Petition Filed For An End To Internet Censorship

[Jai Dee]

Thai group petitions for end to Internet censorship

A new group advocating freedom on the Internet filed a petition with the Thai Human Rights Commission asking for an end to online censorship.

The petition was signed by 30 people, including many academics, and Freedom Against Censorship Thailand (FACT) which said 70 international organisations have expressed their support.

"I think this is a major issue for the future of Thailand," said CJ Hinke, the originator of the petition.

"If people don't have all the information, they are not fully informed and without a fully informed public, you can't expect people to make the right decisions."

FACT, which was formed earlier this month, is the first organisation of its kind in Thailand seeking to end the censorship of more than 35,000 websites in the country.

The group said the government blocks 2,500 web pages, including some from the BBC, CNN, Yahoo News and articles from Yale University Press about Thailand's King Bhumibhol Adulyadej.

At least 11 percent of the websites blocked contained criticism of ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra or his Thai Rak Thai party, the government's handling of the violence in southern Thailand, and the September 19 coup that overthrew Thaksin, the group said.

When users in Thailand try to access the pages, they receive a green screen saying the site was blocked.

Hinke said that the government has insisted the sites needed to be blocked "to preserve Thai social harmony".

Hinke says censorship of websites has increased since the coup, when the junta imposed martial law and curbed civil liberties.

"I see freedom of the Internet as a way to develop a democratic society," he said.

Hinke said if the government refuses to comply with the request, he will sue the ministry. He said the group is also planning to put another petition online and to circulate software that would allow Internet users to access blocked sites.

Source: AFP - November 16, 2006

[John K]

Good story, I hope it flys.

[Tony Clifton]

Is it just me or has the cyberpatrol been scrapped or at least told to calm down. The coup seems to have stopped the useless censorship that went on before Sept. 19.

There seems to be wayyyy less censorship than there was under Thaksin.

[Old Man River]

Is it just me or has the cyberpatrol been scrapped or at least told to calm down. The coup seems to have stopped the useless censorship that went on before Sept. 19.

There seems to be wayyyy less censorship than there was under Thaksin.

I am not good at posting links, but below is copied from yesterday's Bangkok Post.

"The ICT Ministry will soon put forward draft Acts to the National Legislative Assembly on cybercrime and on web sites that are pornographic or considered lese majeste, allowing officials to arrest, fine and imprison offenders."

[Jai Dee]

I am not good at posting links, but below is copied from yesterday's Bangkok Post.

"The ICT Ministry will soon put forward draft Acts to the National Legislative Assembly on cybercrime and on web sites that are pornographic or considered lese majeste, allowing officials to arrest, fine and imprison offenders."

That may be related to this topic.

[astral]

"The ICT Ministry will soon put forward draft Acts to the National Legislative Assembly on cybercrime and on web sites that are pornographic or considered lese majeste, allowing officials to arrest, fine and imprison offenders."

I see there is no mention of a Trial.

Is everyone arrested automatically guilty??

[Steph1012]

"The petition was signed by 30 people, including many academics, and Freedom Against Censorship Thailand (FACT) which said 70 international organisations have expressed their support."

Thats an entire 30 people or about half the size of an average government school class. These NGO's have no concept at all of being out of touch. Surely their are bigger issues than this in the world.

Human rights group should concern themselves with real issues as these stupid side shows ridicule them and lessen support when they try to collect money or gather support against real miscarriages of justice.

To propose that pornographic material should be available to all children, Thaksin and his ilk should be alowed to destabalise the country, Al Qaeda should be allowed unlimited air space un hindered to recruit terrorists is absurd.

It's just trendy lefties like you have in the USA posturing on serious issues.

I am suprised that the press is printing this shit from these idiots and it just goes to highlight the problems of Political Correctness in the media outlets of the world. Would they straight faced print a demand from any group of 30 people claiming to be acedemics?

30 white expats demanding bar fines be reduced as it hinders our philandering and is a restriction of trade? Course not.

