Gul praises internet's role in Arab spring, but Google exec criticizes filtering plan

Facing criticism over government plans to filter Internet access, President Abdullah Gul yesterday praised the role the Internet has played in facilitating the Arab Spring in the Middle East and North Africa. "The Internet played an important role in the Arab Spring," Gul reportedly told Eric Schmidt, the executive chairman of search engine giant Google. "It would not have as easily happened in the Internet's absence." Gul's meeting with Schmidt came amid debate over the government's new requirement that Internet users in Turkey choose one of four content-filtering packages, with many fearing Net censorship. Speaking to journalists before the meeting, Schmidt said he would tell Gul such filtering would be not only useless but in fact counterproductive. "I will talk about the importance of the Internet," he explained. "I will say there would be no use in Internet filtering. I will explain to him that these kinds of restrictions are of no use. I will underline the fact that restrictions won't work out, but on the contrary will only harm Turkey's image." He added, "There may be a good purpose behind these kinds of systems. Yet if these systems aren't transparent enough, they can be abused quite easily."