Slashdot Mirror
Thailand Bans YouTube
An anonymous reader writes "The new government of Thailand that forced its way into power last year has banned the website YouTube after a 44 second clip was found of someone spray painting on a picture of Thailand's king. When Google refused to remove the 'offending' clip the website was redirected to a different page. This comes days after a Swiss man was jailed 10 years for spray painting on pictures of the king while drunk, and is the same government that earlier this year slammed open source software for being useless and buggy."
They put half of that outrage into their domestic problems with child prostitution and pornography creation/distribution. Why, Thailand might make real progress on an issue that actually has a moral component to it.
Ministry of Information of Thailand was effectively slashdotted. Half of me says that was a plan.
I do not believe in karma. "Funny"=-6. Do good and forbid evil. Yours, Oft-Offtopic Flamebaiting Troll.
That really isn't related to this story, is it? It's just there to agitate the average /.'er into blindly raging against Thailand.
In my day, we called that kind of stuff flamebait.
You know, like how Apple sucks and everyone who owns a Mac is a faggot.
I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
So, how much respect for other cultures do you have? How much freedom do you grant others - to define their own morality?
I've been to Thailand. It's a great place where the king is held in very high esteem. This isn't a tyranny cracking down on opposition, almost all Thais would be very shocked to see a spray-painted picture of the king. Try a stunt like that and you'll be lucky if the police gets you before the enraged mob does.
Now let's wait for the trolls to swarm in and claim that any culture that doesn't share their own values of "First Amendment" and "Freedom of Expression" must be evil and bad. Newsflash: The "total freedom or none at all" attitude only applies to western culture. Asian cultures have more than a thousand years of experience in moderation and non-binary thinking.
Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
I mean, that's why people go there, right? Well the food too, but it's really the lady-boys. I hear it's a hot spot for various radio personalities.
Blar.
The new Thiland government is quoted as saying because of all the bugs in open source software they will be installing Vista on all crucial government machines.
Well spotted, all part of the loaded statement and (mis)leading headline service offered by Slashdot when someone does not bow before one of their heroes.
Do not try to read the dupe, thats impossible. Instead, only try to realize the truth
What truth?
There is no dupe
Who needs shades of grey? With Thailand, you can put pimps pushing 8-year olds, oppressive military dictatorships, and anti-open source people together! Finally, something to hate for everyone!
You are reading a copy of my copyrighted post.
When will the madness end?????!
clifgriffin > blog
So am I going to get /. banned from Thailand? If I say "Hey Thailand! Your king is a doody-head!"? Will that do it?
Oh no... it's the future.
WHO CARES?
Ok so it's censorship and we should all care as we are "free." However, that wasn't really my point. This is hardly news. What do you expect from countries like this. For a place like Thailand banning YouTube is hardly their worst crime. Let's take an example from a week ago that was in the news. Main Jailed for 10 Years for Insulting King -- ok and we care about them blocking YouTube? I think there's a tons of worse things they do. Blocking YouTube is probably making them more productive if anything. Not saying it's not wrong or outrageous.. but in comparison to other things that go on there.. it most certainly is.
Here are assorted images of Thailand's king. Here's Thailand's government website. (english)
Let's show them what we and the Gimp think of them throwing people in prison for 10 years for vandalism.
This is horrible. What will the people of Thailand do without their daily dose of teenage girls lipsyncing to pop songs? This has to be aginst the Geneva convention somehow.
I don't defend the policy, but it's consistent with their other anti-king-defamation practices. In Thailand, tearing money is a crime because it is considered a grave insult to the king (the currency bears the king's image).
I think you could learn a lot from Thong Daeng
echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;
The best policy is probably to ignore it. If the king is so reveered in Thailand it isn't like many people will want to view the clip anyway.
if someone made a picture making fun of the King which was subsequently indexed by Google Image Search and made available to anyone on the internet, what would they do? Shut down Google?
It was a far-right wing military coup that overturned a democratic nation. If the killers in uniform were anywhere to the left of Richard Nixon, Bush would be at war with them now. Regardless, we've a full on superconservative military dictatorship throwing people in prison for ten years at a whim. Let's call a fascism a fascism. Why are people afraid of the word? Fascists. FASCISTS.
