The regulation of Internet intermediaries under Turkish law: Is there a delicate balance between rights and obligations?

Abstract

The maintenance of order in cyberspace has always played a key role in the regulation of the Internet in Turkey and, historically, it has been the main impetus behind Internet reforms. The Turkish Internet Law has evolved from a piece of legislation on the protection of children into a comprehensive piece of legislation that also integrates the rules laid down for the protection of Turkey's national security, the maintenance of public order, and the prevention of offences committed online. Turkey, a member of the Council of Europe and a candidate country for European Union membership, has increasingly tightened its grip over the Internet. It has simultaneously established the legal and political context whilst at the same time undertaking significant upgrades of the Internet infrastructure as an additional way of enhancing its control. In the same context, Internet intermediaries such as Internet service providers and hosting providers are playing a more active role in the process of law enforcement.This article examines the regulation of Internet intermediaries under the Turkish law and analyses the legal, institutional and policy framework of the Internet intermediaries in Turkey. The article maps out, in the widest context, the legal, criminal and administrative liabilities of Internet intermediaries and then focuses on data retention and data disclosure requirements, online surveillance, and voluntary and mandatory filtering requirements. It also considers certain practices like that of deep packet inspection, the role of intermediaries in preventing the diffusion of offensive content or the perpetration of copyright infringement, the enforcement of data subjects' rights, the implementation of notice-and-takedown procedures, and their liabilities for providing information to public bodies and law enforcement agencies. After setting the context, the main objective of this article is to explore the delicate balance between the rights and the obligations of Internet intermediaries under Turkish law.