Edited November 16, 2006 by Steph1012

[younghusband]

Is it just me or has the cyberpatrol been scrapped or at least told to calm down. The coup seems to have stopped the useless censorship that went on before Sept. 19.

There seems to be wayyyy less censorship than there was under Thaksin.

Perhaps you could enlighten those who do not monitor formerly banned sites which are now apparently accessible.I'm not talking about specific sites but would be genuinely interested to know what general areas have been freed up since the coup?

Why do I think I won't get a sensible answer to my question?

[Tony Clifton]

Is it just me or has the cyberpatrol been scrapped or at least told to calm down. The coup seems to have stopped the useless censorship that went on before Sept. 19.

There seems to be wayyyy less censorship than there was under Thaksin.

Perhaps you could enlighten those who do not monitor formerly banned sites which are now apparently accessible.I'm not talking about specific sites but would be genuinely interested to know what general areas have been freed up since the coup?

Why do I think I won't get a sensible answer to my question?

First and foremost, the Patriot Act doesn't apply to me. Please try again tomorrow.

[younghusband]

Is it just me or has the cyberpatrol been scrapped or at least told to calm down. The coup seems to have stopped the useless censorship that went on before Sept. 19.

There seems to be wayyyy less censorship than there was under Thaksin.

Perhaps you could enlighten those who do not monitor formerly banned sites which are now apparently accessible.I'm not talking about specific sites but would be genuinely interested to know what general areas have been freed up since the coup?

Why do I think I won't get a sensible answer to my question?

First and foremost, the Patriot Act doesn't apply to me. Please try again tomorrow.

As expected.My guess is this joker expected the junta to ease up on internet pornography.

[Tony Clifton]

[Indifferent]

hmmmm....30 people.

More than that complain about the censorship on thai visa

Complete non-event!

[sriracha john]

Is it just me or has the cyberpatrol been scrapped or at least told to calm down. The coup seems to have stopped the useless censorship that went on before Sept. 19.

There seems to be wayyyy less censorship than there was under Thaksin.

I think the little Cybercop logo was thrown out of office with the coup. I no longer see the little b#stard riding his horse.

*edit*

for younghusband's benefit, the little guy had even made appearances on thaivisa.

Edited November 16, 2006 by sriracha john

[Tony Clifton]

Is it just me or has the cyberpatrol been scrapped or at least told to calm down. The coup seems to have stopped the useless censorship that went on before Sept. 19.

There seems to be wayyyy less censorship than there was under Thaksin.

Perhaps you could enlighten those who do not monitor formerly banned sites which are now apparently accessible.I'm not talking about specific sites but would be genuinely interested to know what general areas have been freed up since the coup?

Why do I think I won't get a sensible answer to my question?

First and foremost, the Patriot Act doesn't apply to me. Please try again tomorrow.

As expected.My guess is this joker expected the junta to ease up on internet pornography.

They have, amongst other things.

Since you are yet AGAIN "guessing" on my behalf, I have just tried Googling for porn and found no censorship whatsoever.

I thought I had asked you to add me to your ignore list some time ago.

I'm no joker, but you sir are a wan...

[younghusband]

Is it just me or has the cyberpatrol been scrapped or at least told to calm down. The coup seems to have stopped the useless censorship that went on before Sept. 19.

There seems to be wayyyy less censorship than there was under Thaksin.

Perhaps you could enlighten those who do not monitor formerly banned sites which are now apparently accessible.I'm not talking about specific sites but would be genuinely interested to know what general areas have been freed up since the coup?

Why do I think I won't get a sensible answer to my question?

First and foremost, the Patriot Act doesn't apply to me. Please try again tomorrow.

As expected.My guess is this joker expected the junta to ease up on internet pornography.

They have, amongst other things.

Since you are yet AGAIN "guessing" on my behalf, I have just tried Googling for porn and found no censorship whatsoever.

I thought I had asked you to add me to your ignore list some time ago.

I'm no joker, but you sir are a wan...

I knew I wouldn't get a serious answer to my question from this fellow.For what it's worth I would be quite surprised if there was any change in banned websites.But perhaps some knowledgeable person will advise.

