Internet Censorship In Thailand

[Jai Dee]

'Worse than Singapore for Internet censorship'

An interview with The Nation

Canadian academic plays a key role in Thai campaign for unfettered access to 'controversial' sites

Thailand's leading figure in the ongoing campaign against Internet censorship, CJ Hinke, talks to The Nation's Pravit Rojanaphruk about the alarming increase in the government's censorship in cyberspace.

Though you have been living in Thailand for more than a decade, you're Canadian born. Isn't it strange that a foreigner is leading a Thai campaign?

I think that everyone has a responsibility to make the place where they live better. And the fact that a foreigner has seen the problem doesn't make it less important. I first became aware of this issue, because it impacted on my own academic research. I was also mentioning it to Thais.

The coup leaders claim they are work-ing to restore democracy. Why then should they block some Internet websites critical of the coup?

In fact, the Thaksin administration was the first to block Internet websites. When I started to fight this, it was in fact against that administration. I actually had high hopes for the coup makers. But they even set up and named the official censors. I find it horrifying in terms of human rights.

To give you the idea of the importance of how the coup leaders regard censorship the fifth announcement by the coup leaders was to direct the Ministry of Information and Technology to block websites.

It seems to me that their real goal is a hidden political agenda that they want to suppress anyone who's critical. I think criticism is wonderful thing. It's what make us human. It's what make democracy works. This government [is] out of control. Once you start to censor, where do you stop? And this is the first time where the death penalty is being instituted for cyber crime.

What can the public do to improve the situation?

On November 15, the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Thailand (FCCT) filed a petition to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC). There are 120 names on the petition and they're from every walk of Thai life; a huge range of people, all of whom are concerned about what it is going to do to democracy.

If we aren't fully informed, how can we make informed decisions?

How does the Thai situation compare to countries known for heavy censorship, like China and Singapore?

Singapore doesn't block any websites, despite their hugely authoritarian worldview, whereas in Thailand we purport to be democratic and then we don't allow people any freedom.

In China, there are 100,000 government censors. They are civil servants employed just to block websites.

Here in Thailand, we don't know how many civil servants are blocking websites because they won't tell us. They also won't tell us what websites they're blocking. They won't tell what criteria they're using.

In Thailand, it's worse because it's so hypocritical. We claim to support democracy and then we won't allow people to find out things for themselves.

The junta claim that Thaksin is behind some of the anti-coup websites. Should this be regarded as a sound reason for blocking or destroying the content?

There is all kind of crazy stuff on the Internet, some of it true, some of it not. Does that mean that we should be protected from that? Does that mean that the government should treat us as children?

I don't believe in any form of censorship. The behaviour of the present government is one of insecurity. What are they afraid of? What have they got to hide?

Some people say Thai culture is more supportive to censorship due to the patronage system and a conflict avoidance attitude.

I think that it's up to every individual to censor their own lives for themselves. This is not the prerogative of government. Don't like that newspaper, don't read it. Don't like that movie, don't watch it. There's no need for interference from the government.

Source: The Nation - 29 December 2006

[robint]

why dont you publish the names of the sites you are trying to visit?

Havent you heard of proxy servers. The average 9 year old nerd knows about this simple procedure around censorship. Perhaps you are not computer savvy

[sting01]

first I am unusre that topic fit with the neutral line of TV, it look like for me as a huge critism of the junta!

Second I do agree with, one freedom I lost in thailand was the freedom to do work for some websites. Censor happend not only for political sites , or porn site, but also for legi business (such musical stuffs) if those businesses are concurent of businesses owned by influential persons (got the problem in 2005).

For the tech person who point out the free proxy, I am still in doubt a prozy can be used for FTP protocol, or for HTTPS (while trying to access a distant database with the goal to modify the design of it).

[OlRedEyes]

Democracy cannot survive without open criticism. If the population is so sensitive, and scared of any criticism, they may as well abandon any aspiration they have towards establishing a democratic society and settle for a working authoritarian government.

[younghusband]

I'm a bit puzzled by this.I use the internet for research a lot and I have never come across censorship in Thailand.What precisely are the sites that are being blocked? I'm only aware of the PULO site being blocked which seems fair enough and I personally have no problem with that.Some time ago a frequent poster (I won't name him) seemed to think that one of the great achievements of the junta was to unblock internet porn sites.This doesn't seem very likely even speaking as one who is fairly sceptical about the current regime.But is that what we are talking about, ie pornography?And if that is the case will one of the "defenders of freedom" be brave enough to say so?

