Privacy issues have become a major concern around the globe. The former Central Intelligence Agency employee and former contractor for the United States government raised awareness around the world after he copied and leaked classified information from the National Security Agency back in 2103 without authorization. Snowden disclosed numerous global surveillance programs, most of which were run by the NSA and the Five Eyes Intelligence Alliance, with the cooperation of telecommunications companies such as Google.
The intriguing revelation awakened many people who were ignorant of the fact that privacy was nothing less than an illusion. This led to a lot of controversies with many activists and groups raising awareness to combat the invasion of basic privacy rights. However, very few governments have decided to take action towards this menace. Fortunately, Turkey is on the frontline.
Citing privacy concerns, Turkey has made an announcement in which it revealed its plans to ban Google search and other related services that are provided by the company in the country.
In a report issued by Turkey Blocks, which is a human rights organization, Ahmet Arslan who is the Turkish Communication Minister has made an announcement that the government has plans to replace Google with a State-run search engine and email service that would be more compatible with the Turkish values and culture.
In a report issued by Turkishminute.com, Turkey's Communication Minister Ahmet Arslan made a statement on Friday in which he said that a local search engine and email service that was compatible with national values and culture was bound to replace Gmail and Google.
Arslan held an interview before the weekend in which he said that Turkey needs to store user data within the country and ensure that communications are analyzed domestically.
This announcement came shortly after the recent debates that were held over the reliability of the US-based email service provider Gmail on securing the private information of users, after personal emails of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's son in law and Energy Minister Berat Albayrak were leaked.
Turkey will now join countries such as Russia, China and Iran that have been using domestic search engines and email service providers.
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