BasBasBas.com

Tag: internet

  • Turkey seeks names of YouTube’s Ataturk insulters from U.S. government

    Hurriyet Daily News reports the following:

    Turkey seeks names of YouTube's Ataturk insulters from U.S. gov't article

    Excuse me? Is this the Soviet Union I’m living in? In the past I’ve made a comparison between Turkey and China regarding the freedom of the press and I also said at the time that it was an exaggerated comparison, as Turkey’s press enjoys a lot more freedom than China’s. But this, this has not been equaled by China, I believe.

    This summer we saw American Tibetan activists hold demonstrations in China during the Olympic games; they could not have done that if they got detained upon entering the country. Yes, they were arrested and deported, but only after committing a criminal fact in China. Most of their names could have and should have been known to the Chinese government. They write about the Tibetan cause publicly.

    What this prosecuter is asking for is detestable and I am shocked and outraged.

    “Those YouTube users determined to be living outside Turkey will be detained upon entering the country.”

    Detained and then what? Imprisoned for insulting Turkey? They did not commit any illegal acts if they published these videos outside of Turkey, unless they are Turkish citizens, which might make it illegal. If I were to say “the US is a big pile of smelly cowdung”, I cannot be arrested upon entering the US. If I however threaten someone in the US, particularly government officials, there’s a good case for them to find out my name and to detain me upon entering the country. What this prosecutor is asking for is to limit the freedom of speech with matters pertaining to Turkey worldwide.

    The whole YouTube ban is pointless anyway. Research in Alexa.com’s traffic ranking system has shown that YouTube is the 10th most popular site in Turkey. Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan surprised everyone when he stated that even he uses YouTube.

    In other news Hurriyet reports the following:

    ““There was a vigorous internal debate between Wong and her colleagues at the top of Google’s legal pyramid.” Wong, who had to play mediator, decided that Google, by using a technique called IP blocking, would prevent access to videos that clearly violated Turkish law, but only in Turkey. For a time, this solution seemed to work for the Turkish judges, who reopened access to YouTube.

    But last June a Turkish prosecutor made a demand that Google block access to the offending videos all over the world, to protect the rights and sensitivities of Turks living outside the country. Google refused, arguing that one nation’s government should not be able to set limits of speech for Internet users worldwide. As a result Youtube has remained blocked in Turkey.”

    Me: Hey Twitter! Some guy on your network said my site sucks and used some profanity. I feel really insulted. Can you ban the entire network from saying bad things about me? Oh you can just make it so that my IP address can not see it anymore? Well, I’ll be using proxies to see it anyway, but I’d prefer if you would make any insulting depictions of my site invisible all around the world.

    FAIL.

    The vice president of the European Parliament’s Human Rights Sub-Committee, Howitt, criticized the ban, saying that around 1,000 websites are blocked in Turkey and this places the country alongside some of the world’s worst nations for cyber censorship.

    The information age is here and it’s never going away. You’re a really marvelous country Turkey, but it’s time to do something about these ridiculous prosecutions.

    BasBasBas.com is about a Dutch student living in Istanbul. I regularly write about my adventures in Istanbul and travels in the region. If you’d like to stay up to date, you can subscribe to my RSS feed or get email updates in your inbox. You can also follow me on Twitter.

  • 5 Reasons to Use Twitter and 5 Tips on How to Use It Right

    This is a blog about countries, travel, life abroad, culture shock. Yet this post is about technology. About Twitter, to be exact. Why?

    I’ve been “using” Twitter off and on for over a year now, but it was only up until very recently that I really got it. I love it. They only thing I don’t love about it is that many of my friends, readers, family, acquaintances are not using it and I’d LOVE to interact with you via Twitter.

    Briefly, Twitter is a service where you can share your thoughts in micro-blogs of max. 140 characters. These messages are shared with your followers who get your updates. They can then choose to interact with you. You can also follow other people for their updates.

    Here are 5 reasons WHY you should sign up for a Twitter account and start using it.

    • Friendsourcing. Got a question? A problem? Let’s say you want to know what the cheapest airline to travel to a particular location in Europe is. Before doing a lot of research, post it on Twitter. Let your friends help you out.
    • Network inside your niche. Are you a travel blogger? A PR expert in France? A Norwegian expat? An amateur photographer wanting to go pro? You can follow other people in the same position, but also experts in your niche and stay up to date with them. Through Twitter I’ve communicated with Guy Kawasaki, DoshDosh, had some email exchanges with Michael Arrington, got linked by John Chow, (yes, I’m namedropping) and became acquainted with Andy from CommentLuv – he even commissioned me to produce a DJ mix for him. I also met many fellow expats from around the world through Twitter!
    • Learn about the every day lives of others. You might be a medical student, about to graduate soon, maybe you’d be glad to follow doctors and see what their everyday lives are like as a preparation of your professional life.
    • It’s the easiest way to stay up to date with friends’ daily lives. Yes, you probably don’t feel like reading all about people’s daily lives. Don’t worry, some people leave maybe 1 tweet per day… and even if you get a lot, you’re not expected to read each and every tweet.
    • Stay up to date on current events. Twitter was my main source of updates during the recent Mumbai terrorist acts.

