Thailand to start cracking down on illegal online content

[Torrens54]

Why would material about the Thai Government be blocked?

Is it not fair, balanced and open government setting the standard for ASEAN in general?

Have I "sucked-up" enough now to get a Gold Elephant stamp in my Passport?

[Jingthing]

Is this for real?

(Regarding standard torrents.)

[bluecheesefan]

The issue will be defamation of people or companies. The ridiculous defamation laws mean that if you say, "so and so is a ****", all they have to prove is the tiniest amount of damage, and you have commited a CRIMINAL offence.

That would basically stop all internet discussion boards, and put a complete stop to thinhs like people discussing "I think that Thai rice is *****," be it good bad or indifferent. You simply won't be able to discuss anything. Political discussion would disappear in a moment, because the moment you made any inference about anyone, the webmasters would be legally obliged to take it down. Quite how Thaivisa survives without a lot more censorship I have no idea. Thailand would become a country where your statements would be limited to the spoken word, and only between those you trust implicitly.

Okay, the sky is not falling. I'm sure a prominent site like this is reviewed to some degree for offenses or at least the mods are aware of what should and should not be allowed to be posted. This article sounds to me about increasing the number of sites that are blocked, stopping people from hosting porno sites from within Thailand and catching those that host copyrighted materials and facilitate their download. The ability to do what you are talking about would be nearly impossible to accomplish and extremely expensive.

I for one wouldn't download torrents and allow their upload to other users... yes that means if you download you would be considered a leecher. Distributing copyrighted materials would be an easy offense to nail someone with by tracking through the IP host. I'm sure they are capable of getting that information from True and other IPs even now.

[brfsa2]

SSL VPNs are also blocked by most operators (at least openVPN). They hardly work if at all.

A work around is to use openVPN on tcp:443 instead of udp:1194

Blocking political sites is absolutely immoral. Porn sites I guess it's not too bad to block, specially those that charge money...

The government rather want you to spend your money on the girls here than on some American porn site. LOL.

But what is the point to block porn sites, if you go to Pantip plaza and there are porn DVDs all over the place.

waste of tax payers money....

[Thai at Heart]

The issue will be defamation of people or companies. The ridiculous defamation laws mean that if you say, "so and so is a ****", all they have to prove is the tiniest amount of damage, and you have commited a CRIMINAL offence.

That would basically stop all internet discussion boards, and put a complete stop to thinhs like people discussing "I think that Thai rice is *****," be it good bad or indifferent. You simply won't be able to discuss anything. Political discussion would disappear in a moment, because the moment you made any inference about anyone, the webmasters would be legally obliged to take it down. Quite how Thaivisa survives without a lot more censorship I have no idea. Thailand would become a country where your statements would be limited to the spoken word, and only between those you trust implicitly.

Okay, the sky is not falling. I'm sure a prominent site like this is reviewed to some degree for offenses or at least the mods are aware of what should and should not be allowed to be posted. This article sounds to me about increasing the number of sites that are blocked, stopping people from hosting porno sites from within Thailand and catching those that host copyrighted materials and facilitate their download. The ability to do what you are talking about would be nearly impossible to accomplish and extremely expensive.

I for one wouldn't download torrents and allow their upload to other users... yes that means if you download you would be considered a leecher. Distributing copyrighted materials would be an easy offense to nail someone with by tracking through the IP host. I'm sure they are capable of getting that information from True and other IPs even now.

I have been sued once, for something that was completely and utterly true, without even naming the person who did it. But he took the inference to be him, and threw a load of legal letters at a lot of people claiming he had been defamed, asking for apologies to be posted, and requesting some enormous amount of compensation. Eventually, he realised that the server for that particular website was overseas and he would have had to sue there to get IP addresses revealed.

There are a certain amount of legal ways to defend yourself, but NEVER believe that when you write that so and so is a corrupt politician, or that so and so is a thieving buggar, or that so and so is useless, you are not actually opening yourself up to a potential CRIMINAL law suit. I would infer, that technically under Thai law to say that such and such a company is a rip off, or that the service is crap, they can technically legally wham you with a lawsuit. That is how ridiculous the defamamtion law is here, and it would be wise to realise it every time you type something on a website if you are sitting in Thailand talking about a Thai company or a Thai person.

I think the reason that the case by CP against the TV got dropped, is technically he named Thai Rice, not a specific brand, and as such CP wouldn't have been able to prove direct damage. Public interest and the truth is also not a cast iron defence, if the damage caused to someone or a company is sufficient.

In Thailand, defamation is a criminal offense under Chapter 3 Sections 326 up to 333 of the Thai Criminal Code. There are two kinds of defamation:

1) Simple defamation (Section 326) — Whoever imputes anything, to the other person before a third person, in a manner likely to impair the reputation of such other person or to expose such other person to be hated or scorned.

2) Libel (Section 328) — If the offense of defamation is committed by means of document publication, drawing, painting, cinematography, film, picture or letters made visible by any means, or any other recording instruments, recording picture or letters, or by broadcasting or spreading picture, or by propagation by any other means.

Penalty for defamation constitutes imprisonment ranging from one year (Section 326) to two years (Section 328). However, the Thai Penal Code stipulates that any person making a statement “in good faith by way of fair comment on any person or thing subjected to public criticism” shall not be guilty of defamation. Moreover, if a defendant can prove to the court that a statement is true, he will not be subjected to punishment for such statement. But the court will not allow proof of truth as a defense if the statement is personal in nature and such proof will not benefit the public.

Edited July 19, 2013 by Thai at Heart

[catweazle]

If the adage "a picture is worth a thousand words" is truly correct, then I am lost for words

Edited July 19, 2013 by catweazle

[jamhar]

"Torrentors take note you may want to invest in a VPN if you have not already."

