Abdullah Demirbas acquitted of "spreading terrorist propaganda". [LWN.net]

Abdullah Demirbas acquitted of "spreading terrorist propaganda".

Posted Dec 3, 2006 3:40 UTC (Sun) by xoddam (subscriber, #2322)
In reply to: Abdullah Demirbas acquitted of "spreading terrorist propaganda". by hilmi
Parent article: Kurdish Ubuntu under investigation in Turkey

> > I suggest you making a google search before saying such nonsense

I said it precisely on the basis of a Google search: When searching Google for Article 220/8 of the Turkish Penal Code, pages mentioning both Linux and Demirbas are the first hits despite the case being so recent. International publicisation of the propaganda law has been almost nonexistent until this case. This would be precisely because links to those pages are being posted on Linux-related websites and mailing lists, and to Demirbas' presence at the European Social Forum. Of course my comment was speculative, hence the word "possibly".

I don't mean to suggest that the thought that people in every country of the world are interested in the result would necessarily affect the verdict of a panel of honourable judges. At least, not any more or less than the prospect of close economic ties with Europe might bring about the repeal of laws which have been enforced with extreme prejudice for eight decades. Laws which, as you point out, have recently been repealed. Hmmm.

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Abdullah Demirbas acquitted of "spreading terrorist propaganda".

Posted Dec 5, 2006 23:37 UTC (Tue) by roelofs (subscriber, #2599) [Link]

When searching Google for Article 220/8 of the Turkish Penal Code, pages mentioning both Linux and Demirbas are the first hits despite the case being so recent.

That's almost certainly because it's so recent. Search engines are all about information retrieval on the basis of minimal user input (typically two or three query terms), and that necessarily involves a great deal of inference about context. Current events are excellent context. (Recent query-click statistics are also good context--i.e., if most users have been clicking on the Linux/Demirbas links for that or related queries, then those are probably the most relevant links for such queries.)