Committee to Protect Bloggers » Wordpress

Turkey Blocks Dailymotion

Curt — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 19:09:11 +0000

After blogging Wordpress and YouTube and Slide (more about those here), Turkey, according to the RSF, has now blocked the Paris-based video sharing site Dailymotion, beginning on August 2nd. The rationale behind the block is uncertain, though if YouTube is any guide, it’s probably due to a video “insulting” the founder of the modern Turkish state, Kemal Ataturk.

Turkey blocks sites like these wholesale, even if the offender is one single video, then requires their owners to jump through a preposterous number of hoops to get them unblocked. YouTube insists it’s complied and has still not been unblocked.

Additionally, two Turkish free speech sites, Antenna-tr and Ortakpayda, were hacked on July 24th by an ultranationalist group.

Brazil Blocks Wordpress.com

Curt — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 15:55:22 +0000

Brazil, which has in the past blocked YouTube and banned a host of video games, has now banned the blog Wordpress.com, and therewith all the blogs that use it, according to Game Politics (via Techdirt). There are 1 million Brazilian blogs alone on this service, according to Terramel, a Brazilian blog. It is apparently, like the YouTube block, an instance of hyperventilating overreaction to a single “offender” of some sort. Though which blog and which offense is uncertain.

Is Brazil the new China? In a move similar to Youtube’s block, a brazilian judge ordered all brazilians ISPs to block a Wordpress.com blog. The blog and the reason of the block are still unknown.

According to Abranet, the Brazilian Association of Internet Providers, there’s about 1 million brazilians blogs hosted in Wordpress.com.

The order to block wordpress.com was sent to Abranet who sent it to all associated ISPs. In an interview, Eduardo Parajo, Abranet’s president said: “We must not discuss a court order, we must obey it. Since it’s not possible to block only the blog’s address, all the acces to any wordpress.com sites will be forbidden in Brazil”.

WordPress Blocked in Thailand Too

Curt — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 23:55:37 +0000

According to Global Voices, Thailand joins Turkey in having blocked access to the popular WordPress.com blog platform and hosting site.

On August 22th, 2007, access to wordpress.com blogging platform has been blocked by TOT (Telecommunication Authority) preventing Thai Internet users from accessing Thai Wordpress and all blogs hosted on wordpress.com. “A notice has been shown when trying to access any Wordpress page: “Sorry. TOT Plc., as an organization of Thai people, has restrained the access to this website as it contains content, text, and/or picture that is unappropriated which affects the mind of Thai people all over the country and cannot be accepted.”

I have written to WordPress founder Matt Mullenweg to try to find out why it’s been blocked.

Wordpress Blocked in Turkey

Curt — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 21:53:19 +0000

According to Matt Mullenweg, the founder of the Wordpress blogging platform, the hosted version of the program, Wordpress.com, has been blocked in Turkey.

It looks as though a law suit brought against a Turkish internet company by an individual resulted in allegedly libelous material being brought down by a wholesale blocking of the popular platform.

This is still very odd. Some say it was on purpose, others an accident. Some say the military was involved, some say an Islamic creationist.

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