Thailand Goes For Internet Censorship With An Anti-Circumvention Twist
from the how-nice-of-them dept
Thailand isn't doing such a good job dealing with the internet these days. The government there blocked all of YouTube over a single silly video that offended the monarch and then shut down a chat site that had comments critical of the government. Now, the government has passed new regulations to allow Thailand to censor the internet. Even better, it includes an anti-circumvention clause that would make it illegal to even try to get around the censorship. It's certainly one way for a government to bury its collective head in the sand, but it seems likely to build up an awful lot of resentment from everyone else.
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Anti-Circumvention Clause
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Chicken on a stick
Incidentally, I got to see the dissection of a real dead body at the hospital today. Everyone told me I would get sick, but there was nothing to it -- it felt no grosser than being in the meat section of the supermarket. It just looked like they were carving a really big chicken. The only halfway gross event was when the corpse farted when they lifted his legs. Or repeatedly stabbing a syringe into the base of his scrotum to get blood.
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Re: Chicken on a stick
From Thailand to real big chicken.. What a segway! I have to give you props on that one. LOL!
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Political influence of the internet.
It isn't US foreign policy to dictacte politics in other countries, and sometimes all of us net-zines forget that. Our heritage allows us personal freedoms which are not available in other countries. Remember, This is why we claimed our independence from England...
Rights granted by the Consitution and Bill of Rights don't cross our borders... Sometimes we forget that.
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Re: Political influence of the internet.
I don't think we forget it, as much as we fundamentally disagree with it. One of our most fundamental documents, the Declaration of Independence, states:
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights."
Unalienable means that governments do not give us those rights, and therefore can not take them away. Perhaps it is naive to think that all people have these natural rights, and I agree it is certainly not U.S. policy to enforce those rights world-wide, but it is (or perhaps was pre-Bush) one of our fundamental beliefs as a nation.
But I think that Mike's point is that it's stupid and doomed to failure. And, at least in this case, I tend to agree with him. This will be widely ignored, and in the mean-time will just make Thailand's government look like clueless morons.
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Re: Re: Political influence of the internet.
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Re: Political influence of the internet.
LMAO. That's a good one.
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Re: Re: Political influence of the internet.
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sorry for getting techdirt banned from thailand
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Not US policy to interfere in forgien politics
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Not US policy to interfere in forgien politics
A monarchy can be a good thing, since it provides a head of state who can be above party politics. He also provides a common point of loyalty, and a natural stablility.
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Understanding Thai Culture
Where else can you decide you don't like any of the politicians up for office and vote 'nobody'?
Where else do the military leades of a coup get 'permission' from the king before ousting the government?
Thai's hold their king in the highest esteme, so I can understand why the Thai government took this step (not that I think it will work). I think it is more for internal politics than external.
If the Thai king told all Thais not to use Utube then most would obey.
If GWB told most Americans that, how many would listen....
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gfdgfd
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