ICT Ministry Bans Websites Attacking Govt

[george]

ICT Ministry bans websites attacking govt

Closures 'violation of right of free speech'

BANGKOK: -- Two websites critical of the government were banned yesterday, the first to be shut down for political activity rather the usual reason, pornography.

The two websites are run by Ekkayuth Anchanbut and run by Anchalee Paireerak.

They were closed by an order issued by the Information and Communications Technology Ministry dated June 18.

A ministry inspector said yesterday the websites were closed for two reasons _ no evidence of who their real owners were and violent content that could trigger social disorder.

The inspector, who asked not to be named, said there was only evidence of website leases and there had been complaints that the content encouraged the public to stage demonstrations. They also contained fierce political accusations.

Through internet service providers, officials concerned demanded contact details from the operators, to no avail. So the websites were ''suspended'' until they were improved and registered properly.

Miss Anchalee, a host on FM92.25 community radio station, complained that the ban was tantamount to denying public access to information.

If the programmes of the radio station, which were also broadcast on the website, were not good enough, there would be no audience, she said.

Mr Ekkayuth, a businessman and vocal critic of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, said his legal staff would consider action as the constitutional right to give the public information had been violated.

He knew who ordered the closure and believed it stemmed from three issues presented on his website _ the inappropriateness of a deputy prime minister running for UN secretary-general, vested interests in the stock exchange that involve politicians, and problems in the South.

''There are attempts to persecute the owners of the servers that we rent through business means. But after this closure, I can reopen it. I developed the website to reveal the truth, not to topple the government as alleged.

''I have the constitutional right to say that I don't like Mr Thaksin and he cannot prohibit me from telling the truth.

''He can always say who he does not like and sometimes he even says that in his Saturday morning radio programme. Everyone must have an equal right of expression,'' Mr Ekkayuth said.

The prime minister addresses the public on national radio every Saturday morning.

Wuthipong Pongsuwan, adviser to the PM's Office Minister who was said to be the person who sought the closure from the ICT Ministry, said it was unnecessary for him to complain to the ministry because anyone, including more than 300 MPs of the prime ministers's Thai Rak Thai party, could make a complaint after visiting Mr Ekkayuth's website.

As evidence of legal violations was clear, the closure was as right as that of pornographic and illegal trade websites, he said.

''Any website that affects security and the royal institution, causes great damage to individuals and contradicts morality should be axed.

''Both websites encouraged people to join demonstrations and support a coup. In fact, they should have been dealt with long ago,'' Mr Wuthipong said.

Chavarong Limpatamapanee who supervises moral issues for the Thai Webmaster Association said it was the first time a website in Thailand making critical comments of the government had been closed. The state had no right to act as censor as it violated freedom of expression.

--Bangkok Post 2005-06-22

[bubba]

Miss Anchalee, a host on FM92.25 community radio station, complained that the ban was tantamount to denying public access to information.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

And speaking of denying public access to information, just try using any of the web-based proxy services that are out there so that interested people can get around the Thai ISP proxy blocks on sites that the government declares "undesirable". For example, trying www.guardster.com or www.proxify.com gets me:

"Sorry, the web site you are accessing has been closed by Royal Thai Police due to inappropriateness such as pornography, gambling or contain any information which is deemed to violate national security."

Internet censorship in Thailand is beginning to seem more and more like the two years I spent in China several years ago!

[george]

Anti-government websites shut down

BANGKOK: -- Two websites with content deemed strongly critical of the Thaksin government have been shut down, allegedly on orders from the Information and Com-munications Technology (ICT) Ministry.

Site operators maintain their hosts were ordered to remove them.

One website – www.thai-insider.com – belongs to Ekkayuth An-chanbutr, a chit-fund operator who fled the country several years ago but returned last year and became a self-styled crusader against what he said was endemic corruption in the Thaksin government.

The other one – www.fm9225.com – belongs to a community radio station with a penchant for hosting vocal critics of the government.

