Thai Gov't Arrests News Site Owner, Because It Doesn't Like Some Comments By Users

from the free-speech-is-tricky dept

We've discussed a few times in the past about how the Thai government uses rules that say it's illegal to insult the Thai king in order to censor websites that it doesn't like. Now it seems to be taking this even further. The EFF has the details of how the webmaster for a political news site in Thailand has been arrested over comments on the site. As the EFF summarizes:

Jiew's crime? In 2008, Prachatai published an interview with Chotisak Onsoong, a Thai man known for refusing to stand at attention during the Thai Royal Anthem -- a dangerous political act in Thailand, though not technically a crime. The interview received huge attention, drawing over 200 comments from Thai citizens. On April 28, 2008, complaints were filed against Prachatai alleging that several comments on that interview were a defamation to the Monarchy. An arrest warrant for Jiew was issued on Septemeber 8, 2009, but no summons was received by Jiew until her arrest this past Friday.

The EFF also notes that this appears to be purely political and about intimidation, as the timing of the arrest (despite the fact that the warrant was issued over a year ago) didn't happen until Jiew was returning to Thailand from a trip abroad where she gave two separate talks about the importance of an open and free internet.

Of course, in the long run, as with the attempts to shut down sites under this same law, all this seems to really be doing is calling that much more attention to how the Thai government uses the rules in questionable ways.

Filed Under: arrests, free speech, thailand

Thailand Continues To Try To Mimic China With Internet Censorship

from the good-luck-with-that dept

In early 2007, some Thai government officials totally overreacted to a silly video making fun of Thailand's king, and banned all of YouTube. Of course, the inevitable result wasn't that the video went away, but that it got a lot more attention both inside and outside of Thailand thanks to the futile attempt to ban it. Since then, it's clear that Thai officials have not learned their lesson. Over and over again we've seen reports of Thailand banning certain websites -- often political discussion sites -- because the government officials don't like what's being said. The government even passed a law making it illegal to try to circumvent these blocks to get at any banned website.

And, once again, all this is doing is drawing more interest in the blocked sites. The latest report is that the gov't has demanded that ISPs block hundreds of sites that it doesn't like for whatever reason. Perhaps in blocking so many sites at once, it's hoping that the details of why get lost in the mix, but it hardly seems likely to be all that effective in the long run. While some may compare the situation to China and its Great Firewall, considering the massive bureaucracy that involves tens of thousands of people to manage the Great Firewall, it may be difficult for Thailand to effectively replicate it.

Filed Under: censorship, internet, thailand

Thailand Overreacts; Bans Grand Theft Auto Due To Stupid Kid

from the yeah,-blame-the-game-instead-of-the-kid dept

What is it with people wanting to blame technology for crimes rather than the idiots who perpetrate the crimes? The latest is that Thailand has banned the sale of Grand Theft Auto IV after an idiot kid killed a cab driver when he tried to carjack the taxicab. The kid claimed that he was copying a scene from the game, and wanted to see if it was as easy to do as in the game. In other words: "Not my fault! The game made me do it!" And, of course, the government believed this killer, rather than recognizing that it wasn't the game, but this kid's own demented brain that was responsible. If it wasn't GTA IV, it would have been something else. Banning GTA IV isn't going to stop such violence, but it will give anyone caught for murder a nice excuse about why it's not their fault.

Filed Under: ban, blame, grand theft auto, murder, thailand

Buddhist Monks Warned To Stop Using Social Networks To Flirt With Girls

from the friend-to-buddha dept

You certainly see some bizarre stories about older cultures adapting to newer technologies, but this might be one of the most bizarre. Thai officials are apparently warning Buddhist monks to behave themselves on social networking sites and to stop using them to flirt with women. If there ever were a quote I didn't expect I'd hear, it would probably be this one, from Ladda Thangsupachai, head of Thailand's Cultural Surveillance Centre.

"Instead of using the Net to flirt with young girls, monks should find ways to preach Dharma and lead them in the right direction."

Maybe they just haven't found the right Facebook apps yet.

Filed Under: buddhist monks, flirting, social networks, thailand

Thailand Sliding Down The Slippery Slope Of Net Censorship

from the long-live-the-king dept

The Thai sure do love their king; anyone who has visited on a Monday surely has noticed the sea of yellow shirts in celebration of the King's birthday, which falls on a Monday. So great is their love for him, that it is a crime to say anything bad about him or the government. So, when a message board on sameskybooks.org (not sameskybooks.com, as incorrectly reported by the AP) criticized the monarchy, Thai officials shut down the political website, first threatening to shut down its ISP, Netservice. Although the site in question was indeed a radical political website, the content for which the site was shut down came from a public message board. Should a site be held accountable for posts that they did not create? Well, this is not the first time the Thai government has banned a site in such a way -- back in April, Thailand banned all of YouTube for a supposedly offensive video. What's next? The Bangkok Post has written up the story, should it be banned as well?

Filed Under: censorship, thailand

YouTube Says It's Sorry, Promises Thailand It Won't Do It Again, Gets Unblocked

from the no-tube dept

Back in April, the Thai government gained itself some publicity by blocking YouTube, after it discovered a video on the site making fun of the country's king. Google apparently decided that censoring videos deemed offensive by the Thais was acceptable on its sliding scale of evil, and now that the "program" to block the videos is apparently complete, Thais can once again access YouTube. No word, though, on whether the Thai government still plans to sue YouTube for running the video. Perhaps since the YouTube blocking technology works to the government's satisfaction, Google would be willing to cooperate with the Thais to help them with their other attempts to censor the internet. After all, if blocking some YouTube videos at the government's request doesn't trip the evil scale, it's hard to see why any other type of censorship would.

Filed Under: censorship, thailand
Companies: google, youtube