I like how Coconuts is handing out advice.

and yes I guess I will

[jamhar]

I like they way they use a pic of a farang nerd and not the home grown variety.

You mean someone like this?

kim-jong-il.jpg

PB, dude

I just lost my lunch.

You have to warn people with pics like that!

[Thai at Heart]

"Torrentors take note you may want to invest in a VPN if you have not already."

I like how Coconuts is handing out advice.

and yes I guess I will alt=w00t.gif width=18 height=20>

i think you will find that VPN's are illegal in Thailand. The internet, free as long as you follow Thailand's rules.

[culicine]

I guess they want to crack down on torrent sites because it's having a major impact on their local pirated CD trade !!!

I haven't bought a CD in ages...

[jamhar]

So the Coconuts is handing out illegal advice?

but thanks, and noted. i'll have to find another avenue thats legal.

PS i'm really serious. I dont want porn enough to go outside the law for it!

[schondie]

All the usual hot air, domain names may change but nothing will become hard to find. Trying to remove "unsuitable" stuff off the net is like trying to push water uphill by hand. It ain't gonna happen.

I'm sure nobody will miss their favourite stuff after this comes into effect.

[thelegend]

Is that photo a likeness of the average TV poster one wonders...

cant figure out if thats one funny looking gentleman or a woman with a "tash"....either way that "person" says raving axe murdering serial killer to me...

NOPE!! BOTH WRONG!! That is the reality of that hot chick you imagine you have been emailing at date in Asia

[bluecheesefan]

This post from another topic on proxies and VPNs does a nice job of breaking down the law. Essentially, you can use these tools if you wish to access legal material. If using to bypass and access illegal material then that is a problem.

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/334588-proxies-vpn-and-other-information/

[drink75]

I thought every farrang in Thailand already used a VPN, how else can you watch decent TV! I use vpntv.co.uk

[brubakertx]

That's his Thai wife, before he bought her a new car, house, and before she told him to leave her alone, and get a divorce. lol

[thhMan]

We cant have more farangs reporting on the actual state of affairs, corruption and rascist attitude towards toursits.. can we....?

I would be interested to know how the english tourists numbers are going....

In Pattaya, it seems (personal opinion) that the word has gotten out about the problems tourists face in Thailand, so they are not in high numbers....

However, the Indians, Russians seem to not have heard the "news" of the constant problems tourists have here, so are flocking here and the Pattaya community is ripping down the english food menus, signs etc and replacing them with Russian.

However, what will happen when the Russians start leaking out the problems here.... Will the numbers drop???

Could this be the "real" motive for the censorship? After all, Thailand still needs, not only tourism but investment and there seems to be a lot going to upcoming countries that take a fairer approach to tourism, business ownership and land acqusistion that makes them very attractive prospects for living and carrying out business.

I find it hard to take the "The group said they would look at regulating content related to pornography, terrorism, drugs, spam, phishing and copyright infringement." reason as an entirety and really believe there is an underlying and BIG problem that needs to be kept hush hush as it directly affects Thailand as a country

Edited July 19, 2013 by thhMan

[Bluespunk]

Is that what a netizen looks like then?

[cobra1]

Is that photo a likeness of the average TV poster one wonders... width=20 alt=rolleyes.gif>

cant figure out if thats one funny looking gentleman or a woman with a "tash"....either way that "person" says raving axe murdering serial killer to me... width=20 alt=biggrin.png>

No, more like this:

Don't look at the "bod" look at the money. that's why you can't get what he can. "no money, no honey"

Thats defamation of my good name and illegal posting of my photo iam going to sue the lot of you. Was only asking the young lady for directions to soi cowboy not all farangs look the same as me

[Thaimung]

Why is that the Thai "Government" does not try and get to the cause of copyright problems? All down to back handers. And as for porn sites, what about Walking Street, Soi Cowboy etc. What does it all come down to, bribery/ corruption again!!! So the governments answer - stop porn sites and some youngsters selling a few dodgy goods. What crap!

[Thaimung]

And the Government wants to limit/ ban pornography? Go down to Walking Street Pattaya and you get the real thing shoved in your face. I know what I prefer.....

[jbrain]

Thailand already blocks some pornography sites as well as some political pages.

Some ?

That must be the understatement of the year.

[newermonkey]

Is that photo a likeness of the average TV poster one wonders...

cant figure out if thats one funny looking gentleman or a woman with a "tash"....either way that "person" says raving axe murdering serial killer to me...

And its interesting the authorities will be looking for computer nerds in the early 80 using 286 PCs, (reference the 40yo picture) I dint know Thailand's scientists were so technologically advanced that they can actually send their investigators back in time 40 years!!!. Perhaps they are now getting help from a time traveling monk who has special powers?

"Depicted in the photo is Mr, Ernie Grumpwisttle, inventor of the backspace key and made famous by being the first person to hack into the girl guides website".

(Just kidding for those who believe everything in print)

[Kristensen]

Who is the guy in photo ?

[bangkokheat]

hypocrisy in action, love it

[denby45]

What a disaster. I am in UAE and sick of getting the dreaded message "Blocked site". Now I have to put up with the same crap in Thailand?

Den

[bangkokheat]

Who is the guy in photo ?

roger

[navara]

what ever you say, nobody will listen to you.

[alocacoc]

The funny thing is, that Thai ISP's cache popular torrents and seed them to the peers. In this case, you're able to get really hi-speed downloads.

[keithet]

_{What about using a proxy to watch tv shows on Hulu, Netflix, etc ? With these sites they wont allow downloading you can only watch programs with good shows.}

_{If Im watching a Tv show with a proxy should I expect the police to crash down my door?}

_{Im just watching movies and tv shows because Thai tv is not entertainment it is boring}