Internet freedom has its dark side: Thai editorial

[webfact]

EDITORIAL
Internet freedom has its dark side
The Nation

Suicide by girl who was abused online shows the dangers that youngsters can be exposed to

BANGKOK: -- In some cases, Internet "trolls" are given more credit than they deserve. In others, they are underestimated. Last week, the issue of online harassment reared its ugly head again when a 14-year-old girl committed suicide in Britain because some anonymous web surfers allegedly tore her self-esteem apart with provocative comments.

Twitter, a major social media channel, also toughened its stance against stalkers using messages to threaten targets with rape or bomb attacks.

Some may wonder why the girl who killed herself did not simply turn off her computer and go on with her life outside the cyberworld. Others understand why it must have been hard for her and other youngsters to do that. Many youths nowadays don't know how to live their lives without the Internet. When the first thing you do after waking up and the last thing you do before going to bed is check your inboxes, escaping from tenacious trolls may be easier said than done.

In Thailand, it's all about politics and one man's trolls can be another man's freedom fighters. It can be argued that both sides of the digital war deserve each other. Things can be different when one party is an innocent Internet user and the other is malicious, sophisticated and hell-bent on intimidation, destruction or harassment. Of course, there are "block" or "unfriend" buttons, but if stalkers are determined enough, chances are they will eventually find a way to remain as dark shadows following their targets.

Advocates of Internet censorship or control must be saying, "We told you so". But there's a clear line between demanding a true identity for online registration and having unlimited access to whatever a person does online. In the case of the teenage suicide, it would have been a great deterrent if the individual who told her to go and kill herself had been registered in his or her real name.

Internet freedom must be advocated, but there is no such thing as freedom to use a false identity to provoke a girl into taking her own life. The Internet has empowered people, but they must not mistake what is honest and dishonest in exercising their voice or power. False identities have mushroomed to distort polling results or what gets posted on opinion web-boards. And Internet trolls have become so common they are now accepted as a fact of online life. But when they issue death threats or drive some people to commit suicide, they have gone way too far and must be stopped.

One must not be confused between a reporter using a real name to write about the possibility of a coup on Facebook and a mysterious troll doing every heinous thing to destroy another person. Freedom is precious because it requires us to be responsible for what we do. If a person cannot be held accountable for their actions, that is simply not freedom.

Societies must pull together. Young people, in particular, should be educated on how to cope with trolls that cross the line. In fact, dealing with online stalking or intimidation should be part of every school's curriculum. That would not only help potential victims, but also serve as a warning to would-be offenders the sort of tragic results that cases of Internet abuse can have.


-- The Nation 2013-08-12

[noitom]

This editorial makes a lot of sense. Thais seem more concerned with policing political likes and voicing independent views on politics than policing their own networks for pedophiles and other deviates, hustlers, and con men who troll the Internet. Thais seem powerless against real criminals and Mr. Big THais in human trafficking and intellectual property theft, but pull no punches when busting a one off foreign person deviate or a lowly bottom tier mule or human trafficking handler.

[DocN]

Internet-freedom has no dark sides!

The internet itself may have...

[thaimlord]

Internet-freedom has no dark sides!

The internet itself may have...

IMO the internet has no dark sides either any more than has a hair dryer. It can be thrown into a bathtub to electrocute someone, or used to dry one's hair, but that doesn't make it bad or good; dark or light. The internet is an implement. The "dark side" is a reflection of some of the users.

[WhizBang]

The only 'Dark Side' is the people who use the internet (or anything else) for dark purposes.

[DocN]

Internet-freedom has no dark sides!

The internet itself may have...

IMO the internet has no dark sides either any more than has a hair dryer. It can be thrown into a bathtub to electrocute someone, or used to dry one's hair, but that doesn't make it bad or good; dark or light. The internet is an implement. The "dark side" is a reflection of some of the users.

That's why i said, it may have....

[hawker9000]

This is the world we live in. PEOPLE aren't responsible. They're victims of circumstance, or deprivation, or deserve second, third & fourth chances. THINGS are responsible, and must be controlled, regulated, or banned. And who's going to do the controlling, regulating & banning? Why government of course. And of course "government" is just people, too - and SO we must be tolerant of even government's failures, greed, corruption and abuse. (And to a large extent we are - it's called apathy.)

