Abhisit Declares War on Foreign Media (Those Pesky Thaksin Sympathizers)

Bangkok Post:


The government is launching a "full-scale" information war against former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra and his followers who are using the overseas media to attack the administration, Prime Minister's Office Minister Sathit Wongnongtoey says.

---

The government would identify some of the foreign journalists who backed Thaksin in ways that damaged the country, Mr Sathit said, but he gave no further information.


Abhisit is getting desperate and more creepy all the time.

Imagine if Thaksin had declared war on the foreign media in order to stifle Abhisit and the Democrats, every media outlet in Thailand would be screaming bloody murder.

What is more sickening is that when Abhisit gives an interview with the foreign press, he always says that there is more freedom, more transparency, more democracy now than ever before. We know all know that is an outrageous lie.

Abhisit already has the military owned media, ThaiPBS, and most of the privately owned media, like The Nation, in his pocket, and he has shut down all the Red Shirt radio and televison media and their websites.

But that is not enough.

Now he needs the foreign media to do his bidding too.

I don't know if the foreign media will be happy about being declared the enemy of the Thai government.

Maybe the foreign media will come to understand that that the way the Thai government wishes to control them is the same way in which the elite wish to control the poor masses through intimidation, threats, insults and control.

American Journalist Gets 8 years for Espionage in Iran; Suwicha gets 20 years and Chiranuch facing 50 years in jail

Reuters:


U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Saturday she was very disappointed by Iran's decision to sentence Iranian-American journalist Roxana Saberi on spying charges and would raise the case with Tehran.

The sentencing comes as Washington is seeking to engage Iran on a range of issues and the decision to send Saberi to jail on charges of spying for the United States could complicate those efforts.

"I am deeply disappointed by the reported sentencing of Roxana Saberi by the Iranian judiciary," said Clinton in a statement released by the State Department.

ISNA news agency in Iran quoted an unnamed judiciary official as saying Saberi had been sentenced to eight years for espionage and that she could appeal her sentence.

The State Department has repeatedly called the charges against Saberi "baseless and without foundation."

Here is Giles on Suwicha Thakhor:

What kind of country and society imprisons someone for making comments on the internet? What kind of Foreign Minister encourages armed conflict with neighbouring countries in order to distract attention from internal problems? What kind of government comes to power by a combination of a military coup, two judicial coups together with street violence, bribery and threats? What kind of Prime Minister tells lies to the foreign press and Oxford academics about the state of democracy and the use of the draconian lese majeste laws? What kind of ruling class uses “the love of the King” to justify a military coup, terrorist acts by its supporters at international airports and severe censorship? Yes, Thailand is now firmly among the ranks of tin-pot despotic regimes around the world.

That the Thai ruling elite, the military and the fascist PAD yellow shirts, together with the mis-named Democrat Party, should lock up people like Suwichai Takor for 10 years is not surprising. All that Suwicha did was to post a comment about the Monarchy on the internet. The fascist PAD leaders who used street violence and blocked the airports are still free and unlikely to be put in jail. The Generals who abused their power in a coup are still racking in the money. No one should be surprised that there is no justice in Thai courts. There is no transparency and accountability of any major public institutions, including the Monarchy, the Judiciary, the Government and the Army. The judges have their own version of the lese majeste law to stifle any criticism.

What should surprise and worry us is that almost the entire Thai NGO movement, almost the entirety of Thai academia and all the mainstream media have kept silent, or worse, supported this destruction of free speech and democracy. And what should anger us also, is that Amnesty International has refused to do anything of substance to defend prisoners of conscience in Thailand.

And remember the case of Chiranuch Premchaiporn, the webmaster of Prachatai online, who is being charged with multiple counts of lese majeste and is facing 50 years in jail for comments she didn't even make.

Political Prisoners Thailand/Prachatai/Matichon has just reported another Thai woman is facing multiple charges for making copies of leaflets.

Where's the champion of free speech, Kavi? Still propagating for the military?

Censor Happy Democrats

List of 29 controversial websites

The Nation

Democrat assistant secretarygeneral MP Thepthai Senpong Tuesday revealed the 29 websites with content deemed harmful to the monarchy.

He said the first five listed websites were extremely damaging as they were aimed at toppling the monarchy. The other 24 websites were negligent in keep an eye on content and comments posted on their websites.

1. www.youtube.com/StopleseMajeste

2. www.2519me.com

3. http://hellosiam.blogspot.com

4.http://rukchard.blogspot.com

5. http://chakridynasty.googlepages.com

6. http://www.midnightuniv.org/

7. http://www.sameskybooks.org/

8. http://www.prachatai.com/05/th/home/

9. http://www.newskythailand.com

10.http://www.chupong.net/

11. http://www.sapaprachachon.blogspot.com/

12. http://www.pccthai.com/web2/

13. http://www.datopido.newsit.es/

14. http://www.serichon.com/

15. http://www.Sapaprachachon.org/index.thml

16. http://s125.photobucket.com/albums/p73/nicolejung99/?

17. http://www.weloveudon.net/

18. http://www.mvnews.net/home.php

19. http://www.cptradio.com/

20. http://www.thaipeoplevoice.org/

21. http://www.nationsiam.com/frontpage/Itemid,1/

22. http://www.arayachon.org/

23. http://www.siamreview.net/

24. http://www.warotah.blogspot.com/

25. http://www.killerpress.wordpress.com/

26. http://www.gunner2007.wordpress.com/

27. http://www.tltglobal.com/web/

28. http://thaijournalistdemocraticfront.com/

29.http://www.secondclass111.com/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1

I think it is important to have this documented, so I am just republishing it in case they disappear into the web universe without a trace. Also, we can keep track of what is being censored by the government.

After Election, Government Stills Behaves Like a Military Dictatorship

BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) - A Thai TV news show was blocked from broadcasting an interview with deposed Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, which contained reactions to his allies' victory in last weekend's election, senior editors said Friday.

