True Blocks Common, Regular Websites

[Crushdepth]

Actually, the block on internet porn is just a clever strategy to drive people down to Patpong. I here CAT is making a lot of investments there

[Abandon]

Since I can reach all those sites with no problem maybe the problem is in your restricted zone settings, or maybe you have Thai versions of Windows on your machine.

[marquess]

Some sights are blocked, but it is done subtely. If you use a proxy you can get round it.

[marquess]

I have been messing around with various proxies, and none of them seem to work at any real speed with True ADSL. Therefore if anyone knows of a good site or a few good proxies, could the PM me. Thanks in advance

[Mr_Happy]

www.stayinvisible.com

Found one for the wife to access korean stuff, I think all of true shows up as the same IP which seems to be blocked in korea.

[Brew]

JAP

[yuyi]

www.stayinvisible.com

Found one for the wife to access korean stuff, I think all of true shows up as the same IP which seems to be blocked in korea.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Tried to access www.stayinvisible.com:

ICT does not allow getting access to websites that containing inappropriate contents i.e. adult-oriented content, nudity and obscenity, prostitution, sexual abuse with children, gambling, libelous acts and so forth that may frustrate Thailand reputation and honor.

If you see or have any clues of the above mentioned acts, or wish to comment, complain, please inform to the Royal Thai Police by sending e-mail to [email protected]

[genggwaa]

On the pointlessness of censorship

Blocking websites makes a mockery of any pretense of democracy or freedom of expression. And it will inevitably backfire, as it did in such incidents when the British government tried to ban Peter Wright's Spy Catcher in the late 80's.

Once you block or ban something, it immediately becomes a talking point and people then become curious to find out what the government is trying to hide. Blocking a site only makes it more alluring.

The argument that many of the blocked sites are immoral is a poor one, especially when morality differs so widely between individuals. Who is to say that gambling is immoral, say, when stock exchanges are the largest gambling dens in the world, or why a site depicting sex or nudity is immoral, especially in a Bhuddist country where the concept of Christian sin doesn't apply? The routine killing and eating of millions of animals is of course highly immoral.

The hyprocisy of course is that, according to some volunteer agencies, Bangkok is a major clearing house for the trafficking of children and sex slaves destined for other countries. (And, for example, Burma Project, "Women," August 2002 estimates there are 40,000 Burmese sex slaves in Thailand.)

It is very difficult to know what to do about neo-Nazi sites and sites openly inciting terrorism or violence, for instance. In fact Google automatically (and silently) blocks many of these sites so they don't even appear in a search - at least in the local country concerned. What is worrying about this is that it then becomes much harder to keep track of these hate groups and learn about them and their ideas.

So censorship in any form tends to backfire. What I find most ludicrous about censorship in Thailand, however, is the arbitrariness. A popular site for singles like adultfriendfinder.com is blocked, but not swingers.adultfriendfinder.com or alt.com: both far more outrageous. In Thailand, it seems, adult singles looking for sexual (or romantic) partners is frowned upon, but BDSM is ok and so is adultery.

The only advantages that I can see from this form of censorship is that it encourages ordinary people to take their privacy and freedom of expression more seriously, as well as encouraging them to look more closely at their government and to read the banned material. Ironically one is more likely to believe an anti-government report if it's banned then if it's simply published in the local paper.

My recommendation is to install a web tunnel and other privacy-protection software, even if it means paying for it (God forbid!) These are usually very effective in bypassing blocks, primarily because the traffic is encrypted so there is no way of telling which sites you are visiting. I won't post any links here because they are bound to be blocked. There are enough software sites and mirrors when you can obtain this kind of software.

Proxies don't work nearly as well, because the proxies themselves are easily blocked.

And if you do want to protect yourself or your family from 'immoral' sites then, surely, that is your own private decision? This is easy to configure in your browser's Internet settings.

Happy surfing

[KhunMarco]

I surf the web costantly due to my job, and I can tell you they are blocking lots and lots of "regular" e-commerce sites.

