Turkey's Wikipedia block violates human rights, high court rules

theguardian.com

17 points·BrandiATMuhkuh··8 comments

I remember watching a documentary about ex-members of an insular religious community. One of the ex-members who was deprived from all sorts of modernity, commented with extreme emotion how angry he was once he discovered Wikipedia. Of all the things he was deprived of, that one stood out... being able to find out factual information about almost any topic in an instant.

That stuck with me. For all of its faults, Wikipedia is amazing, and yes, it feels like depriving people of such a tool is a violation of human rights.

Found it! Documentary was "One of Us" on Netflix, here's a quote:

"One, a teenager, Ari, left as his thirst for knowledge came into conflict with religious restrictions. “Wikipedia,” he says, “was a gift from God.”"

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/19/movies/one-of-us-review.h...

Wikipedia is hardly a bastion of freedom. Just look at the whole "Philip Cross" affair (still ongoing). Glass houses.... https://wikispooks.com/wiki/Philip_Cross

In the context of erdogan’s Great Ottoman Purge, wikipedia is a towering lighthouse of freedom

So you think the world would be just fine if Wikipedia were abolished? And perhaps that is your intention?

As terrible as this is, access to Wikipedia is hardly a "right".

If a right is something that makes society better if people have it, then access to Wikipedia or something like it is definitely a right.

And in fact it falls under freedom of speech and freedom of the press.

> If a right is something that makes society better if people have it.

That's not what a right is. Saying that access to Wikipedia is a right implies the ability to coerce somebody to give it to you if you lack it. At best it's a privilege.

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