Channel TITV, which is controlled by the military-installed government, planned to air an interview with the deposed leader on Wednesday evening but the program was replaced at the last minute, said Jom Petchphradub, the program's host who conducted the interview in Hong Kong.

Continued

Bangkok Post: ICT Blocks Hi-Thaksin.net

ICT Ministry blocks pro-Thaksin website

(BangkokPost.com)

Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Ministry blocked the pro-Thaksin Shinawatra website www.hi-thaksin.net on Friday after it carried messages saying that a vote for the People Power party (PPP) is synonymous to voting for the ousted premier.

The website was inaccessible as of Friday afternoon.

The block came a day after the Election Commission urged the ICT Ministry to ban the site if it continued to post messages that could reignite social divisions between pro- and con-Thaksin groups.

The website, set up by supporters of Mr Thaksin, said people would get Mr Thaksin as leader if they voted for PPP leader Samak Sundaravej.

It also claimed that if people vote for the Democrats, they would get controversial publisher Sondhi Limthongkul, a key member of the anti-Thaksin People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), which led mass rallies against the Thaksin regime las year.


I thought ICT was supposed to get a court order before blocking websites.

Bangkok Post via Thai Crisis: The EC Views Hi-Thaksin.net a Threat to National Security

EC wants ban on Thaksin internet site


MONGKOL BANGPRAPA


Bangkok Post


The Election Commission has urged state agencies to ban the pro-Thaksin website www.hi-thaksin.net, after it carried messages saying that a vote for the People Power party (PPP) is synonymous to voting for deposed prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra. Election Commissioner Sodsri Sattayatham said the election watchdog would ask the Information and Communication Technology Ministry (ICT) to ban the website if it continued to post messages that could reignite social divisions between pro-and anti-Thaksin groups.

The messages were inappropriate, she said, and ran counter to His Majesty the King's request for social unity, made during his birthday speech on Tuesday.

I guess any time the king makes a speech a bureaucrat can interpret his words any way he sees fit to stifle political speech and ban websites. I thought the king was above politics and his name wasn't supposed to be invoked regarding political matters. I think Sodsri has proven she isn't capable of managing and overseeing the election. Who is she to interpret the cause of social divisions? For Budda's sake, an election is the ultimate codification of social divisions-and she is running that show.

---

ICT inspector-general and spokesman Tanirat Siripachana said the ministry would examine the website if the EC requested it to do so. It could take legal action if it found the website contained messages harmful to national security.

Let us see what happens tomorrow. I bet that it will be banned. I don't see why the EC can't warn the webmaster. If the website is in violation of the law for particular articles, such as in violation of the TRT ban, then it should be warned. This whimsical bureaucratic need to censor and ban everything in sight really drives me crazy.

Epoch Times: 'Nine Commentaries' Ban Tests Right to Freedom of Expression in Thailand

The Thai translation of the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party, an award winning editorial series published by The Epoch Times, was banned in Thailand by the Royal Thai Police on Oct. 8—although whether the government intends to enforce the ban is not clear.

The order, issued by the Royal Thai Police Printing Office of the Special Branch, describes the printing of the Nine Commentaries as using Thailand as a base to attack the Chinese regime, and says it "may affect the good relationship between Thailand and China." The office banned the sale or distribution of the Nine Commentaries using Article 9 of the Printing Act of 1941.

According to the Freedom Against Censorship Thailand (FACT) Web site, the Thai newspaper Matichon published the order to ban the book in its Oct. 10 issue. Under Thai law, a book is considered officially banned once the order is printed in a government gazette or any daily newspaper.

When The Epoch Times called the Special Branch to enquire why its publication was banned, printing officer Suttipong Changariyawong said: "This is related to the national security; I am not in the position to answer this."

Mr. Changariyawong said the decision to ban the book was made by a committee of six individuals from the Royal Thai Police.

Thailand is the first country aside from the Peoples Republic of China to prohibit the sale or distribution of the Nine Commentaries.

link

The Nation Supports the Government on its Draconinan Anti-Democratic Cyber Crime Bill

Today's Nation editorial supports a government bill that would monitor and prosecute anybody who disagrees with its political ideology, in Thailand or abroad. Typically, The Nation can't be honest about its intentions.


In defense of the Cyber Crime Bill:

Contrary to the fears expressed by some-civil liberty advocates, the law is not intended to give authorities too much power to impose censorship, restrict freedom of expression, or infringe on individual rights and privacy. Indeed, the law seeks to enhance individual privacy: under the Computer Crime Act, employers are forbidden from screening or monitoring employees' e-mails without prior notice.

Note how The Nation equates political freedom with employers monitoring e-mails, as if that was the most important aspect of individual freedom. How does not taking an unauthorized peek at employee's e-mails an "enhancement" of privacy? It doesn't enhance shit.

However, the true intention of The Nation's stance in support of this Cyber Crime Bill is to defend the monarchy on the internet:

The law also bolsters the capability of law-enforcement agencies to go after international criminals as well. The law specifies that any criminal act targeting or negatively affecting a person in Thailand will fall into the jurisdiction of Thai law enforcers, who will be able to prosecute wrongdoers regardless of where in the world they committed the crime.


In case you missed the columns concerning the You Tube controversy and The Nation's take on free speech, here are columns written by Thanong and Jeerawat.

What happens when King Bumibol dies and Sia Oh turns out to be a monster? I guess we are all supposed to sit back and have The Nation tell us what to think.

But The Nation doesn't want to stop you just at criticizing the monarchy, but to go after pornographers as well, as if looking at naked people on the internet will destroy civilization as we know it:

Now that the law is in effect, people will have to think twice about such innocuous activities as forwarding e-mails containing information or pictures of other people in compromising positions, or circulating URLs of websites that offer content such as pornography. Senders will now have to consider the impact of this material on others because those forwarding such material can also be prosecuted for infringing on others' rights to privacy.