These are the Internet's "Wild West" days - they won't last... The end is already in sight. The US collecting every email & internet search; China's Great Firewall; it's a crime to "like" certain things in Thailand; etc. etc. etc. Controls, regulations, & bans.

I'll just bet there were parallel concerns back when the printing press was invented...

[Thait Spot]

Songkhla?

[QualityTouristNumberOne]

This is the world we live in. PEOPLE aren't responsible. They're victims of circumstance, or deprivation, or deserve second, third & fourth chances. THINGS are responsible, and must be controlled, regulated, or banned. And who's going to do the controlling, regulating & banning? Why government of course. And of course "government" is just people, too - and SO we must be tolerant of even government's failures, greed, corruption and abuse. (And to a large extent we are - it's called apathy.)

These are the Internet's "Wild West" days - they won't last... The end is already in sight. The US collecting every email & internet search; China's Great Firewall; it's a crime to "like" certain things in Thailand; etc. etc. etc. Controls, regulations, & bans.

I'll just bet there were parallel concerns back when the printing press was invented...

The "Powers that be" have been and still are slowly closing the net on all internet freedoms,for the simple fact that an ill educated and scared populace is easier to control than a well educated,organised and intelligent one,

this is also the reason why so much on the net nowadays is bullshit,reality shows and nonsense,one has to dig a bit to separate the "signal" from the white noise,

I truly feel for anyone driven to suicide by trolls and their families,but blaming the internet as a whole for such terrible things happening is like blaming a mobile phone for someone jumping off a bridge,rather than the person who told them to,

I sadly feel you are right about these days of freedom being numbered,unless we stand up for our freedoms.

"Those who would trade in their freedom for their protection deserve neither"

Ben Franklin.

[redroo]

Guns don't kill people,

People kill people with guns, or hairdryers, or the internet...

[BlackJack]

if your scard of something

kill it

[MikeOboe57]

This is the world we live in. PEOPLE aren't responsible. They're victims of circumstance, or deprivation, or deserve second, third & fourth chances. THINGS are responsible, and must be controlled, regulated, or banned. And who's going to do the controlling, regulating & banning? Why government of course. And of course "government" is just people, too - and SO we must be tolerant of even government's failures, greed, corruption and abuse. (And to a large extent we are - it's called apathy.)

These are the Internet's "Wild West" days - they won't last... The end is already in sight. The US collecting every email & internet search; China's Great Firewall; it's a crime to "like" certain things in Thailand; etc. etc. etc. Controls, regulations, & bans.

I'll just bet there were parallel concerns back when the printing press was invented...

The "Powers that be" have been and still are slowly closing the net on all internet freedoms,for the simple fact that an ill educated and scared populace is easier to control than a well educated,organised and intelligent one,

this is also the reason why so much on the net nowadays is bullshit,reality shows and nonsense,one has to dig a bit to separate the "signal" from the white noise,

I truly feel for anyone driven to suicide by trolls and their families,but blaming the internet as a whole for such terrible things happening is like blaming a mobile phone for someone jumping off a bridge,rather than the person who told them to,

I sadly feel you are right about these days of freedom being numbered,unless we stand up for our freedoms.

"Those who would trade in their freedom for their protection deserve neither"

Ben Franklin.

Well said.

If thousands of girls committed suicide every day for being heckled on the internet it would be a case for serious concern. So citing one solitary case makes it just a pathetic and dumb exercise to justify censorship and internet control. And trying to disguise censorship in the Internet as a protection measure for its users is as low as it can get.

If that one fatality justifies the call for censorship, then what should be done to curb the daily carnage on Thailand's roads?

[4evermaat]

......

 

If that one fatality justifies the call for censorship, then what should be done to curb the daily carnage on Thailand's roads?

 

+1

"...the 2nd best time to plant a tree is today." Sent from ThaiVisa app (Galaxy Note 2).

[dominique355]

The problem in Thailand is this Computer Crime Act, which was originally ment to fight crimes typical for computer and Internet.

It has been perverted to punish anybody, who uses an electronic device to do something deemed illegal, even though it has nothing to do with the typical computer crime. An example is the Lese Majesty crimes when messages are sent by a cell phone, have been considered as a "computer crime" under this law. Would he have sent the same message by post, the sencence would have been 5 years less. You know whom I am talking about.

