Turkey's Parliament has passed a law to punish people who post false information on the internet, but has dropped a provision that would have required official permission to set up a web site, reported the Turkish Daily News.
The new law, which subjects the internet to the same restrictions as other media, includes fines of up to $85,000 for web sites that publish insults or news deemed to be untrue.
Lawmakers dropped the prior approval clause after the proposal generated widespread domestic and foreign criticism, said the paper, adding that they also dropped a provision allowing authorities to continue to close down television and radio stations for violating broadcasting standards.
Instead, Turkey's broadcast watchdog agency will warn first-time offenders and force offending radio and television stations to apologize publicly for violating agency guidelines.
In recent years, the conservative watchdog agency has temporarily suspended hundreds of local and national media outlets in Turkey.
Hundreds of private television stations and more than 2,000 radio stations have sprung up in Turkey since the government relinquished control of the media a decade ago – Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
