Ict Plans To Double Thai Internet Users Next Year

[george]

ICT plans to double Thai Internet users next year

BANGKOK: -- The Ministry of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) plans to double the number of Thailand's Internet users next year, and lay down stricter measures against websites

containing pornography and lese majeste content.

ICT Minister Sora-at Klinpratoom said Tuesday that the government intends to increase the number of Thai people using computers and accessing to the Internet from about 12 million at present to some 24 million by next year by pushing for the implementation of its ambitious policy to encourage the Thai public to use computers and access to the Internet much more than they do now.

"So much has been done now in various forms to push Thai people to make more use of IT. Projects like school Internet, tambon (sub-district) Internet, low-priced computers, as well as iPSTAR satellite broadband internet access provided for people in remote areas have all been in operation to fulfil the aim of encouraging Thai people to go hi-tech in terms of information technology' Mr. Sora-at said

Free Internet access has been made available in over 80 per cent of secondary schools nationwide under the government's school internet project, he said.

However, the minister said the government had concerns over two major problems regarding the Internet, one being pornography and the other the question of propaganda that concerns the monarchy, one of

Thailand's highest national institutions. Lese-majeste is the insulting of a sovereign or treason.

Accordingly, he said, the ICT ministry is inviting all Internet service providers in the country to discuss these issues on Wednesday.

Pornographic websites and those containing lese majeste contents would be banned and blocked by authorised agencies.

Meanwhile, he said, an Internet inspectors task force would be set up and deployed to crack down on Internet cafes violating the law.

--TNA 2005-11-29

[Sangsom]

To deny these not-wanted sites their existence does not solve anything, it only makes a fool of the one that tries to do that.

Reality is that there are a huge amount of pornographic sites, free and those that have to be paid for and a huge amount of sites that are critical towards a lot of things and that may include any monarchy or any government.

In the western world a normal and accepted thing. Why not in Thailand are they so afraid here and for what?

I am not talking about downright insults (the offended can go to court) and illegal (pornographic etc.) content (a task for the law). Web sites are only subject to the laws of the country where they are hosted and/or where the servers are located. To interfere with that as Thailand is planning (like Burma) is interfering with other countries internal affairs! Legal action can only be taken against Thailand-based web sites that publish lese majeste as "seen and interpretated" in Thailand. They cannot do anything against the very same content published on not-Thailand based sites.

Is blocking then their only choice? Can they not accept that in this world there are more opinions about these things, not always the same as Thailand sees them.

Besides that it makes a country that acts like that look so silly and childish!

One way they want to increase the use of Internet and in another they want to limit it by lets say 50%, taken they would block al sites that are deemed inappropriate like they do in Thaksin's beloved Burma. It does not make sense!

[astral]

Wow!! Double the number of users in the web in Thailand.

What are CAT's plans to double the bandwidth for connection to the rest of the world?

Or will these new users be limited to LOS??????