[TAWP]

why dont you publish the names of the sites you are trying to visit?

Havent you heard of proxy servers. The average 9 year old nerd knows about this simple procedure around censorship. Perhaps you are not computer savvy

I think you completely miss the point. It doesn't matter if the person intervue is computer-savvy. Nor if the rest of the worlds population is (and they aren't).

Censorship has and always will be bad. besides, if censorship is in place you can bet your behind that they will come up with laws against circumwenting it. Are you saying we should all become criminals?

younghusband>> No-one cares what sites you think are justified to block. If you don't like political sites, sex-sites, filesharingsites, gay-sites, or any other sited deamed 'dangerous' by anyone in power, don't visit them.

[yeti]

I'm a bit puzzled by this.I use the internet for research a lot and I have never come across censorship in Thailand.What precisely are the sites that are being blocked? I'm only aware of the PULO site being blocked which seems fair enough and I personally have no problem with that.Some time ago a frequent poster (I won't name him) seemed to think that one of the great achievements of the junta was to unblock internet porn sites.This doesn't seem very likely even speaking as one who is fairly sceptical about the current regime.But is that what we are talking about, ie pornography?And if that is the case will one of the "defenders of freedom" be brave enough to say so?

Try to use the internet to search on the coup, the junta, the TRT, Thaksin or the royal family of thailand, and you'll come across censorship pretty fast.

[farang prince]

first I am unusre that topic fit with the neutral line of TV, it look like for me as a huge critism of the junta!

Second I do agree with, one freedom I lost in thailand was the freedom to do work for some websites. Censor happend not only for political sites , or porn site, but also for legi business (such musical stuffs) if those businesses are concurent of businesses owned by influential persons (got the problem in 2005).

For the tech person who point out the free proxy, I am still in doubt a prozy can be used for FTP protocol, or for HTTPS (while trying to access a distant database with the goal to modify the design of it).

One of the most precious properties we have as human beings is ideas. If ideas become censored or surpressed in any way, then we all lose. I have been carefully observing the actions of both the current government and the previous government. Both have attempted to supress ideas. Whether we are foreigners living in this beautiful land or native people, all of us have not just a right, but an obligation to ensure that the free flow of ideas remains unfettered. Today it might be a web site, tomorrow it might be a post on Thai Visa, next week it might be a movie...and ultimately it might be your right to criticize the government or to speak out on any other important topic. Sting, you might not feel that the topic is fit for Thai Visa. I think the moderators have shown great courage and insight to bring it forward for discussion.

[Maestro]

Try to use the internet to search on the coup, the junta, the TRT, Thaksin..., and you'll come across censorship pretty fast.

I long to see the cybercop page and I don’t know what I am doing right but I have yet to come across a censured URL. For over a month now I have been surfing the web in Thailand, using a True ADSL connection, but no luck yet. So finally I tried your suggestion just now, in Yahoo I searched with “Thailand” and “junta”, opened the first five links in the results list, and none is blocked.

--

Maestro

[JacknDanny]

Try to use the internet to search on the coup, the junta, the TRT, Thaksin..., and you'll come across censorship pretty fast.

I long to see the cybercop page and I don’t know what I am doing right but I have yet to come across a censured URL. For over a month now I have been surfing the web in Thailand, using a True ADSL connection, but no luck yet. So finally I tried your suggestion just now, in Yahoo I searched with “Thailand” and “junta”, opened the first five links in the results list, and none is blocked.

--

Maestro

Try Ladbrokes/William Hill/Fred Done/.

For the past 5 years, slowly but surely ,the international bookmakers websites have been blocked one by one

[Tywais]

I long to see the cybercop page and I don’t know what I am doing right but I have yet to come across a censured URL. For over a month now I have been surfing the web in Thailand, using a True ADSL connection, but no luck yet. So finally I tried your suggestion just now, in Yahoo I searched with “Thailand” and “junta”, opened the first five links in the results list, and none is blocked.

