Thailand Welcomes Twitter Censorship Tool

[yumidesign]

A sad day for Twitter allowing governments to dictate to them what is acceptable on their website.

sad day indeed. just what are they actually afraid of by not allowing people to say what they want how and when they want it. Do they really think that people are too stupid to decide what to do and how to think about the information they receive. However it will not stop the internet being free as soon as they try to control one aspect of it another portal will appear. Freedom of expression is the corner stone of any just society. My Buddha i forget which country am i in, but even here they will not be able to stop it 555. Respect tradition never follow it!

Edited January 30, 2012 by yumidesign

[Oberkommando]

Any citizen of any country is subject to Thailands laws, if they do something deemed offensive while in their home country, are put on a watch list, then visit Thailand. You can be arrested, tried, and jailed here. Be very careful of what you say.

That sounds like a threat.

[jshorts]

A sad day for Twitter allowing governments to dictate to them what is acceptable on their website.

A sad day for the internet. It is international...so why should each country step in and make their own rules. Let's get some ISP on space platforms, and then no country would have contorl.

I am unclear what this news article has to do with the internet.

Kindly clarify.

[Tywais]

I don't think what's published in the US, UK, or French press / web site, would or could be held against the author if it is true.

Actually it can. Thai laws on LM extends beyond the Thai boundaries and there are recent cases of just that happening.

[ROMANOBA]

HOW can FREEDOM of expression violate other people's rights? How can words. violate a right?

Furthermore, freedom of expression can never violate a law, it's always a law which can violate freedom of expression. Laws are to guarantee freedom, or am I wrong?Furthermore freedom and censorship are mutually exclusive concepts. You CANNOT have both.

OR you have freedom OR you have censorship.

[Tywais]

HOW can FREEDOM of expression violate other people's rights? How can words. violate a right?

Furthermore, freedom of expression can never violate a law, it's always a law which can violate freedom of expression. Laws are to guarantee freedom, or am I wrong?Furthermore freedom and censorship are mutually exclusive concepts. You CANNOT have both.

OR you have freedom OR you have censorship.

There is no absolute freedom of expression anywhere, it's a matter of degree.

[jshorts]

I don't use Twitter, and have no desire to so do, I am a reluctant user of Facebook to satisfy my family, but I use a false name and false IP address, I assume one can do the the same with Twitter. If not the boys will soon come up with a "workaround",

Please read a previous post with the workaround.

[Evilbaz]

A huge blow to the chattering class

[jshorts]

if you live here abide by the rules is my view. if however you are a resident of say Vietnam, should twitter or facebook block your post?

If someone in Vietnam sent terrorist Twitters, should these be allowed, too?

There is always censorship.

Think of all the times during our daily lives we censor what we do or say.

[jshorts]

violating...pornography laws.

Hahaha. You can buy it on most city streets, but you can't give away pictures or videos of it

Because there are people who break the law, doesn't mean the law shouldn't exist.

[jshorts]

Why are you all complaining, it only blocks what people shouldn't be writing anyway.

This is only the first step of controlling the sheep. Their foot is in the door. What is next no derogatory remarks about the PM? THis is a very bad development for freedom.

Wasn't the first step the establishment of the lese majeste laws? There is nothing new here.

[jshorts]

In the Kingdom of Thailand, you are here as a guest, and so you behave with respect for the King or go, .. or if you insult the Royal family, or promote ideas which undermine the dignity of the Royal family, or mouth off with opinions which are an affront to His Majesty's values, you deserve everything you get. This is not the USA, neither is it the UK, nor Australia, nor anywhere else. Take note: It is the Kingdom of Thailand.

What about the citizens that are not here as guests? Or don't they count?

What about the Thai citizens? Of course, they count.

What is your point?

[nurgut73]

of course they welcome twitters censorehip. jeeez, just think what would happen if we had free speech here...

[philw]

Why are you all complaining, it only blocks what people shouldn't be writing anyway.

Ah, so simple.

Reminds me when I did jury service in HK and when we retired to discuss and decide, first comment from a Chinese juror was "...he must be guilty, otherwise the police wouldn't have arrested him".

Took 3 days reach not guilty verdict.

[philw]

Any citizen of any country is subject to Thailands laws, if they do something deemed offensive while in their home country, are put on a watch list, then visit Thailand. You can be arrested, tried, and jailed here. Be very careful of what you say.

That sounds like a threat.

It is.

Remember when a certain important persons plane was seized by order of a German court, the first act of the then government was to blacklist the accountant who applied for the court order, in that liquidation case.

How utterly childish, the guy was doing his job in accordance with the law.