And here is a key passage, maybe even a psychological Freudian slip, that reveals the mentality of how The Nation manages its operations:

There had been debate about the possible liability of ISPs in cases of criminals using their resources to commit crimes. But the law makes it clear that ISPs who operate their businesses in good faith have nothing to fear. For example, ISPs that take prompt and appropriate action against criminals to stop them from using their networks to commit crimes or take remedial measures will not be prosecuted as accessories to criminal actions.

Well, we all know that The Nation will tow the junta's propaganda line in order to protect its business, and the editors will defend the junta in the name of furthering their careers.

In other words, Suthichai and Thepchai will keep up their anti-Thaksin, pro-junta campaign and, in return, we get to see their delightful mugs and shitty interviews on Thai TV. However, if you don't tow the militarist line, Suthichai, Thepchai, Tulsie, Sopon, Thanong and the others want the Thai police( like they don't have better things to do with their time) to hunt you down wherever you are in the world and prosecute you for your political speech.

Now, The Nation wants to make sure that that Thai cyberspace is criminalized, so that we can all enjoy an internet that is free from naked ladies and anti-monarchy speech. Lovely. It is comforting to know that The Nation, a major media company in Thailand, is taking the sides of the old yentas at The Ministry of Culture, the royalists-militarists, and that old worthless fart Sithichai at MICT.


On a similar note, in today's Bangkok Post, there is an article on how Big Brother wants to monitor your physical activity on the streets of Bangkok. Perhaps this will be as effective as the traffic light system.

Bangkok Post Editorial: Opposes New Cyber Crime Bill

Editorial

Cache

Bangkok Post

Excerpt:

Not only does the bill threaten the freedoms of individuals and media organisations with disproportionate jail sentences for vaguely determined crimes, it also hands broad-ranging powers of surveillance and access to communications systems to "competent officials". Such laws violate privacy rights and are used as a stick to threaten individuals and media organisations into practising self-censorship.

The laws also do not allow for sufficient judicial oversight for the exercise of powers that intrude on the right to privacy and freedom of expression. Such power in the hands of any government without sufficient judicial scrutiny are unacceptable in a free and democratic society. And given the political instability of the country at present, these laws represent a very real danger to the future of democracy and freedom in Thailand.

The current Cyber Crime Bill should not be accepted by the public or politicians. The fact that it sailed through with a 119:1 vote in the military-appointed assembly is cause for considerable unease.

Such a wide-ranging bill that poses significant concerns deserves the scrutiny of an elected parliament. The current assembly does not have the mandate to introduce such laws and should be reminded of that fact.

I agree with this editorial, of course, but the Bangkok Post is a little too late. It should have been paying attention when the bill was being written.

If this bill does go through, it will be bad for the country in so many ways. I'm not only thinking about now or the next few years, but worried for the future.

We are still feeling the effects of the various other draconian laws written during previous military dictatorships.

Now, we have this law as well on top of all the other bad media laws.

Believe me when I say that this new cyber law will be used to censor political speech just like the other laws do when it comes to broadcast media and the print press.

The intent of the law is to censor and intimidate, as well as criminalize political opposition.

In the end, the results will be that we will have crap news in cyber space, just like we have crap news on TV and horrible newspapers that care nothing about real news. Why not make the internet a clone of the Thai media--dimwitted models in whore makeup, bad dramas, moronic game shows, sports, royalist propaganda, katoeys, and brainless news readers-- and nobody gets hurt?

It is disheartening to see Thailand choose the China, Vietnam and Arab world route regarding censorship. This is 2007. And after all the things that happened in the last century, it disgusts me that people willingly choose totalitarianism over political freedom.

Bangkok Post: Juntacrats Crack Down on Freedom in Cyberspace

Cyber clampdown ripped by foreign watchdog

cache


Bangkok Post


New York-based Human Rights Watch says the military-backed government has undermined Thailand's free political debate with its unprecedented crackdown on Internet critics. Since the Sept 19 military coup that ousted former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, Thai authorities have launched a censorship campaign of the Internet that has blocked half a dozen websites deemed critical of the current government, said the human rights group in a statement out of New York.

"A major complaint about Thaksin was his muzzling of the media and willingness to limit free speech," said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "The military-backed government promised a quick return to democracy, but it's now attacking freedom of expression and political pluralism in ways that Thaksin never dared."

Censorship of the Internet is now being carried out by the Ministry of Information and Communications Technology (MICT) and the Royal Thai Police, in collaboration with the Communications Authority of Thailand (CAT) and the Telecommunication Authority (TOT), which provide Thailand's international internet gateways.

Since the coup, the government has blocked at least five websites on charges of threatening national security, disrupting public order, or being obscene, including the September 19 Network (www.19sep.net and www.19sep.org), the pro-Thaksin PTV television (www.ptvthai.com), the online broadcast of Saturday Voice (www.saturdaylive.org and saturdayvoice.no-ip.info) and the online broadcast of FM 87.75 Taxi Community Radio (www.shinawatradio.com).

While these websites can still be accessed from abroad, local internet surfers in Thailand will get an "Access Denied" message, and the MICT's logo saying that access to such websites has been blocked due to "inappropriate content."

"The ministry has requested Google Thailand (www.google.co.th) and Google.com to block access to its cached web pages in Thailand by which blocked pages can be accessed, as well as to block by keyword search," added HRW.

The group did not mention Thailand's recent blockage of Google's YouTube.com website after it aired clips that ridiculed Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the country's revered monarch who turns 80 this year.

The site was blocked under the country's lese majeste law that makes any criticism of the royal family a crime.

It also did not mention the more recent blocking of the entire Blogspot.com site by some Internet providers acting on the MICT's "request".

Thailand, under the current government, has also passed a law to criminalise the generation, possession, storage, dissemination of and access to prohibited information on the Internet and a Bill on Computer-Related Offenses that empowers the MICT minister to intercept and seize computer data, and seek court warrants to block the dissemination of information on the Internet if such information is considered as a threat to national security.

The two laws, which have yet to be passed, include stiff penalties such as a maximum of five-years imprisonment and fines up to 100,000 baht ($2,700).

