Thailand Goes For Internet Censorship With An Anti-Circumvention Twist

from the how-nice-of-them dept

Fri, May 11th 2007 2:11pm — Mike Masnick

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.

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team

16 Comments

If you liked this post, you may also be interested in...

Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread

Anonymous Coward, 11 May 2007 @ 2:18pm

Anti-Circumvention Clause
An anti-circumvention clause? I wondered what Bill Clinton was up to these days. Looks like he's doing consultation work for the Thai government.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
dorpus, 11 May 2007 @ 3:45pm

Chicken on a stick
So are they going to censor videos that show dissections of dead bodies? That's a big taboo in Buddhist cultures.

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.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
IronChef, 11 May 2007 @ 4:15pm

Political influence of the internet.
While it's difficult for the general US citizen to comprehend life under a monarch, understand that the rest of the world hasn't caught on to what it's like to live in a constitution-based federal republic with a strong democratic tradition.

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.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
IronChef, 11 May 2007 @ 4:21pm

Re: Chicken on a stick
Ladies and gentilemen, that's is what you call a transition...

From Thailand to real big chicken.. What a segway! I have to give you props on that one. LOL!
[ link to this | view in thread ]
me, 11 May 2007 @ 4:33pm

Sex with youg prostitutes no problem, criticism of monarch big problem. Nice to see they have their piorities straight
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Alex Hagen, 11 May 2007 @ 4:37pm

Re: Political influence of the internet.
"Rights granted by the Consitution and Bill of Rights don't cross our borders... Sometimes we forget that."

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.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
My name is nobody, 11 May 2007 @ 4:41pm

Re: Political influence of the internet.
"It isn't US foreign policy to dictate politics in other countries"

LMAO. That's a good one.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
IronChef, 11 May 2007 @ 5:26pm

Re: Re: Political influence of the internet.
I agree with your points. The thing is that in today's wired society, we get news faster than ever, and forget that other countries don't have the same liberties that we have.. When we try to apply our current experiences and views of the world to a different society that isn't the same, our next step is to try and take action. That just can't work, and leads to things like, er.. war and other bad juju.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 11 May 2007 @ 5:36pm

Re: Re: Political influence of the internet.
"It isn't US foreign policy to dictate politics in other countries"

LMAO. That's a good one.
Really. How naive can one get?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 11 May 2007 @ 8:22pm

thailand doesn't have oil.. who cares?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 12 May 2007 @ 1:06am

thailand blows and the monarch is gay

sorry for getting techdirt banned from thailand
[ link to this | view in thread ]
|333173|3|_||3, 12 May 2007 @ 2:50am

Not US policy to interfere in forgien politics
Except for most of South America, the middle east, south-east Asia, and parts fo Africa, that is. Elsewhere, the leaders just want to kiss Bush's arse or kill him.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
|333173|3|_||3, 12 May 2007 @ 2:54am

Not US policy to interfere in forgien politics
What about the President Wilson's stupid comment at the end of WWI that a democracy can only negotiate with a democracy. teh USA is not and never was a democracy. The whole system of the Electoral college was intended to keep any power out of the hands of the poor and ignorant.

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.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
nev, 12 May 2007 @ 6:30pm

Re:
Nothing wrong with having sex with young prostitutes :)
[ link to this | view in thread ]
TechNoFear (profile), 14 May 2007 @ 12:00am

Understanding Thai Culture
Thailand is a strange place, sometimes modern but still with another world/era charm.

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....
[ link to this | view in thread ]
ggeg, 26 May 2007 @ 6:08pm

gfdgfd
rgrgrgfgf
[ link to this | view in thread ]