Operators of the shut-down sites said they believed the ICT Ministry ordered the host Internet service providers (ISPs) to remove them. ICT Minister Suwit Khun-kitti denied the charges yesterday, insisting he had no idea why they had been shut down.

“The government issued no orders regarding this,” he said.

Suwit added that officials from the ministry’s Cyber Inspection Division might have ordered them shut down on their own initiative after considering some of the content to be detrimental to national security.

Ekkayuth launched www.thai-insider.com on June 11. It carried numerous reports and opinion pieces highly critical of the government.

A staff member at the website who asked to remain anonymous said he received a call on Saturday from the ISP hosting the site. The source was told the ICT Ministry had ordered the removal of www.thai-insider.com. That evening, it was inaccessible.

Ekkayuth said yesterday that he was considering filing a lawsuit against the ministry for violating the Constitution, which guarantees the freedom of information.

Ekkayuth said he believed his website was shut down partly because it contained an interview with a former ambassador arguing against Deputy Prime Minister Surakiart Sathirathai standing for the post of UN secretary-general.

He said the site also provided an insider’s information about alleged stock-price manipulations by people close to the government and details of government mishandling of last October’s Tak Bai protest.

“The owner of our website’s ISP was harassed and threatened with reprisals. I can well understand why he had to remove us,” said Ekkayuth. “But they can’t stop me reopening it.”

A staff member at www.FM9225.com said Cyber Inspector Surachai Nilsaeng had sent a letter on Monday to A-net, host of the site, asking the ISP to remove it on grounds that its content was detrimental to national security.

The www.FM9225.com website was pulled from the Web at 4pm on Monday but relaunched operations yesterday morning. It relayed its radio broadcast in streaming-audio format, and 57 major community radio stations picked up the online broadcast for transmission on the air.

But the site went offline again yesterday afternoon after Anchalee Paireerak, an executive at FM 92.25 radio, received an email from Surachai that it jeopardised national unity and security.

Anchalee pledged to fight to have her website go online again.

An official from the Cyber Inspection Division said yesterday that he would prefer yesterday’s action against the two websites to be referred to as a “suspension” rather than “closure”.

He said there were complaints that the two websites contained defamatory content and that authorities were unable to determine who was operating the sites.

The official said the suspension would continue until the operators of the sites came forward, or until there were further instructions from the responsible authorities.

--The Nation 2005-06-22

[ausiekid]

That's the way it started in Germany in 1933, not that they had the internet but different means and ways to shut up the opposition.

[capt_canada42]

Well this is typical of what we can expect from a person who thinks he is a god!!

[h90]

now they get total crazy with their censorship. Actually why vote. Thailand has already the best premier, so further electations are not necessary and only a waste of money....

If there is someone who does not agree is causing social disorder and should be brought into prison.

Somehow this is not the concept of democray I learned in school.....

Edited June 22, 2005 by h90

[capt_canada42]

I am glad that they are talking about filing a lawsuit. Good luck to them.

[h90]

Maybe I should exchange my Reichsmark aeh I mean ThaiBaht to other currencies.

<snip>normaly not very good for the economic.....

That's the way it started in Germany in 1933, not that they had the internet but different means and ways to shut up the opposition.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Edit: Inappropriate wording removed

/Admin

Edited June 22, 2005 by george

[dave111223]

Should just get a Bulgarian server or something.

[h90]

just spoke with my thai staff about it, and they are not angree. It is more or less OK for them.

[wimster]

Won't work unfortunately. They will just block the site.

That's what they (True/CAT) do most of the afternoons anyway to all international website access...

Democracy and freedown of speech declared dead in TH.

Maybe someone with connections to some western media should spread the articles....see what happens ?

Should just get a Bulgarian server or something.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

[tso310]

Glad to see that it is still ok to criticise the Aussie cricket team.