"Freedom of expression, including offering opinions on the Internet, is an essential basis of any functioning democracy," said Adams. "Blocking critical websites resembles the behaviour of China and Vietnam. Is this the company that Thailand's leaders want to keep?"


Well, I am at least comforted by the fact that I didn't imagine that I was being blocked.

The Thaksin haters got what they want. The junta has shut him down. The junta has shut down the political speech of his supporters. The junta has even shut down YouTube and BlogSpot, probably the two of the most popular internet sites in the internet.

But hey, Thaksin is gone, he can't communicate, and neither can anybody else.

The Thaksin haters have got their satisfaction, at the expense of everybody else's liberty.

I hope these myopic idiots are happy now. Everything that they accused Thaksin of, the junta has done, and much worse. But hey, Thaksin is gone. He was the source of all evil in the world, right? The democratic junta restored to us our lost liberties, right? Yeah, right.

Blogspot Subdomain is Blocked by TOT and other Thais ISPs

I think blogspot is being blocked. I want to check to see if I can still post. Anybody else having problems?

Addendum:

Still no access to blogspot. I have TOT, which is usually crappy anyway, but I don't get why blogspot is the only thing I am having trouble accessing.

I guess I can still post, though, and everybody can have access to my pearls of wisdom, except me, who will be doing this blind for a while.

I refuse to let the evil bastards keep me down.

Asia Sentinel: More on Junta's Efforts to Crack Down on Freedom in Cyberspace

Thailand Gets ‘Net-Tough Daniel Ten Kate

A vague cyber-crime law in Thailand has global scope and chilling ramifications for free speech

Be careful if you’re reading this in Thailand. You might be breaking the law.

Free speech advocates are ringing alarm bells over a new cyber-crime law passed by the military-appointed National Legislative Assembly last week by a vote of 119 to 1.

Although a final draft has yet to be released, some analysts say it represents a draconian new step in the government's efforts to suppress free speech and turn Thailand into a fully-fledged nanny state. It must receive royal endorsement before it takes effect.

Lawmakers pushed the bill through Parliament to make way for a lese-majeste lawsuit against Google for refusing to remove videos insulting to King Bhumibol Adulyadej from its video-sharing website, YouTube. But just as the law was approved, the government announced that Google retreated and offered to ban any videos deemed offensive to Thailand’s esteemed monarch.

Continued


Who is getting punished by this law?

Certainly not the old bureaucratic dinosaurs like Sittichai who don't use or understand the internet. Sittichai isn't even Thai. He comes from a Kuomintang soldier family that served Chiang Kai Shaek, and that probably explains his apparent hostility to political freedom.

Certainly not the Thai masses who don't have access to fixed phone lines, computers, and the internet.

Certainly not the sakdina elite who don't want anybody challenging their myopic view of the world, which propagates that they know everything by virtue of being born into wealth or an aristocratic family.

No, the only people who are being punished are the liberal minded, educated minority that believes in personal responsibility and freedom.

Bangkok Post: Community Radio Broadcasts Interview with Thaksin, Junta Gestapo Agents Pay a Visit

After Thaksin calls, officials drop by

BangkokPost.com


The military junta and the Public Relations Department on Thursday inspected the Confidante community radio station hours after ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra called to talk to listeners on-air. The station then went silent. Council for National Security chairman Sonthi Boonyaratkalin said that he assigned the Internal Security Operations Command (Isoc) to find more information on the radio station and report to the CNS.

In the broadcast, which was repeated by the Confidante station just before it went off the air, Mr Thaksin called for an early election, and said people would not tolerate any delays in the election, points he has made in previous interviews overseas.

Bavorn Techa-in, chief of the National Broadcasting Commission which is under the government's PRD, said he was assigned to inspect the station, which is in the northern Bangkok suburbs in Nonthaburi province.

Mr Bavorn said the station had been set up unlawfully. He denied, however, that there was any order to shut down the station.

Mr Bavorn may have been economical with the truth. Other media reports quoted the chief of the PRD as saying he had issued an order to close down the radio station.

Either way, Confidante radio stops airing its program on Thursday afternoon. One report quoted staff as telling the PRD inspectors that broadcasting equipment was broken, and they had to send it out for repairs on Thursday morning.

The inspectors seized a tape recording of the 15-minute call and talk by Mr Thaksin, who phoned the station from London late on Wednesday.

Mr Thaksin called the low-powered community radio station, which can be heard in many parts of Bangkok.

Announcer Chupong Theethuan told the AFP news agency he was "shocked and speechless" when he realised the person on the other line was the ex-premier.

It was the first time Mr Thaksin had spoken to any Thai media since the Sept 19 coup. Mr Thaksin said he believed people would not tolerate any delays in the election.

He told the Council for National Security and the government that they need not worry about him, but instead should use their time to solve problems of the country.

He thanked his supporters and gave them encouragement to go through the problems they faced.

The content of the broadcast was not especially newsworthy. Mr Thaksin said much the same thing in interviews with the foreign media earlier this year.

The ousted premier mentioned buying Manchester City league but refused to give details. He only said it will benefit Thailand if he purchased the Premier League team, without clarifying how.


1997 Constitution

Section 63. No person shall exercise the rights and liberties prescribed in the Constitution to overthrow the democratic regime of government with the King as Head of the State under this Constitution or to acquire the power to rule the country by any means which is not in accordance with the modes provided in this Constitution.


Section 65. A person shall have the right to resist peacefully any act committed for the acquisition of the power to rule the country by a means which is not in accordance with the modes provided in this Constitution.


My stance is that as long as Thaksin has not been indicted, hasn't had his liberties restricted through a legal process, and has not been convicted of a crime, he can do whatever he wants as long as it is within the law.

I don't see any harm in talking to his supporters on the radio. He didn't ask anybody to rise up against the government or tell his supporters to go on murderous rampages in his name.

