Internet "not Exciting"

[Sunny Valentine]

This man has obviously the same qualifications for his job as more or less all the other ministers in Thailand, in this government as well as in the last one. I fel sorry for this country. They would deserve better men at the helm.

Sunny

[bkkandrew]

I, for one, am amazed that Thaigoon has not post an defence of the minister in question, citing the forward thinking, post-internet rationale of the Thai people...

Or something like that??

Did anyone say self-sufficiency??

[PenangGuy]

This reminds me of that book, what was it again... um ... '1984' - that's it!

Obviously Big Brother can't stand the Proles reading anything but prolefeed.

What makes me laugh is that the game they play is as much a waste of time as the bag searches on the Subway. Anyone who wants to get round it easily can.

All you need is to set up a server to encrypt and proxy your requests. That gets round the domain name problems and any kind of snooping.

Problem with these proxies is, as soon as they are publicised, they can get banned, by IP and/or domain name.

Another way is sometimes to simply look at Google caches, or the wayback machine.

Happy surfing & long live the king!

[astral]

He and his cronies have blocked all the exciting parts.

[QualityTouristNumberOne]

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2007/04/15...es_30031904.php

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sitthichai gets no kick from the Net

Information and Communica-tions Technology Minister Sitthichai Pookaiyaudom says the Internet is not an "exciting" tool - a strange sentiment, maybe, for the man who guides the technology in Thailand.

The minister has ordered five websites blocked since he assumed the position eight months ago.

He admitted he was not information-technology savvy and made minimum use of the Internet. The reason Sitthichai, 59, is not excited by the Internet is simple: "I'm old."

"I have an e-mail account but rarely check it; normally I use the telephone." He visits two websites only on a regular basis.

Sitthichai, an associate professor in electronics, often visits the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers site. At ieee.org he updates his professional knowledge.

And at pgatour.com he can monitor golf tournaments and other sports.

He said he had "not even glanced" at most of the five sites he was responsible for closing.

"I once visited pantip.com and was confused by its many rooms. I quit and never went back," he said.

Pantip.com is a leading portal website in Thailand, and it hosts the popular Rajdamnoen Room, a virtual public space for people to share political opinions. The chat room was one of the five sites Sitthichai barred.

He insisted he had been approached by the webmaster at pantip.com, who had said the site was unable to control comments being made about Privy Council President Prem Tinsulanonda.

Other sites he has blocked are Camfrog for allegedly showing live, lewd acts by webcam users and YouTube for presenting a video clip considered insulting to the monarchy. He cannot remember the others. They were pornography sites.

Camfrog was reopened after being blocked for about 10 days. YouTube remains off limits to surfers in Thailand.

Both are overseas based and popular in Thailand. Sitthichai admitted he did not know the purpose of the two sites or what users did at them.

His decision to block sites or issue warnings to webmasters are based on opinions and suggestions from about 20 ministry staff and state-owned CAT Telecom, who monitor the online world around the clock.

He was presented with "hard-copy" evidence of the sites along with proposals to block them.

During his time with the portfolio he has received as many as 100 recommendations to shut sites. Just five deserved it, he said. It does not take him long to decide which sites will be blocked.

"The most important issue is lese majeste. That makes the decision easy. Then comes threats to national security and the morality of society," he said.

He sets his own criteria. To criticise the Privy Council president is a threat to national security, he said.

He instantly ordered YouTube off limits because the offending material "touched on the untouchable of Thailand".

Sitthichai realises his job is not easy. Information often comes with challenges to national taboos.

The dilemma is balancing the basic rights of people to information and those national taboos. The international community has slammed him for his actions, but he could have been pilloried at home by allowing material offensive to the nation to be distributed, he said.

Of the international incident the YouTube action has become he said: "I didn't mean to prevent Thai people having access to all of the website, but I wanted to show the world how important the monarchy was to this country and its people."

Sitthichai said the monarchy was vital to Thailand and its people and the institution was above politics.

He described Western criticism as "hypocritical".

"If it [YouTube owner Google] truly respects human rights and the flow of information, why does it self-censor information the Chinese government considers improper simply to gain access to that market?" he asked.

Every community has its own taboos and respected institutions that should not be criticised, he added.

"Remember when church and religion were taboo? Those challenging their religion were punished," he said.

Pennapa Hongthong

The Nation

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ehhh,makes about as much sense as these imaginary headlines....

"Transport Minister admits he is agoraphobic and hasn't left his house in ten years"

"Health Minister claims Voodoo is the only medicine he uses"

"Defense Minister terrified of guns,admits he is a big chicken"

need I go on?

Edited April 19, 2007 by QualityTouristNumberOne

[apetley]

Its a bit like having a finance minister who says that he has no interest in economics or that he decides exchange rate policy by nipping into Kasikorn once a week to check the money boards.

Unbelievable and unforgiveable such a Luddite is in charge of policy so crucial to a nations future.

India, China, Korea etc must get a real laugh and sense of relief that there really will be no IT competition from Thailand hearing things like this.

[OlRedEyes]

I am no Google fan, anymore. But this whining of G censors it's Chinese index, on it's Chinese engine, based in China, but it won't censor it's U-tube content in the US for Thailand, makes as much sense as most logic coming out of LOS.

