TURKS TIGHTEN UP

12 January 2007

Internet gambling among targets for controversial new legislation

The Turkish newspaper Yeni Safak reported this week that a controversial law, Penal Code Article 301, is to be applied vigorously by Turkish authorities against *Internet crimes* that include online gambling.

The legislation is apparently targeted on "indecent broadcasting and online gambling", and the Information Technology Security Agency will have the task of blocking broadcasts and offending sites as defined by the Turkish Penal Code.

Restrictions are being introduced by the Code that amount to censorship of the internet, claims the newspaper report, where people have hitherto enjoyed Internet freedom to express their ideas in recent years. According to the bill, ostensibly drawn up to combat child abuse, indecent broadcasts and online gambling, one of the most important tasks of the Information Technology Security Agency will be to obstruct broadcasts.

It appears that the manner in which this is to be achieved is through court orders sought by the Agency following extensive monitoring of suspected sites. The court orders will presumably be served on ISPs. Legal action will also be instituted against site owners where these can be reached.

Penal Code Article 301 is controversial because of its widening application regarding Internet offences such as "Denigrating Turkishness, the republic and the institutions and organs of the state," under which many free thinkers including Nobel Prize winning novelist Orhan Pamuk, have apparently been prosecuted.

Punitive measures in the Penal Code are tough:

Article 299 makes insulting the president a crime punishable by between one and four years' imprisonment. If committed via the media then add one third.

"Broadcasts" made over the internet in contravention of Article 301 "Denigrating Turkishness, the republic, the institutions and organs of the state," can attract sentences between six months and three years in prison.

Online Casino News courtesy of InfoPowa

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