And these dunderheads who run the government don't seem to get that every time they make a big deal about Thaksin, he becomes a big deal.


Here is more in the Bangkok Post on the same story:


FM station raided and shut down

Thaksin interview on air sparks crackdown

Yuwadee Tunyasiri


Broadcasting regulators yesterday raided and shut down a community radio station which ran an interview with ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, and threatened to crack down on thousands of illegal community radio stations. The FM 87.75 station was raided and closed down yesterday after the Public Relations Department, the regulator of community radio stations, found that it had no licence to operate.

Department chief Pramoj Rathavinij said yesterday that he ordered drastic measures against the stations which aired comments from Mr Thaksin for national security reasons, adding the department would take this opportunity to deal with around 3,000 illegal community radio stations across the country.

The deposed leader called three radio stations known to be sympathetic to him on Wednesday night.

Besides the FM 87.75 community radio station, he called the FM 92.75 taxi drivers' community radio and the internet radio station run by the Saturday Voice Against Dictatorship website.

Continued


I thought one of the reasons for the coup was that Thaksin was censoring his political opposition.

I guess all the hypocritical Thaksin haters are happy that their beloved junta is now playing from the same play book.


Update:


Two men arrested for running community radio station without license


Two men were arrested Friday for operating 92.75 MHz community radio station without license.

Police and Public Relations Department officials raided the station of the Taxi Drivers Club at 2:30 pm and arrested the house owner, Shinawat Haboonnak and the station director, Phansak Sabu.

The two were charged with operating the station without license.

Police and the PR Department officials took the action after former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra called into the programme to talk to his supporters.

Shinawat said the station had stopped broadcast on air for four days because its transmitter broke down. However, the station broadcast through its website, www.shinawatradio.com.


I wonder where are all the free speech and human rights groups. Where is the mainstream media?

Junta agents shut down a community radio station and arrested the operators for interviewing Thaksin. Other stations are on the hit list.

In Chiang Mai, three anti-coup activists were detained by junta agents and taken to a military based for "questioning."

All this is happening and nobody does anything.

But hey, as long as some people can simmer in their hatred for Thaksin, it is OK for the rest of us to suffer under this new seeping totalitarianism.

Bangkok Post: Sensible Discussion About Censorship in Thailand

Clipping the Net


DON SAMBANDARAKSA' s report on a recent roundtable discussion on Internet censorship in Thailand shines a light on an issue clouded by confusion and secrecy


'The question of censorship is simple. Do we reduce the freedom of the Internet to conform to Thai society today, or do we increase freedom in our society to match the Internet? In my opinion, that decision was already made in article 78 of the 1997 constitution (on universal access to ICT). However, when the ICT Ministry was set up, their staff forgot to read the constitution."


Continued



What I thought was interesting is that there really isn't a law that regulates the internet right now, so the ICT ministry just capriciously censors whatever its wants.

But, from what I remember, there was no censorship before Thaksin. I think it was him or one of his social order cronies who went nuts over censoring the internet.

Bangkok Post: Fascist Sitthichai Wants YouTube to Give Names to the Police in Lese Majeste Controversy

Government demands YouTube reveal user identity

BangkokPost.com

cache


The latest development came on Friday, just as the kerfuffle over the Internet videos appeared to be dying down and headed for a mutual resolution which would remove insulting videos and reopen YouTube.com to all Thai visitors. The Information and Communication Technology Ministry re-escalated the battle against the anti-monarchy videos on Friday, saying Thai authorities would demand YouTube.com hand over the Internet addresses of those who uploaded the clips.

The number of clips insulting the monarch has mushroomed after news spread around the world that Thailand had banned the popular site.

Despite claims by Google that some clips had been removed, the most popular such videos remained on the site on Friday afternoon.

Now, ICT Minister Sitthichai Pookaiyaudom says authorities wanted to charge those who posted the mocking video clips with lese majeste, the crime of offending a monarch, which is punishable by up to15 years imprisonment.

"The police will ask for information from the company to file criminal charges against them," he said on Friday.

Mr Sitthichai did not say what might happen if YouTube refuses to hand over the information. A decision by YouTube or its owners to give such information to the Thai government would earn Thailand and Mr Sitthichai a firestorm of criticism across the Internet, and by civil rights groups around the world.

Even if YouTube or Google were to roll over and give the government the IP addresses, it would take more work to track down the actual people involved.

As of now, no one knows where the uploaders of the insulting videos live. IP addresses can be traced to an Internet company, which then would have to be compelled to match the Internet Protocol address to a specific user. There is little chance that a foreign court would allow such an invasion of privacy, but a Thai Internet provider would probably turn over such information in a case of insulting the monarchy.

Mr Sitthichai issued the threat to demand IP addresses two days after Google, which owns YouTube.com, informed the ministry that it would remove controversial video clips from the website. In turn, the ministry cancelled plans to try to launch a cirminal suit against Google at the Bangkok Criminal Court on Friday.

Mr Sitthichai said the ministry would unblock the YouTube website "immediately" - when all the clips were gone.

But there is great uncertainty over whether the videos will be removed. The text of the letter to Mr Sitthichai from Google vice president Kent Walker has been released, and Mr Walker said:

at least two of the videos cited by a Thai complaint would stay as they did not break lese majeste laws.

"They appear to be political comments that are critical of both the government and the conduct of foreigners," the letter said.

"Because they are political in nature, and not intended insults of His Majesty, we do not see a basis for blocking these videos," said the letter.

As of Friday at 4:30 p.m. Thailand time, all or most of the offensive clips were still on the YouTube.com site, according to informants able to access the website. And the government's attempt to block the site also remained in place.


I have been doing a little research. Thailand is actually breaking the law right now because it is violating The Universal Declaration on Human Rights and The International Covenant on Civil and Political rights.

This junta stated that it will respect all of its international obligations. This Thai government, which is an illegal government by the way, is forbidden to prosecute people over freedom of expression issues.


