So long Internet TV boxes

[RichCor]

 

I've been wondering for a while when this would eventually happen...

...next they'll want the ability to interrupt all the video stream like they do through Cable and Sat feeds.

 

NBTC controls Internet TV boxes

ThaiVisa ThaiTech Article  |  PUBLISHED ON FRI, MAY 12, 2017 5:22 AM

 

BANGKOK, 12 May 2017 (NNT) - The National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) has imposed a regulation to classify Internet TV boxes as controlled equipment. 

The regulation requires producers and importers of Internet TV boxes, such as Media Box, Android Box, Apple TV Box, TV Stick, HDMI Dongle, and Chromecast to apply for permission from the NBTC in accordance with Section 70 of the NBTC Act B.E.2008. 

Penalties for those who produce, import or sell unauthorized Internet TV boxes include a maximum of two years in jail and/or a maximum fine of two million baht.

[Jai Dee]

Topic moved to AV Forum.

 

/Moved.

[brewsterbudgen]

Is this related to the current problems with Expat TV/365 Sport?

[RichCor]

8 minutes ago, brewsterbudgen said:

Is this related to the current problems with Expat TV/365 Sport?

No, as that is worldwide issue.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Wow, so if they're really serious about that, it would seem to make criminals of any of us anytime we might come back from a trip home carrying a Fire TV / Apple TV / Chromecast, etc etc... (read that as IMPORTING). Or have one delivered from abroad via the mail.

 

I'm kind of surprised they didn't go further any simply make it a crime for anyone to POSSESS such a box/dongle that hasn't been licensed by the NBTC. After all, what's to stop them? Absolute power and all...

[HooHaa]

so, i have a box.

i can buy a box off ebay, 

or i can carry one in.

 

whats the issue?

and the minix boxes for example are not internet tv boxes if sold with stock android, you can simply install what you want anyways.

they are media players, and those are not illegal if not loaded with 3rd party bloatware. 

 

in fact the entire kodi community frowns upon people profiting off prelaoding their stuff on these boxes. even the base kodi install should not be an issue. it would be like banning pcs and laptops

 

truth be told it seems like someone it trying to revive truvisons and the terrestrial tv industry. 

asinine.

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

17 minutes ago, HooHaa said:

so, i have a box.

i can buy a box off ebay, 

or i can carry one in.

 

whats the issue?

 

 

Read the language in the OP that prohibits the IMPORTING of un (Thailand) licensed media boxes/dongles, etc. Though whether individual carry-in will be considered legally "importing" is an open question, but I suspect they will consider that importing if caught doing so.

 

BTW, you might imagine, this same kind of government crusade is eventually going to get around to going after international streaming providers like Netflix, Amazon, etc. I thought there was already some mention in that direction lately here in the news.

 

They (Netflix, Amazon) and other like them deal in 100% legal, licensed content. So piracy/copyright infringement is not the issue with them unlike in the entire Kodi add-ons arena. For the powers that be here, the issue is they currently lack the ability to CONTROL what the international providers provide. And at some point, I suspect, they'll consider that to be unacceptable for Thailand.

 

[HooHaa]

9 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

Read the language in the OP that prohibits the IMPORTING of un (Thailand) licensed media boxes/dongles, etc.

 

BTW, you might imagine, this same kind of government crusade is eventually going to get around to going after international streaming providers like Netflix, Amazon, etc. I thought there was already some mention in that direction lately here in the news.

 

They (Netflix, Amazon) and other like them deal in 100% legal, licensed content. So piracy/copyright infringement is not the issue with them. For the powers that be here, the issue is they currently lack the ability to CONTROL what the international providers provide. And at some point, I suspect, they'll consider that to be unacceptable for Thailand.

 

 

yes i realize (albeit belatedly) that they are trying to ban pretty much everything, but without banning all pcs and computers its moot.

 

yet more ill thought out legislation from the democratic junta

[brewsterbudgen]

I guess they can just shut down those like PulseTV that use servers in Thailand?

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

9 minutes ago, HooHaa said:

 

yes i realize (albeit belatedly) that they are trying to ban pretty much everything, but without banning all pcs and computers its moot.

 

 

One of the things about technology is that it's kind of like water, always finding a way around things that attempt to block it.

 

By example, it's interesting that Google just launched its own OTT live TV streaming service in the U.S. called YouTube TV, essentially a paid, online version of a traditional cable TV service aimed at so-called cord-cutters. And one of the knocks on it, at launch, was that it WASN'T available on the various streaming boxes, but only on mobile devices (IOS & Android) and via the Chrome browser & Chromecast.

 

Depending on how draconian the Thai government tries to get on this, perhaps locals here will find themselves having to move more in those kinds of directions vs the current trend for set-top boxes and dongles.

 

That said, Chromecasts and Fire TV sticks and even Roku dongles are pretty much the size of a box of matches or a tube cigarette lighter. Just saying...

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

And while we're on the subject of the government's latest crusade, here's a related and much broader offensive on the social media front. Makes for interesting reading...

 

Quote

 

Meanwhile, the Royal Thai Army’s cybercrime security centre has found more than 800 online items deemed to insult the 

monarchy over the past seven months, from October last year to April.

 

Maj-General Rittee Intravudh, director of the Army Cyber Centre, said yesterday that of the 820 items found, 365 items were posted on Facebook, 450 on YouTube, and five on Twitter. He was speaking on the 16th anniversary of the founding of the so-called cyberwar centre.

 

Rittee said the centre, in cooperation with the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society, Technology Crime Suppression Division, and the Department of Special Investigation had taken action and made these items inaccessible.