Another example has just been given by our minister of ICT, who considers it a "computer crime" to put a thumbs up in Facebook to an idea, which the government doesn't like. It might stir unrest. Would a "thumbs-up" for Thaskin's return also be a computer crime, inciting unrest? Well, it could incite unrest, but it's only a crime if it is against the government's policy.

And that shows how censorship is used here: To silence opposition. And that's the ugly truth.

[hawker9000]

This is the world we live in. PEOPLE aren't responsible. They're victims of circumstance, or deprivation, or deserve second, third & fourth chances. THINGS are responsible, and must be controlled, regulated, or banned. And who's going to do the controlling, regulating & banning? Why government of course. And of course "government" is just people, too - and SO we must be tolerant of even government's failures, greed, corruption and abuse. (And to a large extent we are - it's called apathy.)

These are the Internet's "Wild West" days - they won't last... The end is already in sight. The US collecting every email & internet search; China's Great Firewall; it's a crime to "like" certain things in Thailand; etc. etc. etc. Controls, regulations, & bans.

I'll just bet there were parallel concerns back when the printing press was invented...

The "Powers that be" have been and still are slowly closing the net on all internet freedoms,for the simple fact that an ill educated and scared populace is easier to control than a well educated,organised and intelligent one,

this is also the reason why so much on the net nowadays is bullshit,reality shows and nonsense,one has to dig a bit to separate the "signal" from the white noise,

I truly feel for anyone driven to suicide by trolls and their families,but blaming the internet as a whole for such terrible things happening is like blaming a mobile phone for someone jumping off a bridge,rather than the person who told them to,

I sadly feel you are right about these days of freedom being numbered,unless we stand up for our freedoms.

"Those who would trade in their freedom for their protection deserve neither"

Ben Franklin.

Oh, I wish you'd left out the Ben Franklin quote. Watch what happens now...

[tingtongfarang]

I think we can expect more of these editorials and such as a run up to blocking many social networking websites, The government cant get to grips the efficiency their crimes and lies are open for the world to read and comment on,

Although taking FB away from the thais could lead to more revolt than they imagine :-)

[Thai at Heart]

They still don't get it.

A crime in the internet is just a crime like any other, no better no worse. Now if they could start enforcing laws correctly in the real world the internet world would take care of itself.

But, the powers that be hate the anonymity and ability to communicate to many so easily. They can't handle it.

[scorecard]

Do any members have knowledge of whether any other countries have specific laws about 'like' etc?

I'm not suggesting that I support 'like' could be a crime, just curious

[hawker9000]

Do any members have knowledge of whether any other countries have specific laws about 'like' etc?

I'm not suggesting that I support 'like' could be a crime, just curious

See the "'Liking' political rumours is a crime" article & thread... (I think it's the one Dominique is referring to.)

Edited August 12, 2013 by hawker9000

[h90]

The dark side of freedom, lets take away some freedom because freedom hurts people......

We must censor everything because Pedophiles, Terrorists, Nazis, Communists, Pornos etc etc.

But thru the backdoor it will be political censorship.

Pedophiles, Terrorists, Nazis, Communists are an argument you can use for just anything.....

[Thai at Heart]

The dark side of freedom, lets take away some freedom because freedom hurts people......

We must censor everything because Pedophiles, Terrorists, Nazis, Communists, Pornos etc etc.

But thru the backdoor it will be political censorship.

Pedophiles, Terrorists, Nazis, Communists are an argument you can use for just anything.....

Warning about a coup is hurting the country? I wish the televised court in Thailand to watch the arguments.

It's actually beneficial.......

[h90]

The dark side of freedom, lets take away some freedom because freedom hurts people......

We must censor everything because Pedophiles, Terrorists, Nazis, Communists, Pornos etc etc.

But thru the backdoor it will be political censorship.

Pedophiles, Terrorists, Nazis, Communists are an argument you can use for just anything.....

Warning about a coup is hurting the country? I wish the televised court in Thailand to watch the arguments.

It's actually beneficial.......

I meant it more globally. Germany, Austria, UK are on the way to censor internet. Thailand is doing it since a long time.

[dighambara]

Freedom of expression is freedom of thought - the alternative is slavery.