He was recorded on surveillance cameras defacing the portraits on the king's 79th birthday. Good timing after the UK camera thread......
I'm going to take a slightly higher vantage point and just comment on the You Tube phenomenon. I find it hard to understand the whole fascination with You Tube. It seems to me that putting video on the Internet has been around a whole lot longer than You Tube. Previously all you had to do was put an MPEG file on your web server and hyperlink to it. Sure, you had to have an MPG viewer client application installed on your system, and it wouldn't open inside of the same browser window as the page you were on. You Tube solved those 2 "problems", but I wonder if that is such a quantum leap improvement in technology ? It seems more like a simple convenience to me... In other words, I don't see how You Tube is so different or amazing from any other web site / web page. Certainly I don't feel it is worth 16 Billion dollars or whatever Google paid for it.... I mean they certainly haven't made any money off of me. I have probably watched dozens of different videos and never looked at or clicked on a single advertisement. Of course this is only my opinion... Not intended to be inflammatory or a troll. So my question is... what does You Tube do so differently, that makes it worth so much in the eyes of Wall Street investors ??
I can throw as many stones as I wish; my house is made of transparent aluminum.
Suppressing fundamental rights such as freedom of speech is one thing, but claiming that open source software is buggy and useless is down right unacceptable!
vivito sicut ibi
I don't agree with censorship as a "solution", but does YouTube allow any videos? If, for example, I posted a porn (legal) or child pornography (illegal) video, would YouTube refuse to take it down because that would violates freedom of speech? If certain cultures have different views (and possibly laws??) about what is morally right or wrong, are they wrong for complaining or is YouTube wrong for refusing to accept non-Western standards?
For some reason, Ministry of Information seems 1984-ish, so answer me this: In Thailand, do browsers also keep tabs on you too?
"slammed open source software for being useless and buggy."
Heinous!
Evil bastards.
What they need to do is ban the internet. This would solve a huge problem for hundreds of thousands of gamers of WoW and FFXI that can't stand all the RMT bots running around. Thailand and China are the worlds largest producers of the most annoying people in MMORPG.
Of course it's company policy never to, imply ownership in the event of a dildo... always use the indefinite article a d
Story links to an archived version of the Wikipedia page. What's going on there? Here is the current version
"When Google refused to remove the 'offending' clip the website was redirected to a different page"
Oh by the way I'm in Thailand right now and YouTube isn't redirecting anywhere - it's just failing. (ISP is TTTMaxnet.)
Anyone who has been to Thailand can tell you that Thais are some of the most friendly, inviting people on the planet. The country is often dubbed the "Land of Smiles" and isn't even a reference to the sex trade, for which they are also famous. Thailand is called the Land of Smiles because people are always smiling at each other. They could be in the middle of an intense negotiation or even an argument, but they are always smiling.
However, there is an exception. In Thailand, you do not insult the King. I repeat, you do not insult the King.
If you do insult the King (yes, spraypainting a mustache on him is insulting), those always-smiling Thais will stop smiling, gouge your eyes out, rip you limb from limb, slit your throat from ear to ear, and rip out all of your internal organs. When the police arrive, they will help the mob, and everyone from the police to the ambulance driver to the attending physician to the coroner to the undertaker will all swear that you died of a sudden heart attack.
I am not kidding about this. Thais take their King very seriously.
They don't grade fathers, but if your daughter's a stripper, you fucked up. --Chris Rock
I lived in Bangkok , Thailand for 4 years a long time ago.
Thailand is a Constitutional Monarchy, but it is ruled by
a Military group. There have been dozens of bloodless coups
over the years.
There IS NO FORCING THEIR WAY TO POWER, the various Military
people take TURNS running the government. Hence the bloodless
coups. Pull your head out of your asses and learn about what
you speak about.
Thailand is always taking the 'conservative' position to help
impress other countries. Such is life in the real world.
I wasn't shocked and appalled until I heard what they said about open source. THAT is what makes this a true injustice, my friends!
