Data protection and intellectual property in the EU and Turkey

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Tezin Türü: Yüksek Lisans

Tezin Yürütüldüğü Kurum: Orta Doğu Teknik Üniversitesi, İktisadi ve İdari Bilimler Fakültesi, Siyaset Bilimi ve Kamu Yönetimi Bölümü, Türkiye

Tezin Onay Tarihi: 2010

Öğrenci: ÖZLEM TOĞUZ

Danışman: GAMZE AŞÇIOĞLU ÖZ

Özet:

This research had two main purposes. Firstly it aimed at showing the regulatory framework of both data protection and intellectual property in the European Union and thus making the privacy complications of Digital Rights Managements systems clear in the developed world. This research also aimed at disclosing the complications of employment of DRMs systems in developing countries. To that end Turkey’s copyright framework has been reviewed. It was found out that DRMs systems employed in Turkey went beyond the scope of Turkish Copyright Legislation and restricted also legitimate acts which fall within the scope of fair use. DRMs also have hindered development since it restricted availability of educational and cultural works. The review of Turkey’s Data Protection regime disclosed that the most important reason behind the non adoption of the draft law was related to the legislators’ confusion of first pillar and third pillar data protection. It was concluded that Turkey lacked a data protection policy and the lack of such a policy led to the surveillance of the people to such a degree that almost no private space is left for them. The main finding of the research was that Turkey has been one of the best markets for the employment of DRMs with its current copyright regime and lack of data protection rules. The research concluded with proposals of action concerning data protection and DRMs.