Turkey’s President Gul Challenges PM’s Move to Ban Twitter

Those who try to shoot messengers often appear guilty, frustrated and infuriated about getting caught. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed to wipe out a social-media site and “took action against Twitter after some users had posted documents reportedly showing evidence of corruption relating to his office – a claim he denies,” reports Rory Cellan-Jones for BBC News. “His spokesman said Mr Erdogan had been forced to act after the social media company had failed to respond to a court ruling in Turkey to remove some links.” But the attempts to censor Twitter have only spurred more scrutiny and debate at home and abroad. Twitter and individuals are exchanging methods for eluding the ban: changing domain name settings, downloading virtual private network applications, and posting updates with text messages. European leaders described censorship as cowardly and pointless; even Turkish President Abdullah Gul has posted a Tweet suggesting that bans should be limited to websites that violate personal privacy. – YaleGlobal