    Maybe I convinced you… Maybe you just need to try it out and see for yourself. Here’s what you need to do to get a good start on Twitter:

    • Install Twhirl. After signing up with Twitter, please do yourself a favour and use Twhirl. Nearly nobody uses just the web interface of Twitter… and those that do are the sporadic users (like me, in the past). If you’re doing it right, you’re going to be receiving a lot of Tweets from a lot of different people (Tweeple). Using Twhirl keeps it manageable and pleasurable!
    • Start following! First of all, find people you know. Have you seen that the authors of blogs you like reading use Twitter? Visit their blog and find out where to follow them on Twitter! Also, use Twitter Search and look for specific things you find interesting. Start following people that write about them. Don’t worry about them possibly not being interesting. It’s fine to unfollow them if they annoy you or you get bored of them. Just grab a lot of people now. Then start selecting later. Here’s a bunch of interesting people to get you started. Oh, and don’t forget to follow me!
    • Interact. This is where Twitter really gets fun and offers an awesome value. You can communicate with experts in almost any field through Twitter. You see someone posting an interesting Tweet? Reply to them (here’s how).
    • Tweet! Write about what could fascinate others. Found an interesting link? Share it. Pondering an interesting thought? Put it out there. Need some help? Tweet it! The world is listening.
    • Promote the fact that you’re Tweeting. Share it on your blog, put it in your email signature, your Facebook status, et cetera. Maybe more people you know are already using Twitter… if not, maybe you’re usage might motivate them to join up. The more, the merrier. After all, that’s why I wrote this post.

    First things first. Go to www.twitter.com. Sign up. Follow me.

    Are you already using Twitter? What’s your nickname? Why are you using Twitter? Do you have any other useful tips?

    Besides following me on Twitter… you can also follow this blog via RSS or email updates. 😉

  • Germany Shuts Down Wikipedia, Earthquake Hits Sofia, Brazilian Bloggers Take To Streets

    Thank God I didn’t wake up with a hangover today. Where to begin!

    Germany Shuts Down Wikipedia

    Censorship’s creeping up on us. Just 3 weeks ago I wrote about Turkey’s ban of Blogger/Blogspot, which I didn’t write about because I specifically care about Turkey’s internet, but because I care about the freedom of the internet. I’m sure a lot of visitors were able to stay detached from the situation and not care so much, maybe this time the news will have more impact because even Germany is guilty of web censorship now.

    Lutz Heilmann, a German parliament member, took legal action against Wikipedia, because of an article mentioning his alleged involvement in the Stasi, Eastern Germany’s secret police during communist time. Great job in proving you’ve not been a member or showing that you’ve changed by getting the web censored, it’s almost like if the police called for web censorship after being accused of Gestappo practices. Oh wait, that actually happened.

    What happened in Germany is that www.wikipedia.de no longer links to wikipedia.org, the main site of wikipedia. The German version of Wikipedia is still available through de.wikipedia.org.

    It looks like Heilmann realized what kind of shitstorm his legal procedures were starting to bring down on him and before accidentally flushing his future political career down the toilet and he issued a press release (in German) saying that Wikipedia can make Wikipedia.org accessible via Wikipedia.de again. He also adds that it wasn’t about censorship for him. Hey, guess what, this is exactly what China says too. Good job, Lutz.

    More at TechCrunch.

    Earthquake Hits Sofia, Bulgaria

    Last night after coming home from meeting with Hans, a Dutch expat and international communication specialist in Istanbul, I had an email in my inbox from my girlfriend telling me that there was an earthquake in Sofia. She’s fine, her family’s fine and I believe my friends are all safe, since I already spoke to those living closest to the epicenter. It was a 4.0-magnitude (Richter scale) earthquake lasting 2.3 seconds.

    This morning there was an aftershock, which was less heavy.

    More at Novinite.

