HyeOctane

Los Angeles Times
Looking to check out the latest videos of cavorting kittens and lovelorn lip-synchers on YouTube? If you live in Turkey, you’re out of luck.

After receiving a court order, Turkey’s largest telecommunications provider Wednesday blocked access to the popular video-sharing website because it featured clips that were seen as insulting to Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey.

The censorship is evidence of YouTube’s growing social and political resonance. It also marks the latest battle between Web titans such as YouTube’s corporate parent, Google Inc., and foreign governments over free speech on the Internet as the companies expand into new markets.

YouTube and other technologies that allow users to share information “shift power away from central institutions to communities,” Forrester Research analyst Charlene Li said. “Whenever you hold a lot of power, you’re very threatened when that power is taken away from you. That’s what the Internet does, and that is what YouTube is doing.” [Read More]