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Thailand’s Plan For Chinese-Style ‘Great Firewall’ Could Drive US Internet Giants Like Facebook, Google

By David Gilbert

The Great Firewall of China is the name given to the severe restrictions imposed on Internet access within that country. But even as China mulls opening up as part of a broader effort to boost its economy, one of its nearby Asian neighbors, Thailand, is looking to ramp up its own censorship program, using the People's Republic as a model.

According to government documents filed in June and highlighted on social media just this week, Thailand's military rulers plan to create “a single gateway for Thailand to block access to sites and control information flow." China operates three such gateways, but considering the difference in size of population and Internet use, this is not a surprise.

According to a translated version of the cabinet resolution filed on Sept. 4, at the end of June the Ministry of Information and Communication (MICT), along with relevant agencies including the Department of Justice and Royal Thai Police, were asked to establish a “single gateway to serve as a control tool to inappropriate sites and the influx of information from abroad through the Internet.”

The Thai government asked the MICT to check the legal requirements of establishing such a gateway in order to speed up the process. The one glaring issue the MICT may have to address is encryption, as effective encryption would prevent the government from monitoring Internet traffic flowing into and out of the country -- suggesting that the country may soon ban it, along with cloaking services like VPN and Tor.

Full story: http://www.ibtimes.com/thailands-plan-chinese-style-great-firewall-could-drive-us-internet-giants-facebook-2111726

Yeah right. Block SSL on port 443 and kiss international Internet commerce goodbye.

I imagine that the Russian's are actually engaging their targets unlike certain other countries with fighter jets in the area.

ISIS being sent over to SE Asia to soften up the area in preparation for TPP and The Pivot? Lol And I'm sure the West would like to see SE Asia take it's fair share of Syrian refugees too.

Just musing lol

Adopt your child and your status will change.

Salt.

Ants won't cross it as they can't sense/smell across it, so they always go around. So make a big circle on the ground around the bowl with salt.

Not only that, but it will keep evil spirits away from the dog food to boot. Then the Tiirak won't have to burn incense and candles near where the dogs eat. Lol <Ok, puut len -- or maybe half-joking>

Keep your house spotlessly clean- I have never seen even one ant.

Vacuum every day.

You must be lucky. My wife is a compulsive clean freak, and we still have ants. Tends to be seasonal though.

In defense of the gentlemen in question, he is correct that the service should be provided free of charge. By this I think he meant immigration should provide the processing of visa extensions in a timely manner without an extra 200 baht charge and without requiring the efforts of CEC, which has a 1000 baht charge for lifetime membership.

Put another way, it shouldn't have to be done on a Saturday.

Or, put yet another way, they should do it the way they do it in Bangkok and everywhere else in Thailand: Weekdays, normal work hours, 30-60 minute turnaround time, no extra fees.

Hard to disagree with this, but...! There's just the element of operational funding after a (relatively recent, past two years or so) FLOOD of expats migrating to Chiang Mai. Blame web sites trumpeting cheap and comfortable living abroad. Yes, many here are economic migrants!

But this ain't Europe these days, Dorothy, despite some minor inconveniences. Try barbed wire, water canon and rubber bullets!

Well, wait a minute. Thailand doesn't offer welfare benefits for illegal immigrants who dump all their documentation prior to crossing the border, and then claim to be war refugees seeking asylum. If there suddenly was an influx of a few hundred thousand undocumented folks crossing the Thai border illegally, you'd probably see something worse then barbed wired, water canons, and rubber bullets. Then suddenly, expats residing here legally would be the least of their problems.

Dunno. Maybe if it did happen here, they'd dump the 90 day reports, because their time would be spend pushing back the invading hoards.

And what you're saying about my son? Please take it and put it where the sun don't shine. You don't know my son or my wife, so don't talk sh*t about my family.

Now, with that said, I actually like many of your posts MaeJoMTB. But on this one, you're seriously off-base to the point of being deliberately offensive. Try backing up and reining in the rhetoric. I'm pretty sure your not a bad guy. Ease up a little.

To be fair, he's not actually your son.

And I did say I had only listed a selection of reasons he MAY have been asked to leave.

Not only that,but your post did invite candid comments and you said you wouldn't be offended.

I would class you as 'overly sensitive' rather than 'hard to offend' .......... please don't misrepresent yourself.

Whatever.

Nice coming from someone who thinks the Irish should push the "kill yourself' button in a previous post isn't it?

Wow, thanks for these nice posts. All I wanted to know was if others also pay money for any soldier bs.

BTW, he wanted to study electronics and he's got his own reasons for.

Calling him "from the slums" is just insane and shows the poster's intelligence. And it includes my wife and me as well.

I do not think that you'd have the balls to tell him that face to face that he's from the "slums"? If you do, please let's meet.

I believe that he's old and bright enough to know what he's doing with his life. Thanks for the flowers.

All I was asking for was if somebody has kids who're studying at a technical college and have to pay money for something that involves soldiers, they can't really explain to you what for.

Of course does my wife think that's "normal." Anything that comes from a school, for example a donation for a new swimming pool isn't "normal" in my eyes.

