Google slowdowns and inaccessibility in Turkey
In a recent development of the expanding internet censorship in Turkey, it appears today that filtration is starting to affect numerous Google services online. Today, a blog post by esteemed blogger and professor Dr. Yaman Akdeniz on his blog, http://cyberlaw.org.uk/, seems to support the other news reports that have trickled concerning this chain of events.
Turkey first blocked YouTube in May 2007, then again in 2008, but now the government has asked Internet service providers to block some IP addresses associated with YouTube. The “side effect” has been a massive rash of slow downs and inaccessibility to a long list of Google services. Here’s the list as taken from Dr. Akdeniz’s blog:
http://code.google.com
http://pages.google.com
http://video.google.com
http://translate.google.com.tr
http://docs.google.com
http://sites.google.com
http://books.google.com
http://chrome.google.com
http://sketchup.google.com
http://froogle.google.com
http://labs.google.com
http://mars.google.com
http://moon.google.com
http://notebook.google.com
http://toolbar.google.com
http://browsersync.google.com
http://catalog.google.com
http://codesearch.google.com
http://dir.google.com
http://earth.google.com
http://groups.google.com.tr
http://shopping.google.com
http://sky.google.com
http://support.google.com
http://tools.google.com
http://wap.google.com
http://answers.google.com
http://google-analystics.com
It does not yet seem that a complete blockage of the sites has taken place, yet, but these slowdowns and inaccessibilities appear to be very pervasive.
Our feed of Herdict reports from Turkey have been pretty quiet today, so we would love to see what’s going on with any of the Google sites if you are in Turkey. You can go to Herdict Queue now and test the sites.
About the Author: Alex Fayette
Alex is a Junior at Yale University who is currently an intern with the Berkman Center for Internet and Society @ Harvard Law School. His focus this summer is with Herdict.org and also with other Berkman projects falling under the Freedom of Expression umbrella. He is majoring in Economics and Physics, and loves singing and aviation on the side.