The Universal Declaration on Human Rights (UDHR), which the UN General Assembly adopted in 1948, defines the right to freedom of expression at Article 19 as follows:

Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes the right to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.

Thailand ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR)28 in January 1997. This is a legally binding treaty that in Article 19 guarantees the right to freedom of opinion and expression in very similar terms to the UDHR:

1. Everyone shall have the right to hold opinions without interference.
2. Everyone shall have the right to freedom of expression; this right shall include freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or through any other media of his choice.

Also, the Thai government can't dictate to a foreign company domiciled abroad what to do, and it certainly can't compel YouTube to disclose the information of one of its users, especially over political speech.

I haven't seen the actual videos, because I am in Thailand, but somebody sent me a screen shot. There is no doubt that the videos were conveying political speech. The first video was actually protesting against the jailing of Oliver Jufer.

Some of the more unflattering videos weren't nice, but they were definitely protest videos.

Bangkok Post: Thai Totalitarianism Coming to Cyberspace

Thailand gets new cyber crime law

By Supichaya Rakbua

Bangkok Post

The chief immediate effect of the new bill will be to outlaw any attempt to get around government censors to access any of the tens of thousands of sites censored for moral or political purposes, or "to damage the country".The government pushed the new law by saying it hopes the bill will provide an effective legal tool to fight cyber crime, including theft of data and chatroom contacts that lead to rape.

The National Legislative Assembly approved the Cyber Crime Bill, which gives officials power to crack down effectively on hacking and internet-related crimes through harsher punishments.

The bill sailed through its third reading on Wednesday by a vote of 119 to 1. It requires royal endorsement before it can be formally enacted into law.

The bill regards as a crime the intention to withhold internet protocol (IP) addresses and violators are subject to severe punishment, according to the NLA special committee assigned to scrutinise the law.

The IP is a unique address used to identify computer users while communicating with others on the network. However, the committee said, "ill-intentioned users" often hide or falsify their computer addresses so that they can easily carry out illegal acts and get away with them.

The committee believed tighter controls on IP addresses would help tackle the root cause of cyber problems.

Penalties apply to all illegal acts using the internet, including those carried out abroad and deemed to "damage the country both directly and indirectly".


I thought this last coup was supposed to bring more democracy and political freedom.

The generals lied, of course, and there won't be any consequences for their lies.

Now, what were the reasons for the coup again?

Here is the rundown of the what has occurred since the "democratic" coup:

Thaksin is free and still has all his money.

Thai Rak Thai party members are free, organizing to be in power again, and still have all their money.

No indictments against anybody for any corruption or malfeasance during the Thaksin years.

More corruption since the coup.

More terrorism since the coup.

No democracy since the coup.

A horrible constitution will replace the 1997 constitution.

The generals are dipping into the state coffers for propaganda purposes.

The generals are dipping into the state coffers for political purposes.

The generals are putting themselves at the helms of state agencies again, interfering in business again, and taking pleasure trips all over the world using the tax payer's money.

The economy has stagnated and by all indicators slowed a lot since the coup.

The generals handpicked legislators have passed laws that are moronic.

The general's policies in the South have led to more violence.

The general's economic policies have caused a lack of confidence in the foreign community.

The generals have nationalized a foreign asset, iTV.

The generals have wages various right-wing nationalist propaganda campaigns to boost their popularity.

The generals have dressed themselves up in yellow and have hidden behind sufficiency theory to justify their horrible performances and idiotic policies.

And now, the "democratic generals" are putting the screws to those in cyber space who oppose their idiocy. Why shouldn't they? The generals already have the Thai broadcast media, the newspapers, and radio stations in their back pocket, so why shouldn't they control the internet also.

But, of course, only Fonzi at his insignificant little blog and a few others are bothering to point any of this out, as Thai totalitarianism continues to roll on without any criticism.

Variety Via 2 Bangkok: Thai Censorship Board Cuts Up Apichatpong Weerasethakul's film "Syndromes and a Century"

Thai director withdraws 'Syndromes' Weerasethakul at odds with censors

By KONG RITHDEE

Variety.com

BANGKOK -- Thai director Apichatpong Weerasethakul has withdrawn his film "Syndromes and a Century" from commercial release after censors demanded cuts, which he says are unreasonable.

Censorship board responded by threatening to make the cuts itself and has refused to return the print to distributor Bioscope.

Thai censors have demanded that three scenes be cut from arthouse pic, a move that has stunned producers and local cinephiles and raised further questions about a moral crackdown under the country's military-backed government.

"Syndromes" preemed in competition at last September's Venice Film Festival and has since collected awards on the fest circuit. It is a Thai-French-Austrian co-production commissioned as part of the New Crowned Hope series celebrating the 250th anniversary of Mozart's birth.

Controversial scenes in the movie about the memories of two doctors include an image of a young monk casually strumming a guitar; a scene of four doctors drinking whisky in a hospital storeroom; and a scene of a male doctor kissing his girlfriend in the hospital's locker room.

A representative from the Thai Medical Council said that the scenes involving doctors are improper and do not portray good conduct by medical professionals. "Drinking liquor is OK, but drinking it in a hospital is not," Supawat Pothong of the Council's law department said.

The scene showing the monk playing the guitar is against the Buddhist precepts, according to the censorship board.

Continued


You can follow the story over at 2Bangkok here


Sign the petition against the censorship board here


This is definitely another "jump the shark" moment for Thailand's best and brightest in the moral crusader bureaucracy.

Don't these idiots get that movies are fiction. The board wants to cut the movie because it harms the image of doctors and monks by portraying them in a politically incorrect light.

1. Doctors drinking whiskey at work
2. A monk strumming a guitar

This shit is what they think will bring down Thai civilization, yet the censorship board could give a fuck about all the horrible TV shows and movies that are everywhere on TV, in the video shops, and in the movie houses.

I haven't seen "Syndromes" and it could be horrible, but this is a film that is getting a lot of play all over the world, especially for an art house film. You'd think the government would be happy that a Thai artist is getting some international recognition. Instead, it wants to butcher the film.