    Brazilian Bloggers Take To Streets

    Coming back to the topic of internet freedom, Brazilian bloggers and internet junkies (in the good sense of the word) took to the streets in São Paolo to demonstrate against the Digital Crimes Bill, which defines cyber-crimes and stipulates penalties accordingly. Bloggers feel the bill, which was passed by the Brazilian Senate in July, is too loosely formulated and might lead to over-surveillance of the internet at the cost of freedom of speech and expression.

    More at Global Voices.

    What are some of the best initiatives you have seen regarding the freedom of speech on the internet? Or, completely unrelated, have you ever been in an earthquake?

    Stay updated. Follow my Twitter feed, or subscribe to this blog by RSS or email.

  • We Found BATMAN!

    After a few weeks, we finally found the ‘batcave’ where BATMAN resides. No, not the fictional Batman. No, not the real Batman either. Since we moved into our flat here in Istanbul, we’ve spotted a strong connection all throughout our apartment which is named ‘BATMAN’. Online 24 hours per day, stronger than all the other connections in our area… Where’s BATMAN when you need him?

    Well, no more daily trips to the coffee bar around the corner (it’s still an awesome place though and I’ll gladly take you there). After ringing all the doorbells in our flat, talking to everyone, showing our note written in Turkish, asking strangers if they were Batman… Nothing. Then we went to the apartments nextdoor… No Batman to be found. Finally, after trying everything, we discovered that there were 2 apartments in the -1 level of our building… Could this be… the batcave?

    Yes! We did it. We proposed to share the costs for an unlimited internet account for the next few months in exchange for a password and access to BATMAN. Internet at home’s a ‘luxury’ in Turkey, but for students used to European standards, it’s a necessity. Imagine what it’s like for a blogger. 😉

    Want to stay up to date on my Istanbul adventures? Follow my Twitter feed, or subscribe to this blog by RSS or email.

  • September Topdroppers!

    For those of you that are not familiar with Entrecard, click here.

    Ok, time to do a roundup of this month’s topdroppers. With the moving abroad and the travelling, it’s been tough to always drop back, so an extra thank you!

    Topdropper: Wonderful Pic Collection (you get 500 ECs!)

    Second place: iWalk,U2? (you get 300 ECs!)

    Third place: Juliana’s Site (you get 200 ECs!)

    I think most of you are aware of the 12.5% tax introduced by Entrecard for the credit transfers. I won’t deduct that, I’ll pay for it myself! Keep dropping and earn credits!

    Other topdroppers:

    Picturing of Life – My Imaginary Travels – Beyond Taiwan – From a Yellow House in England – Zen Tricks – Iconz World – WebFrap

    Go check out my Entrecard page and leave a recommendation/review!

  • EntreCard my way

    EC LogoWhile using EntreCard, I’m doing a couple of things to add even more value to my actions or drops. Since it’s rainy and grey outside (can’t wait to go to Turkey), it’s a perfect day to write about it.

    Firstly, I’ll explain what EntreCard is. Secondly, I’ll go through some of the basics for all the readers who are not members yet. Thirdly, I’ll explain what I do in the form of some tips and pointers, so hopefully the whole EntreCard experience will become better for all of us. 🙂

    I find it extraordinarily hard to explain what EntreCard actually is. It’s a blogging community, it’s an advertising system, it’s a way to network with other blogs… On the main page Entrecard talks about themselves as “your businesscard 2.0”. The most essential thing about Entrecard is surfing to other community members’ blogs and “dropping” a card on their Entrecard widget (see top right sidebar). By dropping cards, you earn credits, which you then can spend to advertise on sites that are on Entrecard.

    Entrecard partnered with SezWho, a comment tracking system, so that it can give you credits every time you comment on another person’s blog. Great way to stimulate community-forming on members’ blogs! So as you’re going through your daily dropping, be sure to leave comments! Maybe you get tons of comments nowadays and they don’t mean much to you, but remember that time when one or two comments did matter. Comment on other blogs and experience the gratitude and reciprocation.

    Something else I do regarding comments on my own blog is I generally give them 5 stars through SezWho. What can I say? I love every one of them. This helps people to build their rep on the net.

    If you like a certain post on someone’s site, or like the whole overall site… Stumble it! Digg it! Whatever you use… Just do it! Write a Tweet about it, it doesn’t matter. When using Entrecard, many people are so wrapped up in it, that they forget to give a “thumbs up” for content they like. Start Stumbling content you like of other Entrecard users and you’ll notice that the next time people you stumbled visit your blog, they might leave a stumble before leaving.

    If you place an ad on a site… Stumble or Digg the site! Either when you apply for it, or on the day it’s actually running. Increase your chances of visitors in any way you can.

    Reciprocate drops. Check your inbox and reciprocate. That’s the easiest way to get a basic reader community on your site via Entrecard.

