Word Press Blogs Blocked In Turkey

Just as Thailand unblocks YouTube after five months, Turkey has blocked all Word Press blogs. I found out about this via the comments of A Foreign Perspective, one of the EFL blogs I follow. Apparently there was an accusation of libel against the nemesis of a creationist / accused cult leader with “deep pockets” (the libel was in several blogs). When Word Press did not respond to requests to remove the specific offending blogs, the decision was made at the court level in Turkey to block all Word Press blogs.

I do hope A Foreign Perspective will be back soon, or Jake will direct readers to another, non-Word Press blog.

Apparently one theory is that the government did not make its decision with a full understanding of what it would entail. And via an email to a friend which was posted as a comment on the blog, Jake mentions that in contrast to a YouTube block a few months ago, the press in Turkey does not seem to be concerned with this latest blocking. I don’t really know enough to add meaningfully to that discussion, but it is interesting – and unfortunate – to hear other cases where authorities who have a very limited grasp of a given technology making decisions about that technology. It brings to mind a post of EFL blogger Zen Kimchi, who was accused of criminal libel for mentioning on his blog that his employer had refused to abide by the terms of the contract and pay him the bonus he was due. It seems that when the police questioned him, they were assuming, for example, that he had personally made every post in a message board thread, rather than simply the one with his name attached. Sure, not everyone will know about message boards, but if a police officer is investigating a crime where that is considered evidence…maybe he should.

On a lighter note, it made me nervous to think about the TEFL Logue ending up blocked…what would I do?! Well, I could probably harass a few other bloggers to let me post there, but that wouldn’t really be the same. In the scale of things, I realize it would be fairly minor, but it is a little spooky to think that something you have become accustomed can so easily be interrupted. Best solution in my book: start some kind of shadow blog.