Why didn't these assholes butcher "King Naresuan" which was filled with blatant lies and historical inaccuracies? Of course, we know the answer to that question.

Why not censor that stupid gay cowboy movie that is both offensive to gays and cowboys?

Deconstructing Chang Noi: Hits Homerun with Column on Censorship

Inconvenient truths of censorship

Chang Noi

The Nation


Censorship is nearly always a form of denial, an attempt to hide a truth or limit its power.

If someone wants to write or shout something quite meaningless or uninteresting, then nobody takes much notice anyway. Censors reach for the blue pencil, the scissors, and the off switch when there really is something that most people want to know and a few people want to hide.

Every Thai government gets the urge to censor. In the political culture, there is a memory of the good times (for governments) when they could stop most criticism by one means or another. But over the past three decades, suppression has become more and more difficult. There is a growing audience of people who want to know what is going on, and hence an expanding business opportunity in supplying that demand. Even if government controls the mainstream electronic media and can heavy the press, there are other channels. Way back the popular method was leaflets. Then came faxes. Then SMS messaging and community radio. And now email, blogs and websites. This sequence has an important feature: the old forms were local, the new ones are global.

But censorship is not what it used to be. Consider the case of the royal biography which was banned in Thailand before the book's publication in the US last year. Despite the ban, photocopied versions circulated widely in Thailand even before the publication date. Purchase through online booksellers has not been too difficult. Parts of the book have been scanned and placed on the Web. Passages have been translated into Thai and also placed on the Web or circulated in other ways. Cheap illegal photocopied versions have been on sale furtively in the city. The content of the book has been widely discussed in Web forums.

Continued

Good column. My only complaint is that he chickened out and refused to say the name of the book, which is Why the King Never Smiles by Paul Handley. Other than that, I agree with the column. Also, I would love to know who the academics and journalists are that disagree with the censorship, because they can't be his patrons at The Nation.

The Nation Continues its Hysterical Right Wing Campaign Against YouTube

EDITORIAL

Freedom comes with responsibility

The Nation

The government is right to demand that YouTube remove video clips deemed offensive to Thais

Should video clips insulting His Majesty the King posted on YouTube, the video-sharing website, be protected as freedom of expression? We definitely do not think so. Far from it, we condemn the individuals responsible for posting several clips on YouTube that seek to degrade our King. Moreover, we also question the actual motivations of YouTube, which has insisted on keeping the ugly videos posted.


Question the motivations? WTF? What motivations would YouTube have? I'd wager a lot of money that the executives at that company could care less about the monarchy of Thailand.

"While we will not take down videos that do not violate our policies and will not assist in implementing censorship, we have offered to educate the Thai ]Information and Communication Technology] ministry about YouTube and how it works," said YouTube spokeswoman Julie Supan.

In effect, Supan is implying that video clips insulting the Thai King do not violate YouTube's policies. What kind of twisted policies was she talking about? Will YouTube tolerate video clips that defame the religious icons of other countries?

The Nation's writers really are shameless liars without a bit of integrity amongst any of them.

1. She was implying that the offensive videos could be blocked without blocking the whole site.

2. King Bumibol is a king. He is a mortal man who will die soon. End of story. Kings, queens, and other politicians are mocked on YouTube. King Bumibol is not Jesus, Mohamed, Zeus, Thor, Krishna, a boddisatva or the Lord Buddha himself.

3. The right-wing fanatics at The Nation are nuts. Their notion that King Bumibol is a religious icon is frightening.

When the ICT authorities learned about the controversial video clip posted in the US last week, they immediately sought cooperation from YouTube. They asked that YouTube remove the clip. If YouTube had done so, the matter would have ended there. But YouTube said "no". This forced the ICT to move last Wednesday to block the entire YouTube site. There followed much criticism that the military-installed government of Thailand had once again imposed censorship without any regard for freedom of expression. This subject has received widespread attention. The Nation has received a great deal of letters, most of which denounced the ICT Ministry's action and also suggested that Thailand could not keep up with the Internet world.

I agree with YouTube. I would have told those fascists at ICT to go fuck themselves also. Why should a US company bend its knee for Thailand? Would a Thai company cave to the US government? Yes, you can stop laughing now. If the US government ever made threats or demands against a Thai company concerning matter of free speech, I guarantee every right-wing Thai kook would come out of the woodwork and you would have protests and flag burnings in front of the US Embassy. They would be banging the drums of Bang Rajan and burning George Bush in effigy.

Would The Nation remove anything from their website that could be offensive to Americans? We know the answer to that. The answer would be a resounding no. And The Nation would be right for sticking to its guns.

It has been six months since the coup and after all that has happened I still can't comprehend how journalists from what was once known as a fairly progressive newspaper can still take the side of a military dictatorship, especially when it comes to censorship.


We are amazed by the whole episode. First, they let somebody insult our King. Then they lecture Thailand on how to embrace the Internet without any reservations.


Why the hell should YouTube be responsible for what individuals do? Thailand is backwards. These idiots at The Nation are part of the problem.

All students in US journalism school have to take a course on the First Amendment of the US Constitution, which protects freedom of the press and freedom of expression. One can go to a public place to air grievance against the government or a public leader and be protected by the First Amendment. But if one were to cry "fire" in a packed theatre during a movie, then one would not be protected by the First Amendment.

This example is pure fallacy. That offensive video was political speech and it would be protected under the US Constitution. It is not the equivalent to crying fire.

In short, freedom of expression must come with responsibility.

This is a lesson the hypocrites at The Nation have never gotten at all.

YouTube is preaching freedom of expression on the Internet. But it fails to exercise that freedom with responsibility.

Although the original clip was removed by the YouTube user who created it, similar videos have popped up since. By yesterday morning, some 20 clips related to the controversy were reportedly posted on the site. Most of them mocked the King and the Thai government, but others featured YouTube users discussing free speech, censorship and cultural sensitivity.

