Turkish minister says online crimes on the rise
ISTANBUL-Hürriyet Daily News
Minister Yıldırım says three out of four business crimes are committed online. AA photo
Turkey’s Transport Minister Binali Yıldırım said three out of four business crimes in Turkey were being committed online. Speaking at an Istanbul conference titled “The Impact of the Internet on Social and Economic Life” on March 30, Yıldırım said national and international regulations were urgently needed.“The Internet means freedom and freedom means the Internet, but ignoring security on this matter is out of the question. We have to protect our people, especially children, from unnecessary information on the web. The Internet has side effects,” Yıldırım said.
Yıldırım said classical law was incapable of preventing such crimes and new legal regulations should be implemented to protect Turkey from “external and internal forces.”
Hamadoun Toure, the head of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), also participated in the conference. Toure said Turkey had come a long way in improving its online security.
Toure’s speech was interrupted by a power failure in the hall where the conference was held, which forced him to wait till the generator kicked in. He continued his speech after some minutes and said, “This blackout demonstrated the importance of technology and the Internet in our lives once more.”
Tayfun Acarer, the head of Turkey’s Telecommunications Authority (BİK), said that with some 41.2 million internet users, Turkey ranks sixth in Europe.
Serhat Özeren, the head of the Transport Ministry’s Internet Council also said Turkey’s progress was dazzling.