Here in the US, it's hard for most of us to relate to why the Thai government would take this step. Their king is universally beloved by the people. Here in the West, we're used to the skewering of our political leaders and celebreties in print and on TV, but in Thailand you'd be better off insulting a man's wife than the king or queen! Just because we've arrived at the point where we respect no one and find few things worth fighting for doesn't mean that everyone else has to follow our lead.
Should a governmental body have the right to censor material that a large majority of its population finds offensive? Should Germany be allowed to block Nazi hate sites? Should China be allowed to block porn sites? Should any country be able to block material that depicts or encourages actions illegal in that country?
I lived in Thailand for a year and though I have never seen or met the king, I helped teach English at a school he funded and have been on the palace grounds where he lived many times. I can attest that the pride and admiration they have for the king runs deep and this action by the government is the equivalent of punching the guy who called your sister a slut. It may be that the whole episode is forgotten in a few days or it may create a lifelong grudge, but action to defend honor must be taken. And if you don't think defending honor is worth punching someone in the face, you're not going to understand this move by the Thai government.
"child prostitution" + "free speech restrictions"+ censorship + "Thailand says OSS is 'useless and buggy'"
== "Thailand, the country of open sores and stuffed mouths"
Could jailing someone for a trivial crime be mentioned as being equivelant to the horrors of being anti-open source, when listing the sins of a dictatorship.
I can only imagine future headlines:
JUNTA DECLARES VISTA OFFICIAL OS (and also jails thousands of dissidents)
THAILAND SUPPORTS SCO and oh yeah something about opposition groups banned
If you read the papers there, you will see that they regularly do bust child sex tourists. These folks are spending a long time in Thai jail.
You can go to Thailand and pay to have sex with as many Thai prostitutes who look like they're 12 but are really 25 as you want. However, it is a really bad idea to try to engage in actual child prostitution there. Thai jail is someplace that you really, really do not want to be.
They don't grade fathers, but if your daughter's a stripper, you fucked up. --Chris Rock
Do they have any oil we want?
Thailand for a South East Asian county has a fairly good democracy (although the coup tested this) but there is one thing you do not do and that's say anything even slightly bad against the Thai royal family, it's treated with zero tolerance. Thais simply adore their royal family so much. Nothing will anger the average Thai more.
Yes, you should respect other cultures. The same way we like the authorities to butt the hell out of our lives, the way we like privacy and the freedom to think and believe the way we want.
You know, there is a difference between trolling and pointing out the flaws in your reasoning. Just saying.
I suspect the video's finally been removed. Reports say it was uploaded by a user named 'Paddidda' - and that account seems to have disappeared.
anyone got a link? can't seem to find it
JUNTA DECLARES VISTA OFFICIAL OS (and also jails thousands of dissidents)
THAILAND SUPPORTS SCO and oh yeah something about opposition groups banned
You do realize that headlines like those, where the militant government comes to the defense of business and money interests at the expense of it's citizens is the very heart of Fascism? That was Mussolini's gift to the world. Does the Thai government have the big 4 qualities of Italian Fascism yet?
* Militarism? Check.
* Dictatorship? Check.
* Nationalist by force of law? Check.
* Corporatist by force of law? Check.
So, headlines like that ARE relevant, and certainly do speak to their "sins." We used to be Raid for Fascists, and killed them pretty dead there for a while. It's that "horror" of anti-open source rhetoric that makes you uneasy. It starts to fill in that last check box. More stories like that, where the government spews propaganda shouting down one company and praising another, takes this from 2nd rate military coup to 2nd rate Fascist military coup. And we've seen no Fascist government that wasn't RABIDLY expansionist.
Get some freaking perspective. Did you not grok the more serious issue?
"In other news, Al-qaeda, while chopping off the heads' of captives said, 'Open source software is useless and buggy and filled with infidel lies.'" The Slashdot community responds--to the open software claims--at 11."
In other news - the productivity of the country just doubled. Nobody wasting time on GooTube.
I strike a careless pose
Enjoy the Sun http://mdsolar.blogspot.com/2007/01/slashdot-users -selling-solar.html
And whistle a happy tune
And paint right under the nose
Of the King!
