The Turkish government has exercised its censorship chops in banning Twitter in an attempt to quell distribution of anti-government recordings, and in the process has materially popularized the service, to wit: Forbes – Streisand Effect Takes Hold As Turkey Bans Twitter
In an attempt to halt widespread allegations of corruption, Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has shuttered Twitter – but so ineffectively that the number of tweets sent in the country has remained unaffected.
Last night, Erdogan announced that, following a court order, Twitter was now disabled in the country. “We’ll eradicate Twitter,” he said. “I don’t care what the international community says. Everyone will witness the power of the Turkish Republic.”
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Turkish and global social media users have mocked moves by Turkey’s government to restrict access to Twitter.
The hashtags #TwitterisblockedinTurkey and #Turkey blockedTwitter became the top trending topics globally on Friday, just hours after the Turkish government imposed the ban.
The number of tweets from Turkey reportedly rose by 138 percent as savvy Internet users, including the country’s president Abdullah Gul, found it easy to circumvent the shutdown.
“The whole world is laughing at you #ErdoganBlockedTwitter,” users tweeted, as dozens of images mocking the ban – including one showing Twitter birds covering Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s head in droppings – were shared on the platform.
Another popular tweet shared a poster of the prime minister on a Barack Obama campaign poster with the message, “Yes, we ban”.
Erdogan on Thursday night promised to “root out” and wipe out” the social media platform after users published claims of corruption against him.
Leaked recordings shared and linked on Twitter include one in which Erdogan allegedly instructs his son to dispose of large amounts of cash from a residence amid a police corruption probe.
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One method of ridicule was to go around the the blocking if the Twitter domain name by using Google’s DNS (Domain Name Server) services which allowed anxious and potential Twitter users to find the Twitter website through Google’s machinations. So, what does the Turkish government do? They blocked Twitter at the IP level and then went so far as to bank Google’s DNS. This means that Turkey is attempting to block out a portion of the Internet, to wit: Turkey Blocks Google DNS as Erdogan Defends Twitter Action
Now here comes a quick education for the old fogey-type folk that declare Bitcoin is a bubble, ponzi scheme currency with no intrinsic value. If you recall my many videos that declare the value of Bitcoin is in the protocol, and not the unit of account that everyone is calling a currency, then you may realize that the Bitcoin technology can literally take the Turkish government down.
(go to time market 1:10 in the video for the explanation)
Those that know the Bitcoin protocol well know that it is an ideal method of overcoming centralized control in regards to value transfer. Well, it’s easily assumable that website data access is value transfer as well. If anybody in Turkey is reading this, then email me and I’ll show you how to step around even Erdogan’s Google DNS ban using the Bitcoin derivative known as
Namecoin – A peer-to-peer, censorship resistant, alternative DNS root and data storage technology. Using that “tulip” technology with “no intrinsic value”, Namecoin facilitates cryptographically secure decentralized name and data storage.
Now, we all know that Krugman and Roubini and all of the not so technologically inclined macro economists may not believe that Bitcoin, et. al. has any intrinsic value, but if somebody like me led a “Coin” revolt in Turkey, do you think Erdogan would believe the economists or me in regards to the intrinsic value of this technology.
If you think Namecoin can be disruptive to the status quo, you aint’t seen nothin’ yet. Wait until the launch of UltraCoin, when those little Haitain kids in shacks out trade the Goldman prop desk on that BTC/AU pair trade.
That’s right, I’m teaching 3rd world children how to trade using cryptocurrency derivatives and plain old fashioned derivatives. I’m comfortable pitting them against the names that the developed world worships, as long as its using this new tech. Let’s see how they fair…
I just love the smell of creative disruption in the air. These pics were taken after some training sessions in Port au Prince, Haiti this weekend.