Bangkok Post: Spinning Sitthichai's Stupid War Against YouTube

Sitthichai challenges 'bully' Google

Bangkok Post

By Pradit Ruangdit and Nanthaphon Chongfuengparinya

The Information and Communications Technology Ministry will sue YouTube.com for running a video clip offending the monarchy, and accused the Internet operator of lying when it claimed it could not remove the clip. Google opened an office in Singapore. Minister Sitthichai Pookaiyaudom told a meeting of webmasters yesterday that he would proceed with court action as suggested by the forum.

Some people may disagree with me, but there are some intelligent Thais in this world. Unfortunately, intelligent Thais never seem to go into government service, except to steal tax payer's money. Sittichai is just going to make matters worse and bring more YouTube videos and all kinds of grief on top of the king's head that he doesn't need. Hasn't this fool ever heard of letting sleeping dogs lie? Didn't he learn from his mistake the first time? By bringing international attention to this, he is going to make Thailand the laughingstock of the world more than it already it.

He said Google, which owns YouTube, had agreed to China's request that some clips be censored. He could not see why YouTube could not do the same for Thailand.

Where is the evidence for this?

"This YouTube issue is about a private firm in the US trying to bully a small country like Thailand," Mr Sitthichai said.

No, this is about using faux nationalism and anti-American sentiment to make yourself look like a big shot.

The government's decision to block access to the clips was not politically motivated as it was done to prevent public anger from watching them.

Love the nanny state mentality.

Paiboon Amornpinyokiat, consultant of the Thai Webmasters Association, recommended the government secure a court order in the US to coax YouTube into cooperation. He said the government's approach to the issue may be construed as an order, to which the website may be reluctant to respond.

The US has something called the 1st Amendment, which actually protects YouTube in this case and any US judge will laugh Sittichai out of court for his stupidity. The US is not Thailand, where people sue each other left and right over hurt feelings.

Lese majeste is illegal and so it was reasonable for the government to seek a court order to ban the website, he said.

Lese majeste is illegal in Thailand only. And it is a law in which the king disagrees with. Stupid Thai laws are not enforceable in US courts.

The minister and representatives of the association joined a discussion on freedom of expression in the digital age at the Thai Journalists Association on the occasion of World Press Freedom Day yesterday.

In a move thought to be unrelated to the Thailand dispute, YouTube's owner Google opened an office in Singapore on Thursday.

The search juggernaut said it wanted to be closer to its customers and advertisers in southeast Asia, a market of half a billion people.

"The online environment in southeast Asia is growing rapidly, with significant developments in broadband Internet access and e-commerce activities," Richard Kimber, Google's regional managing director, said in a statement.

"We are pleased to have our newest operations in Singapore, where we can draw from the highest quality talent to further help our users find the information they're looking for, and at the same time, help local and regional businesses succeed."

Google declined to say how much it has invested in the Singapore office, and did not mention the Thailand dispute.

Mr Sitthichai, meanwhile, denied the government had violated media freedom, saying it blocked only 16 websites as opposed to 9,000 websites banned by the previous government.

Though non-elected, the government was more democratic, he said.

You got to be kidding. And this idiot is head of the communications department.

Mr Paiboon proposed the government promote self-censorship among webmasters.

Pantip.com founder Wanchat Padungrat said that instead of blocking websites, the government should encourage constructive ways of expression, for the sake of reconciliation.

He said a clear and specific law was needed to combat cyber crimes.

There are a couples things I want to point out:

YouTube and Google are not the same thing. Google owns YouTube; it doesn't manage YouTube. Am I the only person in Thailand who can make this distinction?

Google is an international multimedia company. Google, like most media companies, doesn't make editorial policy for all its various subsidiaries.

For example, Time Warner is also a massive mulitnational multimedia conglomerate that owns Time Magazine and HBO. Time Warner executives aren't making editorial policy for either company.

So Google and YouTube are not the same thing. Google cut a deal with China over the search engine long before Google bought YouTube.

The fact is Google and China negotiated whatever deal they have in place.

As far as I know, Google has no such deal with Thailand, so Thailand shouldn't cry about a deal Google made with another country. It really is none of Thailand's business what Google or YouTube do with China. It has no right to dictate to foreign companies their editorial policies. Just like the US has no right to tell Thai companies what they can or can't do in Thailand. And if the US was pulling this type of crap in Thailand, I'd be deriding it on this blog.

Also, the great thing about YouTube is that it is democratic in the sense that people can comment on the videos if it offends them. People can make counter videos. In democratic societies, that is the way it works.

In a totalitarian minded place like Thailand, they would rather censor and stifle what offends them rather than be open and free and have a discussion about what is appropriate or not.