    Put some statistics on your website. I generally check for three things:

    • Number of subscribers to the site.
    • FEEDJIT. Since my blog’s about Istanbul, Turkey, it helps me to assess where most people’s visitors are from. I find that Europeans are generally more interested in my site than people from Indonesia or the Philippines.
    • BlogCatalog. It allows me to see how often the blog gets visitors. It shows the names of BlogCatalog community members and shows how long ago they visited the site. It gives me an indication of the traffic the site gets.

    When none of these are present, I can be a bit wary about spending my EC credits, but not always of course. A lot of Entrecard is about experimenting! After all, it’s just credits you’re spending, so spend away.

    Monitor your EC statistics, award your top ten droppers publically (giving an incentive for others to drop on your site regularly), and make friends! Because EC offers such a friendly environment, if you’re the least bit active, it’s impossible not to make friends. 😉
    If you liked this post, consider subscribing by RSS or email.

  • Google Bans Ecocho on Earth Day

    Being a rather idealistic person, I’ve welcomed (with open arms) search services which try to make the world a better place. My homepage used to be My Eco Seek, but when I heard about Ecocho I switched. This search engine service allowed users to search using Yahoo! or Google and with the profit they get through sponsored ads, for every 1000 searches made, they plant two trees. Google put a stop to this though, on Earth Day, of all days.

    The Internet and its effect on the environment

    Research has found that the Internet and the digital technology industry are responsible for 2% of worldwide CO2 emissions, which is the same share as the airline industry. Being a growing phenomenom, in terms of its users and of its importance, it is great that there are more and more initiatives of websites becoming carbon neutral.

    The Internet is a great medium for making the world a better place. There are so many places for activists to find each other and work together, such as Change.org or Rethos. Even Facebook can be utilised to find like-minded people through their Causes, Events and Groups functions. Nowadays our options to fly carbon neutral are increasing. Dutch airline KLM has such a service, but you can also use independent services such as Trees For Travel.

    So the airline industry is busy trimming their CO2 outputs, slowly, but at least they’re making a start. Why not the internet? That’s what the founders of Ecocho must have been thinking when they came up with their concept.

    New Search Engine Ecocho\'s logo

    Google decides to stop Ecocho from using its technology

    Cho Cho - Ecocho's mascot sad over Google's decisionEven though Ecocho had great results in their first weeks, possibly exceeding their expectations, can now only offer their visitors to search environmentally friendly using the Yahoo! search engine. Although I haven’t looked into their statistics, given the popularity of Google, I would guess that that was also the most picked option for using Ecocho.

    So what has happened?

    The Google AdSense team has found that Ecocho was offering incentives for users to perform searches and AdSense, one of Ecocho’s sources of income, does not allow sites to offer “monetary or non-monetary” incentives to users. This includes paying users for clicks, or donating the profit to charity.

    Ecocho would make money every time somebody clicked on the Google ads (or sponsored search results) they would see in their search results, but Ecocho has never encouraged users to click ads. They actually met the Google AdSense team in Australia before launching and they got two thumbs up, but apparently now they have been turned down (both the thumbs as well as Ecocho).

    For more information, look here.

    So what to do?

    Ecocho asked users to ” target=”_blank”>email Google AdSense about their decision and one of their users set up an email that people could send out.

    Dear Adsense Support,

    I am one of the many users that frequent http://www.ecocho.com, a site recently denied the use of Google search technologies. I must express my disappointment with this event. However disappointed, I understand the value of the specific point of policy that is in conflict: “AdSense does not currently permit sites that offer monetary or non-monetary incentives to users to perform searches on click on ads.” I also understand the the argument regarding the “inability to verify the accuracy of any charitable claims and need to protect the user and advertiser experiences.”

    This is equitable and overall good policy practice. I do, however, wish to implore the altruistic nature and the user-demand for such a service. Due to these reasons I ask, with a voice that echoes many others, that the time needed to ensure and verify the legitimacy of this service is taken. We are confident you will find Ecocho to be completely accurate and genuine.

    We respectfully ask that proper attention is given to the wishes of the Ecocho community and that a viable agreement with the http://www.ecocho.com staff be made promptly.

    Sincerely,
    Ecocho and Google User

    This should be emailed to .

    Google says they’re committed to “helping to build a clean energy future.” Yet they ban Ecocho, a legit environmentally friendly service, on Earth Day of all days – while having an Earth Day logo on their frontpage!

    Yet they don’t seem to be taking action against some services (which I won’t name or list, but you can find it in the comments here) that do encourage users to use their search engine for personal gain. Ecocho shares its fate with another ‘charity’ search engine called Aidgle.

