Choices for Turkey in a Digital Age

In today's Turkish Daily News, Berkman Faculty Co-Founder Jonathan Zittrain and Executive Director John Palfrey have an op-ed on choices for internet filtering and free expression that Turkey may face in the digital age.

We admit to a clear commitment: We think that a free and open Internet is, on balance, a very good thing for democratic societies.  We work closely in partnership with technology companies like Google, Microsoft, Yahoo!, Lenovo, and others that are leading the digital revolution.  It's our view that these companies, and citizens around the world, have benefited from the lightly-regulated environment in which they have operated, for the betterment of global society.

In Turkey, the Internet has been largely free from government controls.  Free expression and innovation have found homes online, in ways that benefit culture and the economy.

But there are signs that this freedom may be nearing its end, just as the benefits to be reaped are growing.

John Palfrey recently took an in-depth look at Turkey's positioning in the geopolitical landscape of the Middle East and the potential implications that internet filtering may have in the country, and asks "The people of Turkey are facing a stark choice: will they continue to have a mostly free and open Internet, or will they join the two dozen states around the world that filter the content that their citizens see?"

Both Zittrain and Palfrey are primary investigators of the OpenNet Initiative and co-editors of Access Denied, a new book that documents internet filtering around the world and offers analysis of the political, legal, social, and cultural contexts of Internet filtering in these states. Join us for the release party of Access Denied March 14, and pick up your copy of the book which is currently available online and at your local bookstore.