Same here, it's been a long time since I've seen an ICT block message. However recently I wanted to set up a video conferencing system and was considering CamFrog, but the ICT just recently blocked it due to, let's say, too much information (the 18+ setup suggests why).

[tropo]

Try to use the internet to search on the coup, the junta, the TRT, Thaksin..., and you'll come across censorship pretty fast.

I long to see the cybercop page and I don’t know what I am doing right but I have yet to come across a censured URL. For over a month now I have been surfing the web in Thailand, using a True ADSL connection, but no luck yet. So finally I tried your suggestion just now, in Yahoo I searched with “Thailand” and “junta”, opened the first five links in the results list, and none is blocked.

--

Maestro

Same here. Before the military Coup I found many blocked sites, but since then, nothing.

[tropo]

Censorship has and always will be bad. besides, if censorship is in place you can bet your behind that they will come up with laws against circumwenting it. Are you saying we should all become criminals?

Just an observation.

On local TV here in Pattaya (and in the newspapers) the extremely graphic way they show deaths/murders/suicides shocked me. They sensationalize every incident.

I'm a avid movie-goer and noticed that a large percentage of Thai movies are horror/gore type movies. They even favour the English movies along these themes.

I later discovered that muders by firearms in Thailand are the third highest by population (per capita) in the world.

They appear to be very comfortable around blood in Thailand.

I don't believe ALL censorship is bad, and IMO they need to push censorship in different areas.

Edited December 29, 2006 by tropo

[Tony Clifton]

CJ Hinke, talks to The Nation's Pravit Rojanaphruk about the alarming increase in the government's censorship in cyberspace.

I totally disagree with my Canadian fellow here on the censorship issue. Comparing Thailand to Singapore and China? Alarming increase?

Have to agree with other posters who have also mentioned the disappearance of the once annoying Cyberpatrol or whatever joke THAT was, blocking anything randomly, even ads on Thaivisa!

[yeti]

blocking anything randomly, even ads on Thaivisa!

Given the impressive number of ads on TV, this was not really a bad thing

[younghusband]

why dont you publish the names of the sites you are trying to visit?

Havent you heard of proxy servers. The average 9 year old nerd knows about this simple procedure around censorship. Perhaps you are not computer savvy

I think you completely miss the point. It doesn't matter if the person intervue is computer-savvy. Nor if the rest of the worlds population is (and they aren't).

Censorship has and always will be bad. besides, if censorship is in place you can bet your behind that they will come up with laws against circumwenting it. Are you saying we should all become criminals?

younghusband>> No-one cares what sites you think are justified to block. If you don't like political sites, sex-sites, filesharingsites, gay-sites, or any other sited deamed 'dangerous' by anyone in power, don't visit them.

I actually share your views to a very large extent in terms of internet freedom.With a very small number of exceptions,I don't believe in censorship at all.I mentioned Pulo's site simply because it was the only political site, along with the Midnight University, I was aware of that had been blocked.It also seemed to me that given the problems in the South it was at least arguable that the government should block it.However I very much doubt whether this type of censorship achieves intended results (I'm thinking of the British Government's attempts to censor the IRA in the past.)

However nothing I have seen in your response or anybody's elses removes my suspicion that this anxiety about censorship is not driven by lofty motives, and for some it is the difficulty in accessing porn is the real driver - which seems odd in Thailand given its abundant resources but there we go.

[TAWP]

I don't believe ALL censorship is bad, and IMO they need to push censorship in different areas.

You mean, only block the things YOU don't like or don't care about?

[TAWP]

However nothing I have seen in your response or anybody's elses removes my suspicion that this anxiety about censorship is not driven by lofty motives, and for some it is the difficulty in accessing porn is the real driver - which seems odd in Thailand given its abundant resources but there we go.

I would appruciate if you refraind from trying to paint out people that are against censorship as some 'secret perverts'.

It's really pathetic ad hominids.

[younghusband]

However nothing I have seen in your response or anybody's elses removes my suspicion that this anxiety about censorship is not driven by lofty motives, and for some it is the difficulty in accessing porn is the real driver - which seems odd in Thailand given its abundant resources but there we go.

I would appruciate if you refraind from trying to paint out people that are against censorship as some 'secret perverts'.

It's really pathetic ad hominids.