    Here’s something else the people from Ecocho had to say:

    We asked if we could get the Google Adsense premium feed, but were told that they would only consider this once we reached several million searches per month. In the mean time they said they were happy for us to use Google custom search.

    So obviously we are puzzled as to the sudden change of mind of Google.

    Could this… possibly… be about money?

    Google, think about your image.

    People, share the news please using the applet below and don’t forget to email Google!

  • Activism meets Web 2.0

    Rethos.comSeems like activists are catching on to the power of web 2.0. I assume most of the readers here are familiar with Avaaz.org and their emails calling on people to sign petitions and send emails to representatives. Their method is rather conventional however and (dare I say) dated.

    Good news. Rethos.com has opened up their beta to the public and aim to create a social environment for change, on a system that learns from its users. Users can read, post and share news articles, get organized, find jobs an opportunities, all in the name of change. Whether you care about ecology, human rights, freedom of speech or other issues, Rethos will let users work together for change on these points. I myself signed up because of them saying the following:

    It is our duty to not let others turn a blind eye to pressing social and environmental issues. If enough people unite, change is inevitable.

    This is exactly the way I felt when I was posting about Burma like 3 times a day (psst… the monks are protesting again). I hope this convinces you and you will sign up and come and add me as a friend. What really did it for me however, was their video. Have a look at it below.

    [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcotGwxNlo0]

    So sign up now and visit my profile.

  • Particular type of spam gaining popularity

    Got another peculiar email like the recent one. This time in another mail box. The weirdest thing is that there is no link included in the email, suggesting that they’re sending these out to determine if your email account is active (since there are TONS of dead email accounts on the web). Replying to this could most likely double your spam in no time. So my advice: don’t reply.

    Anyway, might as well have fun and use Guerrilla Mail to reply to this, which provides you with disposable e-mail addresses which expire after 15 minutes.

    Hello Dear,

    My name is Sene Sibanze, I am a 25 year old Girl, I hails from Zambia in Africa, But I currently lives at Dakar-Senegal in West Africa, I saw your listing at Internet data and I decided to contact, I am looking for love and friehdship, with someone nice and easy going, my hobbies are cooking, reading,sports, and dacning. please I willl like to know you better and friendlier. Please I will like to know you more OK. Please, If you care’s to know me as-well,the feel free to write me back.

    I will be anticipating you mail.

    Sincerely,

    Sene Sibanze

    Dear Nubian queen,

    Thanks for your sweet, albeit scary, email. There’s nothing that says “girl with a life” than a completely random email from a stranger. You must be very attractive. However, I’m very busy since I receive many, many requests from strangers with the same desire. Meeting someone from Africa who has the same hobbies as 90% of the under-30 population of any country seems like a tempting idea, but I’ll have to say no.

    I know someone who’s very open to African girls like you and will be glad to share his wealthy life with you here in the Netherlands. I’ll give you his email, it is .

    Good luck.

    Sincerely,
    Dear

  • Spam of the day

    Spotted a quite peculiar spam message today when I opened my spambox out of absolute boredom and procrastination. Thought I’d share it.

    Hello, Daniel

    Well, I’ve finally gathered all my braveness to write to you.. Even though
    you should know how hard it is to write a letter to a Stranger, whom you’ve
    never seen before and whom you don’t know at all, but I truly believe that
    in this case, my perspective acquaintance with You is more than enough for
    an excuse:)

    Truly speaking, I have thought in the past of such an option, to meet
    someone through the letter, but I wasn’t brave enough for this. I guess, I
    am still not brave enough, but my wish to be happy and to be loved is
    overfilling my heart and head. I am not a complicated person, nor simple.
    I am an individual, that’s for sure. I don’t know what your character is
    and how you look like, most important is that I am not going to change you.
    I want to like you as you are and just be happy. I can answer to you at
    affiliate link removed and will be happy if our relations continue.

    See you

    Marinochka

    Dear Marinochka,

    How brave a person must thy be, for behold ye has sent a man as I such a daring yet good-hearted message. Well-meant compliments I giveth thou for thine cunning control of the English language. However, I sayeth to you, the brave woman who hath no fear to make display of her being a quean, that although most flattered I am, no interest arises in me as response to your grand act of courageousness.

    Quite the individual thou must be indeed, but my fear of one’s potential motivation to change me takes control of me. Thou sayeth that thou shalt not change me, although thou hath yet changed me since now I speaketh in the poorest of Old English for no reason which hath apparence.

    Good luck with your wish. You silly cunt.

    Love,
    Daniel

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