Violation of personal rights on the internet

Personal rights are fundamental rights of a person resulting from being in existence and they comprise all the material and moral components of a person. Personal rights are absolute rights which are under the protection of the Constitution of the Republic of Turkey and Turkish codes. Likewise, freedom of expression and freedom of the press are protected by the Constitution and the legislation. Verbal and visual media are essential for citizens to be informed and for the formation of public opinion in a democratic society. For this reason, freedom of the press is considered in the scope of freedom of expression which is a fundamental human right. In the case of an intervention in personal rights by media, a conflict arises between the freedom of expression and personal rights. The rapid development of the internet technology, the fact that individuals can easily create online contents, and that the contents on the internet can reach many people in the blink of an eye cumulatively resulted in a high frequency of personal rights violations on the internet. Additionally, many media organizations also carry out their reporting activities through their own websites and this leads to the emergence of various legal problems in which the concepts of the personal rights, freedom of expression and freedom of the press are discussed together. However, the relevant legislation is criticized as being cumbersome and inefficient since they fail to reach the needs of fast-growing technology and social life.