Internet censorship in Turkey

Mustafa Akgül, İhsan Doğramacı Bilkent University
Melih Kırlıdoğ, Marmara University
PUBLISHED ON: 3 Jun 2015 DOI: 10.14763/2015.2.366

Turkey passed an internet censorship law in 2007 with the declared objective of protecting families and minors. Since its introduction, the European Court of Human Rights has ruled that this law is against the European Convention on Human Rights. This article provides an overview of internet censorship and its social background in Turkey.

Staking out the unclear ethical terrain of online social experiments

Cornelius Puschmann, Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society
Engin Bozdag, Delft University of Technology
PUBLISHED ON: 26 Nov 2014 DOI: 10.14763/2014.4.338

The 'Facebook online social experiment' has caused much controversy. Researchers Cornelius Puschmann and Engin Bozdag review the debate around research ethics and come to the conclusion that "benefits for science should be balanced with possible hazards that may be caused by experiments, rather than precluding that such benefits outweigh the gains".

Virtual worlds players – consumers or citizens?

Edina Harbinja, University of Strathclyde
PUBLISHED ON: 15 Oct 2014 DOI: 10.14763/2014.4.329

Recognising the concept of constitutionalisation of virtual worlds (such as Second Life or World of Warcraft), this paper argues for a more nuanced approach towards the recognition of virtual assets of users.

Bitcoin is the first decentralised, peer-to-peer network that allows for the proof and transfer of ownership of virtual currencies without the need for a trusted third party. The purpose of this article is to address how we can capture Bitcoin’s potential benefits for the economy while addressing new regulatory challenges.