![]() ![]() ![]() The IGF is the largest annual multistakeholder convening of Internet policymakers, bringing together government officials, company representatives, members of civil society, and academics to discuss critical issues related to Internet governance. This backdrop of online censorship and government crackdowns made Turkey a particularly interesting host for the ninth annual Internet Governance Forum (IGF), for which I and OTI’s policy director Kevin Bankston traveled to Istanbul at the beginning of this month. ![]() While Turkey may be considered a global swing state in Internet governance, as a new Freedom House report highlights, its domestic policies have been surprisingly “one-sided” and “untransparent” in recent months, “as traditional punitive offline measures restricting freedom of speech have migrated more and more to the online sphere.” Clashes in the past fifteen months between the Turkish government and protesters - many of whom are young, tech-savvy Internet users who rely on the online tools to organize and communicate - have prompted the state to increase its control over communications networks, including the recent passage of a bill that gives the Turkish Telecommunications Directorate the authority to block any political content without a court’s permission. This past March, the Turkish government generated global headlines over its decision to block access to Twitter and other social networking sites following allegations of corruption aimed at Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Amidst Internet Crackdown, Turkey Hosts IGF 2014
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