[rotary]

Farcebook & Twitter need shut down period. They have caused a world of problems for the world

[cutter007]

if you live here abide by the rules is my view. if however you are a resident of say Vietnam, should twitter or facebook block your post?

Your missing the point, now a few people at the top will have easy access to technology, that will allow them to

decide, quickly and on a moments notice, what they deam to be "the rules" at that time.

Need to have a coup to overthrow a government that was voted in democratically, no problem the "rule" today is to

block key government peoples twitter accounts for 24 - 48 hours.

Power NOT to the people.

Edited January 30, 2012 by cutter007

[cutter007]

Twitter is gambling here. Nothing is to stop more robust competitors from emerging and dipping into Twitter's market share. The joy shared by certain ruling elites, who inflict incessant propaganda on to their dumbed-down nations, might be premature.

Totally agree, this leaves the door open for someone to copy there platform but without the censorship.

[anterian]

I don't use Twitter, and have no desire to so do, I am a reluctant user of Facebook to satisfy my family, but I use a false name and false IP address, I assume one can do the the same with Twitter. If not the boys will soon come up with a "workaround",

Please read a previous post with the workaround.

Ah yes, I see, a very simple workaround. Clever Twitter to run with the fox and run with the hounds. It's even computer specific so you can use an internet cafe!

[Tywais]

Off topic posts removed.

[newsweird]

If only I could import morals and spare faces

[Nickiboy03]

Farcebook & Twitter need shut down period. They have caused a world of problems for the world

Wake up Rotary it is bankers & gubermint that have caused all the problems we face today, facebook & twitter are just tools to try educate people on the how & why. The Thai gubermint was blocking all links on twitter Example RT> the russian english news service one of the few mainstream news media you get some real reporting.

[cutter007]

I think you should look at the US constitution, I would dare anyone to find a law that has better protected it's citizens against dictatorships and tyranny than the 1st amendment.

For all the bad things that can be said about the US, I think most people can agree (although I am sure not everyone here) that

there are few countries in the world where your freedom of speech is better protected.

But if you look at the Scheneck vs. the United States in 1919 it is clear that citizens are not protected by the 1st amendment, if they were

to say something that provided no useful purpose and was merely dangerous or false.

Is that the case here? I doubt it? There are a lot of people in positions of power in Thailand, that realise the more free people are to discuss certain subjects, the less power they will have.

Someone also commited about sending Tweets to terrorists.

Anyone is free to distributing plans for doing something illegal, but conspiring to commit a crime is usually illegal in most countries.

Sending Twitter messages to know terrorists to plan something illegal would not be a question of free speech, but rather

a stupid way to distribute your admission of guilt to the masses.

Edited January 30, 2012 by cutter007

[squirrelboy]

"It's a good idea that Twitter has this policy to take care and prevent its users from violating the law, because freedom of expression must not violate other people's rights or the laws in each country,"

All people are equal, but some are more equal than others.

Props to Animal Farm, George Orwell.

[cmcompdoctor]

Censoring is easily avoided by changing your DNS (google is your friend) or the use of the many free Proxy servers available.

You dont want censorship ? Use your brain.

[jshorts]

Twitter is gambling here. Nothing is to stop more robust competitors from emerging and dipping into Twitter's market share. The joy shared by certain ruling elites, who inflict incessant propaganda on to their dumbed-down nations, might be premature.

Totally agree, this leaves the door open for someone to copy there platform but without the censorship.

And, what kind of company would want to fight with a country such as France, Germany,Thailand or China?

[tlansford]

IMO companies providing communication platforms should not be enabling censorship. Period.

[Card]

Censoring is easily avoided by changing your DNS (google is your friend) or the use of the many free Proxy servers available.

You dont want censorship ? Use your brain.

The problem here is that using a proxy or vpn is against the law in Thailand - it's is part of the new internet law that is intended to censor the internet and hence prevent its circumvention. So be careful of the ICT ministry.

[JohnAllan]

Hardly surprising if the ICT have no part in Twitter's censorship. I doubt they have the time or staff to devote to yet more online busybodying.

[whybother]

In the Kingdom of Thailand, you are here as a guest, and so you behave with respect for the King or go, .. or if you insult the Royal family, or promote ideas which undermine the dignity of the Royal family, or mouth off with opinions which are an affront to His Majesty's values, you deserve everything you get. This is not the USA, neither is it the UK, nor Australia, nor anywhere else. Take note: It is the Kingdom of Thailand.

What about the citizens that are not here as guests? Or don't they count?

What about the Thai citizens? Of course, they count.

What is your point?

"and so you behave with respect for the King or go,"

Where exactly should citizens go?