Thailand blocks access to WikiLeaks website

BANGKOK (AFP) -- Thai authorities have used their emergency powers to block domestic access to the WikiLeaks whistleblower website on security grounds, a government official said Wednesday.

The order came from the government unit set up to oversee the response to political unrest that rocked the nation's capital earlier this year, a spokeswoman for the Information and Communication Technology Ministry said.

"Access to this website has been temporarily suspended under the 2005 emergency decree," she said.

Thailand has removed tens of thousands of web pages from the Internet in recent years, mainly for insulting the monarchy, a serious crime punishable by up to 15 years in jail.

A special cyber crime agency has also been set up to stamp out online criticism of the royal family.

Emergency rule, enshrined in Thai law since 2005, was imposed across many parts of Thailand during two months of anti-government protests in Bangkok from mid-March that left 91 people dead, ending with a bloody army crackdown.

Authorities have used the decree, which remains in place in seven out of Thailand's 76 provinces including Bangkok, to arrest hundreds of suspects and silence anti-government media.

Wikileaks has been the focus of international attention in recent weeks after it released thousands of military documents on the conflict in Afghanistan.

These included claims of meetings between Pakistani spies and the Taliban and that civilian deaths caused by international forces were covered up.

They also included the names of some Afghan informants -- prompting US military claims that the leaks endangered lives.

-- (c) Copyright AFP 2010-08-18

This is most likely not related to the afghan papers, as this site was blocked before these document were released. If you look under the 'Thailand' section on that site you will find an obvious reason for it being blocked.

Edited August 18, 201015 yr by perax

Now that it seems official (was blocked before, probably illegally) we will soon see lots and lots of Thailand related Information to be released, that makes the Doggie in The Video irrelevant.

or because there are videos there of some pretty powerful people in Thailand in some compromising positions.

or because there are videos there of some pretty powerful people in Thailand in some compromising positions.

Yeah, probably the pooch's party. Funny, I've never looked at wikileaks.org before so when it said it was blocked I checked. It doesn't seem to be.

as the above posters mention, anyone who has view the website will now perfectly well why it was blocked , and it aint cos of USA security leaks

or because there are videos there of some pretty powerful people in Thailand in some compromising positions.

Yeah, probably the pooch's party. Funny, I've never looked at wikileaks.org before so when it said it was blocked I checked. It doesn't seem to be.

i just looked as well and working perfectly for me on 3BB, even those it was blocked before

Hmm..the site works for me.

I'm in Thailand and it's not blocked for me.... but other sites are. I wonder if it's upto the ISP to do these things!?!

Try actually looking at some of the leaked documents, the ban (block/redirect) does *not* seem to be against the front page, that works on many ISPs. However, sub-pages, articles, search-listings, are often redirected it seems.

And some ISPs are faster than others...

you would have thought someone would have checked before annocing this now everyone will look at the website and see the real reason it was blocked,

I've just tried accessing

http://wikileaks.org/

No can do.

While this will not affect tourism, it is probably a better indicator of the political situation in this country than any amount of Yellow and Red demonstrations.

It is always a sign of the decline of the ruling class when it has to resort to censorship of this kind.

I'm in Thailand and it's not blocked for me.... but other sites are. I wonder if it's upto the ISP to do these things!?!

Blocked here in Hua Hin 3BB (TT&T)

I never hard of this site. Thanks. now I already watch the video of the powerful people. now i know why it should be block. But many people know how to use proxy servers to go around.

I never hard of this site. Thanks. now I already watch the video of the powerful people. now i know why it should be block. But many people know how to use proxy servers to go around.

So many governments are afraid of letting people know the truth. I think there should be a revolution in many countries to get rid of inept/corrupt government.

Ironic. I would not have cared two licks about this until this story broke. Of course any of the VPN services would allow me acess even if the site were blocked which it is not currently for me.

I never hard of this site. Thanks. now I already watch the video of the powerful people. now i know why it should be block. But many people know how to use proxy servers to go around.

Ditto, these people must be brain dead. Any reasonable person's first response is why? As Samrit states, find a proxy server & the dog is outta the bag, along with anything else that big brother thinks you cannot handle. TiT

At the moment up to 110'000 websites are blocked.

In a recent Wallstreet Journal report this shameful action of the sitting government is described quite well:

WSJ: blocked websites in Thailand

As a result, some advocates say Thailand—long seen as a relative haven of free speech in Asia—is becoming one of the least-free states in a region that includes China and Myanmar, when it comes to discourse online

.

การเข้าถึงข้อมูลดังกล่าวนี้ ถูกระงับเป็นการชั่วคราว

โดยอาศัยอำนาจตามพระราชกำหนดการบริหารราชการ ในสถานการณ์ฉุกเฉิน พ.ศ. ๒๕๔๘

ตามคำสั่งของศูนย์อำนวยการแก้ไขสถานการณ์ฉุกเฉิน

An access to such information has been temporarily ceased

due to the order of the Centre for the Resolution of the Emergency Situation (CRES)

under the authority of emergency decree B.E 2548 (A.D. 2005).

when it said it was blocked I checked. It doesn't seem to be.

i just looked as well and working perfectly for me on 3BB

Hmm..the site works for me.

I'm in Thailand and it's not blocked for me....

A fifth vote here for it not being blocked in Thailand.

At the moment up to 110'000 websites are blocked.

If this thread is any indicator, that's a highly suspect number.

Thread shutdown in 3,2,1...

This should give you an idea of the level of competence we are dealing with here. .org is blocked but .com is not blocked. At least on TOT anyways.

you would have thought someone would have checked before annocing this now everyone will look at the website and see the real reason it was blocked,

yes , take away peoples shovel while digging and they go look for a digging machine:lol:

.org is blocked but .com is not blocked.

Both .org and .com are not blocked here.

.org is blocked but .com is not blocked.

Both .org and .com are not blocked here.

Just google for wikkileaks and choose several options , wikileaks is continues "redirecting links"

.org is blocked but .com is not blocked.

Both .org and .com are not blocked here.

Ha, org is blocked but not com here.

Needless to say, the Powers That Be, if they read this, will soon oblige us with a shutdown of .com

I just checked and http://www.wikileaks.org/ is not blocked. If you take something away from the people, it certainly becomes more attractive. I'm sure this site is going to get a lot of hits because of the "block".

If this is part of what Thai authorities don`t want us to see at Wikileaks, what is wrong with the world?

It`s an absolute disgrace. This should be available for anyone.