Oh yes, they are usually sites that rank very well for for a particular niche on the net.

Coincidence? Heh, sure...

[sting01]

My small 2 cents on the blocking IP made by thai ISP.

Living here for while, I learned there is something that piss off relly thai people (from the rice farmer up to the PM) : the way foreigners look on thai people and thailand. I explain that briefly : it's well know their is no prostitutes in Nana, but only accomodation hostess ready to overwork in the only purpose to entertain by all the ways the visitor/tourist.

There is another thing that piss off thai people, a lot, it's when foreigners are trying to hurt thai economy. A website selling musical instruments in Chicago and on the net can be (must be) considerd as a deadly threat to thai economy if a thai person decide to start this kind of business.

So the policy is simply to allow the survival of thai economy and thai people, for that they shutdown non legitimate websites. I suppose up to that point, people who arereading get the point and are similling. But that is not finish, because the word 'legitimate; have to be define.

The good case is the porn sites. We know there is a bunch of guys (farangs) living in thailand who do business in the adult industry. Some are correct with the models, some not ... How those sites are considered legitimate or not? Well the story is always the same, you launch a site : www.fakesitethatdonotwork.eu, after a while you will get banned (2 month), so if you are a legimitate resident in bangkok you will go to the police and complian, or ask why. So you will simply to have to fill a form and pay the fee for processing the form. The form ? Well, let say you operate a gay website (suppose that must exist), you will have to swear on your honor you are not and will not use naked pictures of thai ladies, nor invinted people from abroad to come in thailand to find ladies for sex. If you are operating a gay website, you will gladly and honestly swear that (usually gay = men), and the same for the other gender. Mostly site that are banned, are simply sites that did not follow the middle way, mean meet the police and negociate.

I do not speak about political websites, in that case it's obvious why they get banned. But what I said for the porn website, is totaly true for any other commercial websites. I got some clients of mine that were (and still are) bannedfrom thailand (a musical instrument eshop, clothes maker, dolls ....). All at one point or another were in competitions with some thai familly, so can not compete.

Internet is only the prolongation of the normal way to do business in thailand. Foreigners are tolerate as long as they improve the kingdom economy. When they start to get the money, it mean they are not motivate by that improvement but by greed, so better to let thai people to handle it and push the foreigner on the other side of the border (electronic in that case), anyway about greed, thai are very skilled.

So about angelfire, google .... if someone got the idea to implement the same in thailand, the way to go is to block those sites who do illegitimate concurence to a legitimate thai website. Maybe some of you remenber 10 years ago when l'Oreal tried to introduce a new brand in thailand. A thai person rushed to depose the name in the ministry of industry, and then sued l'Oreal. The brand to be introduce in thailand was existing in other countries since 2 years, so L';Oreal thought it was a legitimate branding name, for thai court it was not, on the ground a thai person did deposit the brand name, and even if doing nothing with, and not expecting doing something with (appart sell it to l'Oreal in a 'case settlement') they condemned L'Oreal (mean l'Oreal did not have theright to use that brand, or have to buy from the legitimate owner). They simply called it a day and did not introduce it in Thailand. That exemple is quite famous for thai people, they use it to proove they have a fair system. Notmy opinion, but I am foreigner lol

[marquess]

Well at the moment I'm trying to folllow the worldsnooker championship from Sheffield, the offical website has been blocked by the ar* wholes! Where will their stupdity end?

Edited April 15, 2006 by marquess

[skippybangkok]

Think this horse has been flogged to death.

As far as I know the government tells ISP's to block web sites deemed not acceptable. Big Brother stuff.

[Thaising]

The ICT are following china footstep to banned whatever they see fit. Even Google, Yahoo and MSN have to obey them. Shit!

[germandude]

As a frequent traveller living in Bangkok, rest assured that the blocking of Adult Website is the worst in Thailand! At least compared to Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore and yes, even compared to China!!

I just came back from a few weeks in Germany, when I told them about the blocking of Adult websites in Thailand, they were really laughing their ass of, given the certain reputation that Thailand has...