Apologies to Rodgers and Hammerstein "The King and I" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_King_and_I.
--
I think there is a world market for maybe five personal web logs.
...In Thailand, the King sprays on you(tube)!
"It is the business of the future to be dangerous" -Alfred North Whitehead
America sucks! Bush sucks!
That should save about 1/2 of you the time of posting.
No need to thank me.
Upon hearing Bangkok banned Youtube, Sergey hurled a chair across the room: "Phuket!"
You mean THIS dang thong?
:-)
...or THIS one?
Can you be 100% certain that the current Bush-administration wouldn't do something similar to sites which they deem inappropriate for the public (as part of the war on (of?) terror)
The King in Thailand is much beloved by just about all Thais.
Defacing currency with his picture on it will get the same reaction as spray painting his picture anywhere else.
If you want to see a similar reaction in the US, try spray painting a picture of Jesus Christ anywhere in the "Bible Belt".
It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men. -Frederick Douglass
I lived in Thailand for seven years, and I'm trying to come up with an analogy for the slashdot crowd, (because that's how slashdotters communicate).
It's kind of like that a-hole Phelps character with his god-hates-fags rallies at soldier's funerals. Insulting the King in Thailand is that inflammatory. I told my (Thai) wife about this yesterday, and she couldn't sleep that night, and was trying to find this clip on YouTube in a righteous rage. (couldn't find it). It's hard for westerners to grasp the concept of a powerful person who is universally beloved, without cynicism.
I feel absolutely no sympathy with that Swiss idiot who spray-painted the King's picture. He's 50 years old, lived in Thailand for 10 years. He knew what he was doing. He got drunk, and decided to be 16 again. Imagine if a drunk vandal went around spraypainting the grave stone of your Grandfather.
In the end this will be a tempest in a tea-pot, as the king will most assuredly pardon the man, and he'll be kicked out of the country to go to back home. The king has publicly come out and said what a silly law the lesse-majesty law is, and how he is not above criticism, and how he welcomes people to tell him what they think.
However the law stands, because the Thai's they love them some King.
According to The Register the video's poster pulled the video. An interesting quote from the article: Sitthichai bemoaned: "We have told them [Google] how deeply offended Thais were by the clip, but they said there was much worse ridicule of President Bush on the site and they kept that there. I don't think they really care how we feel. Thailand is only a tiny market for them."
"but money is the God of Algiers & Mahomet their prophet." - Rich. O'Bryen June 8th 1786
I did, however, visit a strip club while I was there, and my understanding was that the employees were available for takeout. If you are interested in patronizing a Thai prostitute, perhaps that is the safest route to go from a child sex perspective.
I wouldn't want to think about what various sundry viruses and bacteria you'd be exposing yourself to, however. One can only imagine what critters that they don't even have names for yet you could find on these ladies, let alone your standard clap, syphilis, chlamydia, HIV, herpes, warts, etc. Yee-gads.
They don't grade fathers, but if your daughter's a stripper, you fucked up. --Chris Rock
Okay, now we're curious:
Enquiring minds must know! :-)
"Not an actor, but he plays one on TV."
They respect their king... And? It's not like they chose a dumb ass as their president and let him destroy Middle East...
Outrage about censorship on slashdot? That is rich.
the YouTube TOS prohibits porn, and they actively remove it. Graphic portrayals of real violence have also been removed in the past.
You know, every time I hear that China has further restricted their citizen's online access, I think...
What? Thailand? Oh.
I wish America would do it! Duck!
Didn't Texas ban Ozzy Osbourne for some 10 years due to a similar event?_ Antonio#Trivia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alamo_Mission_in_San
YouTube is owned by the same company that caves to nations like China and helps them censor the internet. WTF?
Samsung took back my unlocked bootloader because Google wants me to rent movies. They're both evil.
They have laws against making the King look bad, putting feet on his head is a taboo and a sign of disrespect. Unlike the rest of the free world, Thailand has freedom of speech but only if it is responsible. If it is not responsible it is against the law. That is the way it should be in the USA and Europe. You cannot use it to attack and threaten people and when you do you lost your right to the freedom of speech.