[sriracha john]

Do some looking on your own.

See if you can find any site banned in Thailand now...

Under Thaksin's Gestapo days.... it was much more prevalent and the logo popped up left and right.

[Jai Dee]

For those that missed it...

[h90]

Is it just me or has the cyberpatrol been scrapped or at least told to calm down. The coup seems to have stopped the useless censorship that went on before Sept. 19.

There seems to be wayyyy less censorship than there was under Thaksin.

I didn't get any cyber-police anymore since 19th. Before I got it on total clean pages. Like once they had complete geocity blocked.

For me it looks like cyberpatrol has gone but I didn't test porno pages or online casino at all.

[kmart]

"<snip>" and "<snip>" are back up again!

All is well in the world again....

/Mod Edit - inappropriate comments deleted.

Edited November 17, 2006 by Jai Dee

[sriracha john]

"<snip>" and "<snip>" are back up again!

All is well in the world again....

/Mod Edit - inappropriate comments deleted.

I hadn't known it before... but vasectomy websites needn't have been blocked earlier.....

[ourmanflint]

seems they're also blocking educational websites in the USA, ones that explicitly teach Thai.... that's bl_oody weird don't you think

[sriracha john]

seems they're also blocking educational websites in the USA, ones that explicitly teach Thai.... that's bl_oody weird don't you think

that's interesting... could you provide some of these website addresses, please?

[ourmanflint]

sure thing

http://www.seasite.niu.edu/Thai/

this one is blocked on my ISP

[sriracha john]

sure thing

http://www.seasite.niu.edu/Thai/

this one is blocked on my ISP

Hmm... just opened right up for me. As a sidenote, it looks like a very good reference source on a number of things... I appreciate that, but I'm sorry it doesn't open for you, however it doesn't seemed blocked.

[ourmanflint]

how odd! Maybe it is the ISP then, I can only access it when I turn my Proxy on!!!

And yes it is a great resource, I agree, I'm glad it was posted in the language forums.

[sriracha john]

how odd! Maybe it is the ISP then, I can only access it when I turn my Proxy on!!!

And yes it is a great resource, I agree, I'm glad it was posted in the language forums.

The Internet in Thailand is an absolute quagmire sometimes for any number of reasons, eg. just this morning I was unable to access The Nation nor the MCOT News websites... but had no difficulty with any other websites, then 2 hours later, *POOF*, no problem.

With Thaksin's Boy Wonder on Horseback logo (graciously provided by Jai Dee earlier) you knew absolutely when a website was blocked by the government.

Is it an access problem bringing up the page or do you get information that it is actually being blocked when the site tries to come up?

Edited November 18, 2006 by sriracha john

[astral]

I find it all very weird. The only porn sites I have ever seen are all protected from youngsters by the requirement for a credit card to gain access.

Surely this is enough??

[kmart]

Most of the good free porn sites are back up accessible again. even the ones with inappropriate-sounding URL's. Yippee!

[Steph1012]

Most of the good free porn sites are back up accessible again. even the ones with inappropriate-sounding URL's. Yippee!

And the lesson here for the next Government attempt at censorship is to limit their scope. They should have learned now the enormity of such a task and concentrate the next effort where it is most effective.

Get at the real hardcore, dangerous filth. Stick to that and hit it hard. In the unlikely event that you wipe it out, then broaden your scope.

Keep it real!

[Jai Dee]

Stop messing with Internet access and free debate

If one cannot stop the sun from rising in the east, or stop the Thai police from taking bribes, then forget about censorship of information on the Internet.

This kind of censorship is the worst violation of freedom of expression and access to information, as it instantaneously affects millions of Internet users. So when it happened in Thailand right after the September 19 coup, it was appalling.

Let us be candid why Internet censorship is happening now. First of all, it has been due to growing criticism of the September 19 coup, as some sectors of Thai society disagree with the power seizure. Some such views come from the intellectual community, while others are from the remnants of the deposed Thaksin government.

