In the last few months the rise in transmissions of child pornography and satanism on the internet has caused Turkish Telecom to take action. With the intention of preventing the reception of child pornography and satanisn on the internet, Turkish Telecom have started test procedures on mounting hardware to the TTnet (Turkish Telecom's Internet Service) network to point filter web sites with content of that nature.
In a written statement from Turkish Telecom, it was stated that - taking into account complaints about sites which regularly have harmful subjects like child pornography and satanism and present content contrary to general morals and decency - necessary procedures had been started.
In the statement - in which it was said that necessary test procedures for mounting the hardware to point filter web sites were continuing - it was noted that 'the decision to implement this practice (which is to prevent the reception on the internet of child pornography - which could not fit into any moral or humanitarian scale - and satanism - which draws youths to their deaths) was made with awareness of social responsibility.' It was said in the statement that 'Henceforth, Turkish Telecom does not wish to provide access over the TTnet network to these kinds of sites. Turkish Telecom has made this decision not with a censorial approach but rather by considering social benefit.'
Additionally, while it was pointed out that there would also be great benefit in the legal regulations on this subject being put into force, it was also noted that until the procedures to point filter access via TTnet to these kinds of sites (against which the whole world, not just Turkey, has reacted) had been completed, there had been no filtering of any sort.
It is being said that the filter which Turkish Telecom is to implement on its internet 'backbone' will not have any practical meaning. This is because there are special web pages on the internet to by-pass these kinds of filters. Users who access these pages can still reach their desired web page via that page. Consequently, experts are of the opinion that Turkish Telecom's filtering attempts will all be in vain.