Turkish internet law faces strong opposition.

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A new Turkish law that groups the internet under the same controls as the rest of the country's media are facing harsh criticism from users, service providers and the European Union.

Turkey's new broadcast law says ISPs could be face fines up to $195,000 (E210,000) for any libelous comments or "lying news" published on the web. As part of the new legislation, websites may have to be officially registered and submit their material to authorities for approval.

Until recently, the internet has been exempt from the same tough penalties as newspapers and broadcasters, which has allowed websites to criticise the government and publish news their mainstream media colleagues couldn't.

Service providers and web publishers say they're worried the new regulations, which give the Supreme Radio and Television Board control over the internet, will kill Turkey's booming online community.

"There's not going to be a certain direction, no freedom of speech and this is going to impact the local content and local hosting services and eventually the whole internet sector," Savas Unsal, managing director of the country's biggest ISP, Superonline, told the BBC. "They might easily put me and my chairman out of business."

Fikret Ilkiz, lawyer for Turkish daily paper Cumhuriyet criticised the new law for being to general, leaving the door open for authorities to prosecute ISPs for comments written in chatrooms.

"The way the law is now, it will be defined by many court cases," he said. "For now, there is great uncertainty. No one knows what is legal and what is not. It is chaos."

But the country's Minister of Transport and Communications, Oktay Vural, said the law isn't meant to be restrictive, only to add a measure of regulation to the internet. " We cannot be an eye in the chatrooms; that is not the aim of that law."

However, Turkey's Constitutional Court may opt to repeal the law after pressure from the European Union and Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer, who said the legislation violated the constitution. ((Distributed via M2 Communications Ltd - http://www.m2.com))