I have family in Thailand and my wife is from there, but she was born in the USA and her mother moved back to Thailand when she was 3.
Don't judge Thailand by western standards, it really shows how ugly you are. That is why some of Asia does not like westerners, but the Thai people are an exception they like everyone as long as they respect their culture.
Remember, Slashdot does not have a -1 disagree moderation, and no, troll, flamebait, and overrated are not substitutes.
If you have a hard time imagining what this means to Thai people, just think of what burning an American Flag means to conservatives in the US. Try going in into a bar at night in a small American town, standing on the counter and burning an American flag, I doubt you will come out alive.
government bans you... tube...
-TUAC
America just uses freedom of speech and free trade as an excuse the muscle in on countries it doesn't understand and markets it wants to take over. The loud and brash sneering American that pokes their nose in other peoples affairs is a universal joke. If America keeps pushing it shouldn't be surprised if responsible governments turn the switch off.
MAYBE Thailand reveres this 'king' so highly that humiliating him is as bad as under-aged children having sex. So they ask google to remove the video. Google says no because it's against FREEDOM OF SPEECH!
THEY find the video offensive. Can't you at least respect that?
IMAGINE if there is a country where kiddie porn is legal. And they host a website with pictures and videos. Won't USA try to take action against that website? Also, TFA's poster thinks: So Thailand is BAAAD. So what are the other bad things did they do? Ah yes, an uninformed Thai minister issued a statement that open source is bad. So the entire country must think that way!! Stupid Thailand = Microsoft ==> Slashdot hates Thailand.
And the rest of the Slashdot stereotypes agree (with violent head nodding)
The two arent nearly even in the same camp. Male circumcision and Female Genital Mutilation are not the same (It's the functional equivlent btw of cutting off the shaft of the penis). Male circumcision is a historical hold over as a way of reducing infection. There's also various debatable data about the shape being more pleasing to women (and no, I don't mean to look at...). It does have some significant measureable benefits, and it does very little harm (somewhere between removing your tonsils and your appendix in long term harm... :-p). FGM on the other hand is a cultural mutilation, often done without medicine, doctors, or anestesia, that is aimed at attempting to reduce female promiscuity in male dominated societies. It has *no* medical advantages, significant medical problems and creates a significant social power gap, and there is absolutely *no reason* to have it performed.
"goodbye and hello, as always" ~Prince Corwin, from Zelazny's Amber series
There is a real problem with the above quote. It is very disengenous to imply the coup government in Thailand is any more hardlined when it comes to the disgracement of representations of the King than the ousted government. Thailand blocking YouTube because of this video would have happened no matter who was in office. To point - prior to the most recent coup people had been jailed for accidentally stepping on Thai money (which carries the picture of the King) that had been dropped in the street. A better exapmle would be the famous monk who was jailed for simply implying the King and his family were normal humans and not gods. This really has to do with Thai culture and not the coup government.
I caught this story after watching the nightly news. On one segment they were talking about exploding cell phone batteries, and used *gasp* Youtube clips.
With murder you'd probably get a lot less. Maybe on par with being a serial killer.
Those in power are less interested in serving the best interests of their people than they are in serving their own interests.
Wow, sounds like Thialand's government might suck more than ours.
Men and women walk differently, and there is no getting around it. Have a seat at a park and watch people walk to see what I mean. A man can get all the silicone in the world implanted into him in all the right places, he can patronize a professional makeup artist, he can take voice lessons, etc., but he will never, ever get the walk quite right.
After your parkbench exercise, try going to the gay part of whatever town you live in and watch the drag queens overcompensate. They're trying to get "the walk", but they can't because their skeletal system is working against them. Makes for some cheap entertainment, if you like laughing at other people's struggles.
They don't grade fathers, but if your daughter's a stripper, you fucked up. --Chris Rock
> Circumcision itself isn't a risk free procedure and can cause medical problems, upto and including death
Exactly how many deaths can you provide documentation for? What outside factors may have contributed to those deaths?
Perhaps we could learn this as well ...