In many circumstances, Thais will cave to authority in public life. When you challenge a free people with censorship in a public arena where there is anonymity and freedom, they will fight back, which is what makes the internet so great, because people can express themselves outside the traditional media that limits the parameters of political debate. Many people from oppressive countries are able to express themselves on the internet. What The Nation is denouncing is a good thing. I say the more political discussion the better.

In Thailand, the King is held in utmost reverence. He is not only head of state but also a spiritual leader of Thailand. It is wrong on the part of YouTube to equate the Thai King with George Bush by suggesting that Bush has been the target of similar ridicule. By tolerating the insulting video clips, YouTube is also holding up the Thai people's faith in the monarch to ridicule.

This is a bullshit argument. It is the same thing. George Bush is the head of state. King Bumibol is the head of state. Also, YouTube has nothing to do with the video itself. This argument is specious. The only person ridiculing the king is the video maker.

Yesterday, Sitthichai Pookaiyaudoom, the ICT minister, vowed to continue blocking YouTube until the offensive clips about the King are removed. Anybody in his capacity would have done the same. Sithichai was also right to have accused the firm's parent company, Google, of practising double standards.

"Those clips are very harsh to the feelings of Thai people and our culture," Sitthichai said in an interview with a Thai television channel yesterday. "Google has said they have no censorship policy, but they earlier agreed to censor their website in China when the same kind of dispute occurred, because China is so much more powerful compared to Thailand."


Again, another bullshit argument. How can a stupid video that nobody saw be offensive to Thais and Thai culture? Do these idiots think Khun Somchai working 12 hours a day in a field in Nakhon Nowhere without a computer could give two shits about this?

Also YouTube and Google are not the same thing. The situation is completely different. Whether one agrees with it or not, Google and the Chinese government made an arrangement before launching Google.cn. Thailand has no such arrangement with Google or YouTube about politics and censorship, at least as far as I know.

We understand that it is impossible to go after all these stupid video clips, but at least YouTube must try to do something. Quite to the contrary, it does not take Thai sensitivities into consideration at all. This matter really needs broader debate. We are ready to listen. But for now, we do not accept YouTube's arrogance.

Why should YouTube act as a censoring arm of the Thai government? The argument is just crazy.

As for arrogance, this editorial says it all.

By the way, The Nation is not ready to listen to any counter arguments. They took their comment section down recently, probably because of my constant harassment, so there won't be any debate on this editorial or on this topic except in the blogosphere.


This is from the Bangkok Post

YouTube's director of marketing and global spokeswoman Julie Supan noted that YouTube also hosts scurrilous videos which attack US President George W. Bush. This is breathtakingly insulting. She seems oblivious to the difference between a monarch and a politician. Even more troubling, she doesn't appear to know or care that YouTube has many videos attacking Thai politicians including the current prime minister. No one has a problem with that.

The unfortunate yet repeated comparisons of the Thai monarchy and the US presidency by Ms Supan display a deep and endemic lack of knowledge about the world and its vast differences. But despite this cavalier dismissal of the Thai nation's and government's complaint, YouTube is far from the libertarian, say-anything service that Ms Supan implies. Pornography aside, the website routinely removes tasteless and political videos. Anti-Muslim videos are removed if any viewer complains, not just governments or religious bodies.

The Thai education system is a disaster, because most educated Thais don't seem to get that the President of the US is the head of state as well as the head of government.

King Bumibol is the head of state. George Bush is the head of state.

So, yes, it is the same thing. A head of state is a head of head state, regardless if s/he is a king or president.

Also, when King Bumibol endorsed an illegal military junta and abrogated the 1997 Constitution, he set himself up for attack by those who wish to live under a constitution rather than an ad hoc monarchical/military/bureaucratic system. Some people are pissed off and they are expressing themselves online.

Also, as Bangkok Pundit has pointed out here, Thais have no problems insulting and ridiculing the heads of state of other countries, and the Thai press does it frequently. This is a crime in Thailand, but only lese majeste for the Thai Royal Family is enforced.

Is Thailand Blocking You Tube Again?

For some users, YouTube disappears

By BangkokPost.com

Some Internet users reported on Wednesday morning that Thai authorities appeared to be blocking the popular video site YouTube, perhaps for the second time in less than a month.The block could not be confirmed. Many users were able to access the site; others said they could not reach it.

An Internet engineer in Bangkok, who asked to remain anonymous, said that the block appeared to be at the main Thailand gateway maintained by CAT Telecom, which claims to have a monopoly on all international Internet traffic.

"All traffic to the CAT Internet providers seems to be blocked at CAT's router," said the engineer. "It doesn't help that they only have two (customers) to begin with."

But most users of one of the two major high-speed Internet services in Thailand were able to reach YouTube as usual as of noon on Wednesday, several hours after other users reported being blocked.

YouTube has many controversial videos concerning Thai politics, but a user uploaded a serious attack on His Majesty the King last Sunday, an act some blamed for the possible blocking of YouTube.

Sitthichai Pookaiyaudom, the minister of information and communication technology, promised early this week to block websites he or his staff considered to be pornographic, offensive to the monarchy or a danger to national security.

Blocking YouTube, which has hundreds of thousands of videos, would be highly controversial, even if offensive clips remain on the site. It already has been criticised as throwing the baby out with the dirty dishwater.

In a similar case last month, many Internet users in Thailand claimed they could not reach YouTube because of a block - but others had no problem reaching the site.

As Post Database writer Don Sambandaraksa wrote about the last YouTube partial outage in his column in today's newspaper:

NOTE: link is http://www.bangkokpost.com/Database/04Apr2007_data71.php

"[W]hen something as blatant as censoring YouTube occurred, nobody seems to be responsible for it, or for finding out who did it. The Ministry of ICT (MICT) said it was not their fault while the TOT and CAT also denied responsibility."


I can't get to You Tube also. My Thaksin video isn't showing up. Also, on my websites unrelated to Thailand, the video is being blocked.