[The_Doctor]

Yet another close similarity with the early days in Nazi germany...

Next time a minority group is chosen for persecution no one can oppose or speak out in their defence.

Drug farmers in the north - ok, most will agree with that one.

Minority groups in the south - slightly more contentious, but in the current international climate, generally accepted.

Who's next - hilltribes? the expats?

Ooops, methinks Thaivisa might be closed down for antipolitical comment...

[kmanrox]

Won't work unfortunately. They will just block the site.

That's what they (True/CAT) do most of the afternoons anyway to all international website access... 

Democracy and freedown of speech declared dead in TH.

Maybe someone with connections to some western media should spread the articles....see what happens ?

Should just get a Bulgarian server or something.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

a TG with a masters degree who is over just said to me 'welcome to communist Thailand!' lol

[penzman]

Pleased to be here comrade!

[francois]

hi'

I wantes to reply with flammes to what I read ...

but I know, it's useless and surely more dangerous than useful ...

just one thing, when the freedom of speech is gone, you can say good by globaly to freedom ...

francois

ps; one question: are we seeing the real emergence of a dictature?

[sriracha john]

He is even silencing his associates who dare to criticize him, including the ouster of one of the founders of the TRT Party itself and chief TRT advisor from the TRT Executive Board :

Published on June 22, 2005

Prime minister gets his revenge on dissident faction

The dissident Wang Nam Yen faction of the Thai Rak Thai Party yesterday appeared unable to do anything but accept the removal of its two most senior members from the ruling Thai Rak Thai Party’s executive board.

The purge came amid a public feud between Wang Nam Yen leader Snoh Thienthong and Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

Ninety-eight members of the party’s executive committee yesterday voted to appoint 13 members to the executive board, with Thaksin remaining party leader and MPs loyal to him retaining their seats, according to party spokesman Sita Divari. Snoh was removed as the chief party adviser while his close aide on the executive board, Pramuan Ruchana-seree, was axed as deputy party leader.

Like Snoh, Pramuan has publicly criticised Thaksin.

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

There's no end in sight to Mr. T's audacity.

[Som Nam Na]

I use a program called Proxy Probe. It enables me to look at any banned site including these ones......he,he.

Shame I can't read Thai!

But I could read this.....

http://www.dlo.co.th/news_e.php?news=1001

Seems like a personal tiff.

Edited June 22, 2005 by Som Nam Na

[sriracha john]

Taking the cue from their boss, Cabinet members are now ignoring their constituents more and condoning violent actions against them by the government:

Villagers fail in bid to meet minister over ‘harassment’

Published on June 22, 2005

A group of villagers from Phet-chabun province yesterday tried to meet Natural Resources and Envi-ronment Minister Yongyuth Tiya-pairat to complain about officials who had allegedly harassed them to make way for a government project.

The minister’s secretary denied the villagers access to Yongyuth.

Sawat Upahad and other farmers from Huai Kontha village in Lom Sak district claim that officials have tried to force them off their farmland.

Sawat said officials had driven to the village on the night of June 15 and fired gunshots into the air. The officials told the villagers they could no longer work on their farmland.

He said some villagers had returned to the land to check on their crops, but the officials frightened them away with warning gunshots.

“We’re now living in fear because of the suppression created by government officials,” Sawat said.

[TokyoT]

And Thailand feels they should be in the running for the next Secretary General of the UN?

[sriracha john]

And just to ensure there is no other dissention or criticism among the ranks, Thaksin has spelled out clearly what he wants regarding the other scandal rocking the boat. Nevermind any personal suspicions you may have, nevermind searching for the truth, nevermind deciding for yourself, just vote the way I tell you to..... OR ELSE!! :

Vote is a test of loyalty, Thaksin says

Published on June 22, 2005

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra yesterday ordered all Thai Rak Thai MPs to throw their full support behind party secretary-general Suriya Jungrungruengkit during the no-confidence debate on Friday regarding the airport scanner scandal, a party source said.