Bhumibol ascended to the throne following the death of his brother, Ananda Mahidol, on June 9, 1946. Ananda Mahidol's death resulted from a gunshot to the head while he was in his bedroom in the Baromphiman Palace in the Grand Palace, under circumstances that to this day remain a mystery
google "32 trillion offshore needs IRS attention"
Everywhere in the world got their own death mystery, right?
Now let's wait for the trolls
(...pot, kettle; kettle, pot...)
to swarm in and claim that any culture that doesn't share their own values of "First Amendment" and "Freedom of Expression" must be evil and bad. Newsflash: The "total freedom or none at all" attitude only applies to western culture. Asian cultures have more than a thousand years of experience in moderation and non-binary thinking.
I won't go that far. However, those couple thousand years may or may not be representative of future conditions. Restraints on freedom of expression tend to reduce opportunities for widespread development, evaluation, and exploration of new ideas, which in turn seems likely to make the culture less adaptable to dynamic conditions — a comparative weakness. In relatively isolated social and static environmental conditions, the increase in internal social stability may offset the reduced adaptability; however, the present age makes such isolation more difficult, and recent evidence suggests the environmental stability may no longer be a realistic expectation either. More adaptable societies are less likely to die out. If (as most ethics systems hold), survival is generally preferable to extinction, and traits "good" or "bad" to the extent they contribute to the former and latter respectively, this seems a "bad" trait.
Which is a very long way to say: nowadays, going apeshit over a purely symbolic attack on the King is a dumbass bad idea.
//Information does not want to be free; it wants to breed.
John Paul II forgave the man who tried to assassinate him. I feel that that's a far cry from locking someone up for many years for insulting you. If JP II had gone down Thailand's route, I think you'd find quite a few people behind bars.
the man who defaced pictures of the King is a vandal who defaced government property. It is no different than throwing rocks at government windows.
How would you like the man to come into your house as a guest and then vandalize all of your pictures of you and your family? He has the freedom of speech, and you claim that gives him the right to vandalize property that isn't his? He was a guest of the Thai government and he decided to vandalize government property and was found guilty of that by a jury of his peers.
It isn't about freedoms and rights, it is about laws and customs. You cannot go into another country and just say "I am not a Thai citizen, your Mickey Mouse laws don't apply to me!" because they do apply to you.
If you don't agree with that or can't understand that, then you are not qualified to discuss it.
Remember, Slashdot does not have a -1 disagree moderation, and no, troll, flamebait, and overrated are not substitutes.
is useless and buggy.
I suspect the ban is really to prevent people from watching videos protesting the coup--the video showing someone defacing a picture of the king is just a diversion. Protesting the junta was prohibited under martial law, and the media wasn't allowed to report on any protests. If news about the protests were widespread, more people would be emboldened to join in the protests themselves. Restrictions have eased up a bit after martial law was lifted in a few provinces, but the junta isn't happy about it--just a few days ago, the junta leader called for emergency rule to be declared so he can quash the protesters.
That is bullshit. I give people respect when they show me they deserve it (or at least, don't give me reasons to lose respect for them). If someone does something I don't approve of, there's no reason I can't express that even with a minor insult thrown in.
I 100% disagree with the notion that leaders should be respected and loved simply because they are political leaders. In fact, they should be subject to even harsher criticism than others just to ensure that they are worthy of being leaders of their country.
Sounds like Tie-Land has some problems that we Americans can fix. America, f%#@ Yeah! Coming along to save the Mother$%^##@! Day Yeah!
It is time to bomb their undeveloped asses back to the stone age.
I know that it is very difficult for other cultures especially from western to understand this. So I would like to explain a bit about the king and why he is so adored by all Thai people. The reason is not that because he is the king or has the power, but it is the hard work and great things he has done for Thailand. He has no comment about the politic (and of course, no laws are written by him) and allow the system itself to work out. When he was healthy, he has almost visited each and every provinces, doing everything possible to help his people. There are countless royal projects to develop the country (mostly with his own money). He expects nothing in return but the happiness of the Thai people. It is nearly impossible to find a better king for Thailand. Thats' why everyone loves and is proud of him, from the poor to the rich. He's like the beloved father of the nation and untouchable. If you come to Thailand for some time, you will quickly understand.