You probably mean "ad hominem" although it's not really relevant in the context.As a friendly word of advice,best avoid Latin tags if you don't properly understand their meaning.

More relevantly you are wrong in your assertion that I regard customers of pornography as "secret perverts".I have no moral view on this subject one way or the other but to enjoy pornography is not a perversion.What however amuses me a little is the suspicion that the professed lovers of freedom who protest against the censorship of the Thai government may be influenced primarily by the loss of access to their favourite porno sites.If I was in charge I would end all censorship including (cough cough) self censorship, but we live in the world we live in.

What I would like to know is precisely what English language political sites are being banned.The ludicrously self-important Canadian professor in the newspaper was silent on this subject.

[Jai Dee]

FREEDOM OF SPEECH :Anti-coup website blocked again without notification

Access to an anti-coup website, 19sep.org, has been blocked again, for the sixth time in three months, its webmaster Sombat Boon-ngam-anong said yesterday.

"It's a terrible fate," said Sombat, regarding the current situation where Internet sites critical of the junta and its administration have been either blocked or destroyed.

"This is the sixth time we have been attacked without us being informed and with no one claiming responsibility."

Sombat directed his criticism at the ICT Ministry, which received orders just hours after the coup three months ago to "block or destroy" websites and content considered as anti-junta. There was no official comment on the matter, however.

"They shut us down from the gateway this time. I called them up earlier but they denied having ever blocked it. I will prove they're actually involved this time. If the regime did it, it must accept it - or deny it publicly," said Sombat, who claimed there was proof on an earlier occasion that an order was issued to block his website, which contains Web boards for political discussion and articles critical of the junta and its appointed regime of Surayud Chulanont.

Sombat insists the site doesn't contain any literature criticising the monarchy, which is illegal under Thai law.

"We do have content heavily critical of the junta, however."

Other websites such as midnightuniv.org that also contains views critical of the junta had earlier been blocked and the ICT Ministry admitted to being behind the action.

Source: The Nation - 30 December 2006

[TAWP]

What however amuses me a little is the suspicion that the professed lovers of freedom who protest against the censorship of the Thai government may be influenced primarily by the loss of access to their favourite porno sites.

Here you go again...

But here is a link so you can start some reading, since you seem unable to use the internet successfully yourself: http://2bangkok.com/blocked.shtml

You could always go here to, and follow source-urls: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Censorship_in_thailand

[JacknDanny]

However nothing I have seen in your response or anybody's elses removes my suspicion that this anxiety about censorship is not driven by lofty motives, and for some it is the difficulty in accessing porn is the real driver - which seems odd in Thailand given its abundant resources but there we go.

I would appruciate if you refraind from trying to paint out people that are against censorship as some 'secret perverts'.

It's really pathetic ad hominids.

You probably mean "ad hominem" although it's not really relevant in the context.As a friendly word of advice,best avoid Latin tags if you don't properly understand their meaning.

More relevantly you are wrong in your assertion that I regard customers of pornography as "secret perverts".I have no moral view on this subject one way or the other but to enjoy pornography is not a perversion.What however amuses me a little is the suspicion that the professed lovers of freedom who protest against the censorship of the Thai government may be influenced primarily by the loss of access to their favourite porno sites.If I was in charge I would end all censorship including (cough cough) self censorship, but we live in the world we live in.

What I would like to know is precisely what English language political sites are being banned.The ludicrously self-important Canadian professor in the newspaper was silent on this subject.

Ad Nauseam

[The Coder]

I see net censorship as modern day book burning. I detest someone of power having the liberty to enforce upon every type of person including intellectuals "you will never look at that again because your opinion does not matter, only mine does". So book burning goes non stop, every copy of each book disliked by a person of power burnt to ashes. History is being repeated, the only difference is the books of today are web sites.

[Maestro]

Try Ladbrokes/William Hill/Fred Done/.

For the past 5 years, slowly but surely ,the international bookmakers websites have been blocked one by one

Thank you, JacknDanny. I think I’ve got it now:

I expected something more thrilling, though.

Talking about thrilling, I guess you put quite some effort into the creation of your avatar and are trying to convey a message with it, but try as I might it escapes me. A humanoid with the logo of a Japanese car manufacturer as a head banging a box with the logo of another Japanese car manufacturer against his knees.

What is it supposed to signify?

--

Maestro