“The public is watching this debate,” he told the party meeting yesterday at its new headquarters.

“I urge all Thai Rak Thai MPs to show their support in one direction, as I will use the debate as a test of your loyalty. I urge everyone to vote for him,” the source quoted Thaksin as saying.

[frumau]

It all sounds quite bad doesn't it. All of the sudden Thailand looks more like China. In their way they choke opposition that is...

[sonnyJ]

This situation seems to be moving towards burmese, lao, cambodian, and chinese ways of governance. I'm tempted to say why they don't just declare Thailand as a socialist state, but that would be foolish thing to do. This (constitutional democracy???) seems a lot better disguise. And anyway they are always better than their neighbours, in the eyes of the citizens...

Bush can get away with his things, why couldn't Taksin?

[cutter007]

I don't really think it matters what they do when concerned with the internet.

As people have shown here with postings of free proxy servers, it is not very difficult to circumvent Thai politicians and there feable attempts to control technology that is way beyond there intellect.

I think for the Thai government it is easy to influence poor un-educated people from the rural regions but when they try to influence someone with a western education Thai or foreigner alike, most of us see them as children with expensive suits, and we just step around them, with the same ease as breathing.

I saw a political TV broadcast in person once, it was the funniest thing, all these

politicians chatting and drinking coffee, then the camera crews come in, and they all open up labtops and start typing away, or start writing down notes, and the such, then broadcast finished, cameras leave, labtops shut, and coffee and chatting resumes.

I know for me in the beginning I had a terrible time dealing with government agencies, always wondering why they made everything so difficult.

Then I just copied there style, I was late, made appointments I didn't keep, submitted wrong documents, and everything else I could think of to act like I didn't care about anything, except when lunch is.

Now I kind of view it is a game, and have lot more fun.

Everytime I deal with them it is a new round of "Who can appear to have the lowest IQ, and the biggest smile"

[Chiuey]

[Jai Dee]

Everytime I deal with them it is a new round of "Who can appear to have the lowest IQ, and the biggest smile"

Classic!!!

[BlackJack]

so i suppose i can kill the idea of putting my webcam out the window to broadcast the short time hotel comings and goings of official cars

[greenwanderer108]

yea, you guys are making the pm sound so bad...This guy is great.

Have you ever seen him on TV---he never has to think too deeply about his response. Just a chuckle and a god-like response. That's character.

Anyway, anyone who watches Aum's soap opera (or even admits it) with his daughter is a worthy prime minister.

Censorship or not, you are forgetting why a majority of Thai voters keep him in power---atleast what they have expressed to me. Look at where Thailand was economically when he came to office---what he assured Thais about the economy, OTOP, and where Thailand is now. Even when I first came here three years ago, my USD was worth 45-47 baht. Now look at it...39-41. It's almost starting to look like it did before 1997---especially with all the construction cranes everywhere, no matter where you go.

Let's just hope history is a teacher--not a broken record.

[thaitanic]

I know for me in the beginning I had a terrible time dealing with government agencies, always wondering why they made everything so difficult.

Then I just copied there style, I was late, made appointments I didn't keep, submitted wrong documents, and everything else I could think of to act like I didn't care about anything, except when lunch is.

Now I kind of view it is a game, and have lot more fun.

Everytime I deal with them it is a new round of "Who can appear to have the lowest IQ, and the biggest smile"

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Haha, brilliant. Extending this a little further, perhaps tomorrow I'll attempt to extort a little beer money when I go to renew my work permit.

The most worrying thing about Toxin's nascent dictatorship is that the Thai in the street doesn't appear to give a toss.

I asked my girlfriend why she wouldn't vote and she basically said because her vote wouldn't change anything anyway. Great!

[opothai]

the way things have been going for the past few years, their will be confrontation. long may the King live for when he passes away their will be no one left with enough power to criticise the government.