But we all have different opinions, right?

Please don't call us people from the slums, who do not care about our son's education. Thanks for your kindest consideration.

Thank you for not understanding my joke. Why did you even bother and download it then? I'm neither a racist, nor do I dislike Irish people.

We're all human beings, no matter where we're from. Enjoy your weekend. Peace.

Love that T-shirt. Where can I get one. Lol.

Regarding the belief held by some people that tech school is for dummies, I personally would have preferred to go to tech school but was force into college by my caring parents, which I dropped out of after 3 years.

Tech school in Thailand is not comparable to anything in the west (except maybe reformatory schools).

So, I sent my stepson to a technical college. Now, you want to say something derogatory about my wife and I? Spit it out. Be specific. Don't tippy-toe around it. You won't even offend me. You'll just display your own 'true colors'.

If you spoke Thai, you would have understood what the vocational schools in Thailand are for.

Clearly there are communication problems between you, the rest of your family, and the Thai community in general.

Probably your wife couldn't be bothered to try and change your opinions on schooling, or didn't have the language, or didn't want a confrontation, or didn't want to say her son was chucked out of school for disruptive behavior/not fitting in/having sex/not achieving grade 3 averages/questioning authority/bunking off school.

Hard to say!

PS

I've listed some of the more common reasons for pupils being asked to leave school in Thailand, take your pick or add your own.

I don't know your son, but I do know the government school system.

I speak passable Thai, read and write to boot. We had bi-annual meeting with teachers and staff at the school. I have a background in electronics and digital electronics (including teaching) and I vetted the curriculum they were teaching their students (and my son). I just have to disagree with your premise and conclusions.

And what you're saying about my son? Please take it and put it where the sun don't shine. You don't know my son or my wife, so don't talk sh*t about my family.

Now, with that said, I actually like many of your posts MaeJoMTB. But on this one, you're seriously off-base to the point of being deliberately offensive. Try backing up and reining in the rhetoric. I'm pretty sure your not a bad guy. Ease up a little.

Thank God South Park hasn't embraced 'political correctness'. Lmao Good for them!

From their air conditioned enclaves, the Pope and Obama are telling the unwashed masses not to have their own A/C. Power and power consumption is only for the rich and elite. So you average people: Stop using energy. Go back to using a manual hand fan and learn to enjoy sweating!

They have not scratched the surface yet, Customs, Immigration! Come back in 50 years time.

In 50 years, Thais will be trying to sneak into Myanmar to find a job, maybe on a fishing boat as slave labor.

Halfway up the mountain? Heck, that's the easy part. Now to traverse the glaciers, ice-fields, crevasses, then the 80 degree shear face up the cliff to the top. They haven't even started the difficult climb. They are all still at the base camp drinking Kaow Laow and patting themselves on the backs.

Only a country who have so much to hide would think of doing this. Example China, Iran, North Korean and Thailand.

You forgot the UK morality police - IT Division. lol

China, North Korea, Thailand

VPN on port 443, well, unless they plan on shutting down international commerce completely. Lol

I mean the dogs bowls. Foods in there 5 minutes and the ants are onto it

Ant's don't swim. We use a plastic lid from a 5 gallon paint container which has about a 1 cm lip, fill it with water and place the bowl in the middle. No ants.

Spraying poison around your dog's food bowl? Would you spray poison around your dinner plate? lol

Tech college in Thailand is for the naughty and dim.

Keeps them off the streets until they are old enough to work.

Very little attempt at education, more about keeping them busy so they can't cause too much trouble.

Reminds me of when I was in High School here in the USA back in 1974. Our school had just built this huge "Vocational School" building. The course lists had automotive stuff, body repair, electronics, etc. Now I happened to be in what was called the "A" division at the time and was taking Trigonometry, analysis, and things like that. I also liked to fiddle with electronic stuff at home and was also restoring my 1930 model A antique car. The electronics course(s) seemed reasonable to take. So I signed up. The very next day the guidance counselor nits called me down to the office and said I could not take the electronics course. I said why not? She said the vocational school is not for the smart people. Hmmm. Oh well. So I signed up for the calculus class instead. The math department head lady said I was too dumb to take calculus. hmmmm. Long story short, I have a BS degree in Mechanical engineering and a MS in Appllied Math and have had a long career in the Air Force and still work in the aerospace industry.

In retrospect, it is sad that they lump all those manual trades into not smart people, but the reality was they really did use the vocational school as a dumping ground for a lot of the kids.

Personally, I found the high school 'guidance counselors' were slightly less then useful, at least back in the 60s. Talking about 'dumping grounds', I sort of feel that the 'guidance counselors' were the individuals in the educational field who either lost their motivation to teach, or just really weren't cut out for it....soooo, they opted for - 'guidance counseling'.