In this sense, the current government is no different to previous ones when it comes to intolerance of dissident views. The Ministry of Information and Communication Technology does not have a mind of its own; it follows a political directive.

Secondly, the proliferation of pornographic websites is a major problem, not only in Thailand but globally. MICT officials view these sites as a threat to Thai moral values and standards. Of course, it would be difficult to argue against this concern, even though Thai society is considered one of the world's most hypocritical as far as sex is concerned. Where on earth, if not in this country, can foreigners just walk off a plane and be greeted by a plethora of young female and male escorts. This kind of moral hypocrisy has continued for decades. The danger here is that the effort to counter porno sites has now turned ugly, as it has permeated into new areas of academic freedom and access to information.

Before the coup, from 2002 to 2005, the MICT under Thaksin blocked at least 2,800 (mostly) porn sites without much fanfare. Of these sites, less than 10 were considered as "anti-royal" due to their content and views expressed. However, one of these sites, Manusaya.com, proved to be very controversial. After months of surveillance by an independent group of experts, this site was traced to Sweden. The most mind-boggling disclosure was that many associated with the previous government were involved in one way or another in propping up this highly damaging portal. The fact the site had been operating for over three years before it was shut down early this year shows the labyrinth of connections and powerful support it enjoyed. At one point, Thai Police Headquarters even considered the site the work of Thai-Muslim insurgents based abroad. A special request was made in April to the Chinese government, which dispatched technicians to block the site.

Let the truth be told: this particular site was a bone of contention during the Thaksin era, as it demonstrated the lack of commitment in tracking down website creators and collaborators.

When it was shut down, it sent a chill through the now-deposed PM and his close aides. That experience has somehow directly affected the coup leaders and the new government. Now, the prevailing attitude is that any website containing messages or views deemed negative to the conventional wisdom on the monarchy will not be tolerated and must be dealt with swiftly.

The greatest mistake came when websites put up by Midnight University and other academic circles were blocked last month. So were the BBC and CNN websites, intermittently, with their reports and analysis of the coup and the role of the Thai king in politics. That was anything but a knee-jerk response. The MICT's effort to further impose Internet censorship will tarnish the country's already battered image and reputation.

Such an alarmist mindset could further undermine freedom of expression, which was guaranteed under the now-defunct Constitution of 1997. After all, the sense of d้jเ vu itself emanated from the King's famous speech on his birthday in December last year, in which he explicitly said that he could be criticised if he did something wrong. This was an unusual remark by the King. Obviously, nobody in Thailand would have that kind of intention anyway.

But since March the issue regarding royal power has been widely debated. This is rather unusual in a country that rarely discusses this subject around the coffee table for fear of a lese majeste charge. This phenomenon should be welcomed rather than shunned or suppressed. A review of this archaic law should also be considered.

When various groups of respected academics, both here and abroad, raise these issues to increase public awareness, they do it in good faith and sensitively. Their arguments are civilised, constructive and objective. In fact, the public's interest in the topic should be a blessing in disguise. In more ways than one, it shows the public is attentive over the future of the Thai monarchy.

This was demonstrated visibly in the several months preceding the coup. The outpouring of affection and reverence for the current King should not be a cause for concern but one of jubilation.

The Thai authorities, especially the Council for National Security, should interpret this as a sign that royal topics can be discussed more widely.

Thus, it is a discouraging sign when the interim government tries to rush through 28-article legislation on computer-related crimes. Article 13 of this draft bill specifies that those who post online content considered as a threat to national security, an offence under the national security law, or a cause for damage to the reputation of a third party can be jailed for five years and fined up to Bt100,000.

It would be wise to allow civilised debate on respected websites on all issues, including the monarchy. Trying to ban signed articles and views - not anonymous ones, as appeared on banned sites - would rub salt into the wound, which has already been swollen many times over. The government should learn from our three-decade-old political experience that polarisation should be prevented at all costs.

In cyberspace the public does not have to choose between the royal domain or the public domain because both can co-exist and complement each other.

Editorial Opinion by Kavi Chongkittavorn - The Nation - 20 November 2006