If you can't figure the basic difference I dunno.

[Steely Dan]

Its a bit like having a finance minister who says that he has no interest in economics or that he decides exchange rate policy by nipping into Kasikorn once a week to check the money boards.

Unbelievable and unforgiveable such a Luddite is in charge of policy so crucial to a nations future.

India, China, Korea etc must get a real laugh and sense of relief that there really will be no IT competition from Thailand hearing things like this.

I think you greatly underestimate the Thai IT minister. By restricting access to porn sites and banning Youtube he has probably done wonders in educating the average Thai teenager in the use of anonymous proxies. Next week he needs to come out against object orientation and GUI front ends to get them off networked games and into writing websites.

[farang prince]

The minister has done such an excellent job of digging a hole, throwing himself in and then filling it up on top of himself that I cannot think of anything sufficiently caustic to say.

I guess he can't access the porn sites from his government computer.

[TAWP]

Anyone who compares 'not indexing content' with 'removing content' and flames Google for being hipocrites should perhaps get a CAT-scan. And I mean the one in the hospital, not the one where technicians from CAT checks your harddrive.

[samran]

I did some work for one of the biggest Thai Companies, while doing some one on one meetings with a very senior manager (thousands of people under his wing) he told me that he never read his emails. Ever.

If it was important, then somebody would call him or come and see him...

Thailand is not called a "developing country" for nothing.

swings and round abouts.

In the west, people are starting to declare 'email bankruptcy'. Deleting all old emails, mainly unread, cause they can't keep up with them. People are reverting to picking up the phone and talking...it is more effective and wastes less time.

So who are the stupid developing ones?

[Tony Clifton]

2 points here.

One: In the uk ministers usually have absolutely NO idea of the area they are in charge of and are advised by civil servants. They just pretend to be experts. At least this guy is honest. Perhaps the future is bright after all if Thailand is getting honest politicians!

Two: The west is hypocritical. No-one dares mention China and Googles spineless greed but everyone will knock Thailand.

If you believe the West has a franchise on Democracy try publishing a cartoon in Denmark that COULD MAYBE be seen to be slightly mocking Islam. Or make a statement supporting the far right in Germany. I could go on. There is censorship everywhere and there are no go areas everywhere. Most of them will seem stupid to many but very important to the few or vice versa.

<deleted>. If he was honest, he would have turned down the job for which he is fully unqualified or would have at least taken steps to improve his knowledge . Happens all the time here and exactly why things work backwards in many sectors. It's not what hey know but who they know...A friend just quit a full time job, after 10 years with the same company, for exactly the same reason, totally unqualified management while younger people with more experience and education are left standing in the aisles, wasting precious years performing work that upper management couldn't even handle..

How long does a developing country keep on developing while never learning, constantly taking steps backwards.

Fire the incompetent old fart.

[geoffphuket]

I for one have to agree with the minister. The internet IN THAILAND isn't an exciting tool.

[frodo]

Why this guy is in charge of the ICT Ministry in the first place, defies any logic. He has made some controversial statements which have showed his lack of understanding of anything computer related. If my memory serves me correct, is this the same minister who became angry at an ICT exhibition, and chastised the Thai people for appreciating foreign technology?

I do wonder what this minister actually wrote or communicated to Google regarding certain clips. If it was a absolute demand or total display of arrogance to begin with, I can't blame Google for basically shrugging him off. I don't know the guy, but if his attitude in communicating to Google was much like it is with the Thai people, he may have caused the problem himself. No, I'm not condoning the clips and while viewing them in the states, found them more childish than anything.

How an ICT Minister to essentially dislike anything about the internet, show disregard about future technology for this country, refuse assistance when offered (Google offered help) leaves me shaking my head.

[MrSnrang]

I seriously... Hate this guy. He says stupider stuff than Thaksin ever dreamed of.

Open source = bad

Foreign Technology = bad

Internet = bad

I feel sorry for this guy's kids...

But seriously though, how can he justify banning the sites when he doesn't know what's on them?

The real problem is... he, like most Thai politicians are TOO ###### OLD! XD

Edited May 7, 2007 by MrSnrang

[wintermute]

I think you guys are misunderstanding this man's role as IT minister. You see the whole position of minister in Thailand is a bit of a misnomer because in other countries ministers tend to promote whatever sector they are in charge of by doing their best to advocate progress. In Thailand ministers are there to supress and bring their sector into direct control. He's not here to promote IT in Thailand he's just here to censor it and restrict it so that the powerbase isn't threatened. If you keep that in mind it makes a lot of sense why he's "IT minister" and he's doing his job just fine.

[Tony Clifton]

I seriously... Hate this guy. He says stupider stuff than Thaksin ever dreamed of.

Open source = bad

Foreign Technology = bad

Internet = bad

I feel sorry for this guy's kids...

But seriously though, how can he justify banning the sites when he doesn't know what's on them?

The real problem is... he, like most Thai politicians are TOO ###### OLD! XD

Who told you he's figured out how to make them?

[John K]

Who says the internet is not exciting.

http://cheddarvision.tv/