1.6 million use secure internet in Turkey, minister says

ANKARA - Anadolu Agency

Minister Yıldırım defends ‘secure internet’ mode, saying it is not restrictive. DHA photo

Turkey’s Minister of Transport and Communications said more than 1.6 million users signed up for “secure internet” in the last one and a half years.

Minister Binali Yıldırım praised the “secure internet,” which was introduced amid controversy and said the system is not restrictive.

“Secure internet service is protecting families from obscenity, violence, children abuse, racism and gambling,” he said about the “secure internet,” which serves in two modes as “families” and “children.”

The Internet filtration system, controlled by Turkey’s Information and Communication Technologies Authority (BTK) has been in use since Nov. 22, 2011.

The decision to implement the filters has prompted anger from Internet users who have expressed concerns that the government will use the measures to censor online information. In a big demonstration held in late 2011, thousands marched in the Taksim Square to protest the filtration system.

Yıldırım defended the system, saying the users have the right to appeal to BTK on the listing of some site.

“If users feel that a web page is suitable for the profile they picked, but is not reachable, they can file their appeal to the BTK,” the minister said. “Then the BTK evaluates objections the same day and can change the system on the same day.”

Yıldırım added: “It is in our responsibility that our children should benefit from internet in the best way. We will keep working on making it sure our children can enter the internet with no worries.”