My 'guidance counselors' told me that farming and agriculture were in my future. I have no idea where the hell they came up with that nonsense. I don't think they could make sense out of me: my IQ scores were high, but the standardize assessment tests that were suppose to show what 'career path' was best suited for me always came back - well - indecipherable. LoL. I was an enigma and they didn't know what to do with me. "You'll make a great dirt farmer." Of course, they never told me 'how' to excel in the field of agriculture. After that, I knocked the socks off the SAT. Then they were really confused. An average 'C' student, high IQ, and a SAT in the 90 percentile. Yeah, I really confused them, especially when I was interested in the tech school's aeronautical program. And like you I was told by both the 'guidance counselors' and my parent, "Tech school is for student who aren't too smart." I wish they would have just let me do what I wanted. I would have been a much happier camper working on and flying planes. Oh well, such is life.

Have you seen any internet "technician" here ? they all come from these ridiculous technical schools and know nothing !

I wonder how can someone let his kids join these gangsters and drug users schools ?

Please wake the hell up and stop the generalizations. You really don't have a clue what your talking about. There are some crap technical colleges out there, and then there are some pretty darn good ones. And there are some low-life, violent idiots that attend some of these schools, but there are also many motivated students. The average students in most of these schools are not 'gangsters and drug users'.

So, I sent my stepson to a technical college. Now, you want to say something derogatory about my wife and I? Spit it out. Be specific. Don't tippy-toe around it. You won't even offend me. You'll just display your own 'true colors'.

There's nothing I like better than self-righteous, holier-than-thou, 'special' people who think they are somehow above and better than the 'unwashed masses'. You're just another biased individual painting prejudiced views with a really broad brush, and the views you're spouting aren't even original. They're pretty wore out.

Let's talk realty:

Were there any 'gang wars' at my son's technical college? Nope.

Any drug busts? Nope

Any shooting, assaults, robberies, or senseless beatings? Nope.

You want to attempt to address your own biases? Try visiting a number of both public and private technical schools. You'll see both the good and the bad.

From what I know, only the kids of the poor and uneducated or from the slums, or off springs or failures or lower life forms , end up in the tech or vocational colleges. Decent parents who work hard and know how to plan to raise a family, will have monies and know how to provide a proper education for their loved ones and ensure that they do not end up in such garbage gutters.

Decent parents who work hard and know how to plan to raise a family, will have monies and know how to provide a proper education for their loved ones and ensure that they do not end up in such garbage gutters.

Sorry, but that really is a load of bunk imho. But then again nowadays, the world seems to abound with 'bunk' and generalizations, parroted by those without much in the way of analytical abilities. Why? It's easy, especially for individuals who feel, well, above the average rabble of the world - or - had a 'silver spoon' implanted in their backside at birth.

But you're welcome to your opinion. We'll have to agree to disagree.

I sent my stepson to the private technical college in Chiang Mai. No, he wasn't the sharpest tack in the box, but neither was I at 18. There was no 'Army' training. However, after he graduated, both my wife and I convinced him to join the Air Force (I'm ex-military and from my perspective, most Thai males are mommy-boys unless they had an active male role model in their lives (most don't), or spent time at least going through boot-camp. At 22, he's married, has a good job, and has turned into a responsible man and husband.

Regarding the belief held by some people that tech school is for dummies, I personally would have preferred to go to tech school but was force into college by my caring parents, which I dropped out of after 3 years. Spent 15 years doing various blue collar work and then a stint in the military. After my enlistment, I went back to college and graduated with straight 'A's as a CIS major. Spent about 24 year working in the Computer Industry prior to retiring. So much for being a 'dummie' even though I was a 'C' student in high school. I rack the average grades in high school up to basically being bored out of my mind. If my high school instructors were above average, I did above average; if my high school instructors sucked, I did below average (boredom).

So I wouldn't paint tech school attendees with too broad of a brush. There are other factors involved other than being 'stoopid' <sic>.

Hey.

I being in Thailand since 2011, and i have done online report.

Have you try it ?

I'll give it a shot this time around and see what shakes. If I don't get a confirmation within 1 week, or if I get one of the error messages, I'll mail it out. Nothing to lose other than maybe having to show up in person, which nowadays in Chiang Mai is a total pain in the arse. I have better things to do other than stand in queue lines and then wait around after driving to Chiang Mai from the boondocks of outer Lamphun province. But, if online works.......

Mail in registered mail up to 14 days before due date.

That's the 'official' rules, but in reality if your mail shows up prior to you due date they will generally process the report. This is confirmed by a number of TV members who have successfully done it after the 14 day cutoff. But with that said, yeah, I personally mail it out in the 'official' timeline.

You will need to do your report before starting your trip or do it by mail. You can do your report in person up to 15 days early.

You will not be able to do it at another office.

Really you can't travel and report where you are traveling at the time? I thought the 90 days was to state where you are, so if example he is in Pattaya, the immigration won't let him sign he is staying in Pattaya? Sounds wrong to me, but.............

Since January of this year you must report at the office where you got your extension unless you formally change your address to to a new office.

They apparently have done this so that the 90 day reporting records are maintained at your home office. Perhaps it was done to prepare for online reporting.

It is a report of staying longer than 90 days in the country not an address report.

As always, thanks for the info. Makes sense.

"Ignore the man behind the curtain."

-The Great Oz

Now, nothing to see here folks, so move along.....