boasts
about its free trade policies while forcing Canadians to reduce production,
or limits the amount of crops grown, etc. Other examples are readily
apparent.)

If the U.S. sees the need to control thoughtcrime, so will other countries.


--Winston Smith

Boycott espionage-enabled software!
We got computers, we're tapping phone lines, we know that that ain't allowed.
---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:----
Timothy C. May              | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,
tcmay@got.net  408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA  | knowledge, reputations, information markets,
Higher Power: 2^756839 - 1  | black markets, collapse of governments.
"National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."