 

He said 435 items were successfully blocked and 111 items were in the process of being blocked while 274 items were new posts. Last month alone, 120 new posts were found.

 

 

[ukrules]

These so called 'internet tv boxes' are just small computers. In fact they're very much like smartphones and often run the same operating system.

 

There is an HDMI output port on the back of one of my computers, this computer is also connected to the internet. Does this make it a TV box ?

 

This law has already failed.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

13 minutes ago, ukrules said:

These so called 'internet tv boxes' are just small computers. In fact they're very much like smartphones and often run the same operating system.

 

There is an HDMI output port on the back of one of my computers, this computer is also connected to the internet. Does this make it a TV box ?

 

This law has already failed.

 

Yes, but that won't stop the authorities from arbitrarily enforcing a law against the importing and selling inside Thailand of non-Thai-licensed media devices. And potentially prosecuting those who attempt to import or sell them.

 

After all, we're living in a society now where clicking a Facebook like can be considered a crime. And that's a much farther reach that going after "unlicensed" Android TV boxes, Fire TVs, Chromecast devices, etc.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Low these many months later, interesting to see what's shown on the Lazada site these days:

 

 

http://www.lazada.co.th/shop-streaming-media-players/?q=chromecast&searchredirect=Chromecast

 

Also doesn't seem to have stopped some other Thailand-specific Chromecast vendors out there in the big wild world of LOS.

 

[mtls2005]

The NBTC has moved on - "Squirrel" - to drone registration and management. (The justification being that drones are controlled by radio waves.)

 

They're also working on fingerprinting, and facial-scanning, every SIM owner.

 

The NBTC Chairman, Army General (ret.) Sukit Khamasunthorn is, as you can imagine, concerned about "security".

 

Thailand 4.0

 

 

 

 

[Pib]

They always use the excuse of "national security."

[skippy121]

You can still walk into Pantip and Fortune IT and buy any number of Android TV boxes,

 

 

[SooKee]

On 16/10/2017 at 12:38 PM, skippy121 said:

You can still walk into Pantip and Fortune IT and buy any number of Android TV boxes,

 

 

Can still buy them on Lazada too with boxes coming from both within and outside Thailand with plenty of reviews from folks who've had them delivered within the last 4 months without problem.  The only place I've seen it referenced is Baht and Sold that will currently not allow IPTV box adverts.  The impression it creates is that no-one is paying any attention at all to this announcement, if they even know about it.  

 

The only other one I've seen that MIGHT be connected is the removal of the Apple TV from the Thai Apple online stores.  They are still there but the buy button has been greyed out for months, maybe they have to apply for a licence to sell in response to yet another knee-jerk reaction statement.

[mtls2005]

Given that just about any of 17 million phones sold here annually are more than capable of streaming media - not wanting to give the "authorities" any "ideas" - as are all PCs, and most smart-ish TVs, registering the paltry supply of Android TV boxes seems, well, so Junta-like. 

 

Now I'm off to smoke on the beach while piloting my drone and watching Youtube videos, cocktail in hand.

 

 

[SooKee]

Given that just about any of 17 million phones sold here annually are more than capable of streaming media - not wanting to give the "authorities" any "ideas" - as are all PCs, and most smart-ish TVs, registering the paltry supply of Android TV boxes seems, well, so Junta-like. 
 
Now I'm off to smoke on the beach while piloting my drone and watching Youtube videos, cocktail in hand.
 
 

Absolutely! I'd suspect there are far more PCs here than Android boxes with Kodi.


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[observer90210]

This reminds us of the dicatorship in the 80ies from the FCC , and till a few decades ago from their counterparts in many european countries. So let's be fair, and give Thailand a bit of time to catch up with the over developped wild west !

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

6 minutes ago, observer90210 said:

This reminds us of the dicatorship in the 80ies from the FCC , and till a few decades ago from their counterparts in many european countries. So let's be fair, and give Thailand a bit of time to catch up with the over developped wild west !

 

Maybe you missed the news from the U.S. earlier this week -- the FCC calling on Amazon and EBay to stop selling "pre-loaded" Kodi Android boxes.

 

FCC asks Amazon and eBay to stop selling fake pay TV boxes

https://techcrunch.com/2018/05/29/fcc-asks-amazon-and-ebay-to-stop-selling-fake-pay-tv-boxes/

 

[chubby]

On 10/13/2017 at 3:52 PM, Pib said:

They always use the excuse of "national security."

"freedom" "terrorism" "populist"  "balancing the budget"  list goes on.

 

I installed Kodi once, and I'm fairly geeky,  I couldn't figure out how to do anything, and didn't want to devote days trying to figure it out,   so  what exactly  can the boxes  do ?  Install a Pirate Bay app, and watch pirated low quality movies  or something ?

[janclaes47]

On 6/1/2018 at 9:23 AM, chubby said:

"freedom" "terrorism" "populist"  "balancing the budget"  list goes on.

 

I installed Kodi once, and I'm fairly geeky,  I couldn't figure out how to do anything, and didn't want to devote days trying to figure it out,   so  what exactly  can the boxes  do ?  Install a Pirate Bay app, and watch pirated low quality movies  or something ?

Seemingly you're not geeky enough, because with Kodi you can watch virtually every live stream from anywhere in the world, often in HD or even full HD if your internet connection speed is up to it.

 

You can watch movies in Full HD and 4K with subtitles added automatically if needed.

 

Virtually every sports event in the world live and in replay going back weeks or months.

 

But you have to be more geeky than you obviously.