Thanks
More likely the generals running Thailand have banned Youtube because the deposed Prime Minister, Shinawatra, has been posting vids there for Thais to see. The defacing of the King's image is either an excuse for closing access to Shina watra's vids or a pretext created by an agent provocateur for the coup government.
Only boring people are ever bored.
Just to be sure Slashdot is banned as well: King Bhumibol Adulyadej is a child molester and beats his wife.
I've been living and working in Thailand for over 10 years now. Basically most of you are right: 10 years in jail for an act of vandalism is ridiculous. Of course he won't actually SERVE that time, he will be pardoned and deported, at the very latest on December 5 this year, the King's birthday. But still this law is antiquated and obsolete, even the King has commented on this. If Thais had any sense whatsoever they'd change/soften the lese majeste laws before it's too late: inevitably the King will be succeeded by his son the Crown Prince, who is as universally disliked as the King is loved. Let me tell you those will be very very dark days.
:) Someone posts an utter flaimbait/troll post claiming that child abuse is somehow legal or not acted against or punished less severely than lese majeste, then perfectly smart people with excellent knowledge on Microsoft or Star Trek go "yeah, child sex is evil" and they mod the post +5 and insightful...
:)
Then on Youtube, the actual topic at hand: This morning in the Bangkok Post it was reported that the offending video has been removed. Thai government has hinted that the block of Youtube will be lifted when all references to it have been deleted. So this issue will be solved relatively amicably too.
Personal opinion: I find it unfortunate that both the Youtube issue as well as the drunk Swiss guy depicted mindless acts of vandalism instead of raising any specific (or non specific) issue with the monarchy in a civilized way. Then it would truly be a 'freedom of speech' issue. As it is, the Swiss government could relatively easy come down on the side of Thailand now, who after all just punished an act of vandalism, and behind the scenes they can then push for a pardon/extradition. (After that the offender will most likely be declared Persona Non Grata in Thailand, meaning he'd probably move to Cambodia and continue to remain an asset to society there..)
Finally: The Slashdot moderation system works a lot better for topics that the combined readership has a clue about doesn't it?
Personally I love living in Thailand and I feel a lot more free here than I did in Europe or the USA.. Freedom can mean many things. There's a lot of quite restrictive legislation around in the West (officially sanctioned or informal 'political correctness' that results in me feeling less free in the West.. Do visit Thailand some time for a holiday, it's a nice place.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ananda_Mahidol
echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;
So...
Does your wife oppose blocking the offending YouTube clips, because she believes people can judge for themselves?
Or...
Does she support blocking the offending YouTube clips, because they are offensive, or illegal, or whatever?
If she believes the clips are so awful they should be blocked, why would she want to view them? Or does she think she should be able to see them and other people should not? Why would that be?
How many Thais complaining about the clips would actually turn down an opportunity to see them, I wonder?
It's interesting to see so many reactions on this issue. I am in Thailand right now and usually use YOUTUBE practically everyday and thought maybe some people would like to hear my opinion. (If not, just skip it XD) I think for ICT to ban the whole YOUTUBE web because of one clip (now 10?) is really ridiculous. It makes it seem like we're really incompetent in using the internet (not knowing how to flag things properly when even the Japanese broadcasting companies know the procedures in getting youtube to take down certain videos with copyright issues) and putting Thailand itself into a bad light... I mean, I respect and love my king, but this is wayyy too extreme. Notice: The king himself isn't as concerned as the ICT. His majesty once said that we shouldn't place him on a pedestal too. A man's deed will determine the voice of crowd as to whether he is indeed a man to be respected or not. There should be no reason to get angry at things you don't believe to be true. You can not stop people from saying things you don't like to hear, but you can change yourself so that you don't have to care about them. For the ICT to engage in censorship is to put the king into a very vulnerable position of attack even if when you seriously look at the whole deal...he didn't even do anything. It's actually kind of childish... Um... ICT...if you are reading this...can you please unblock YOUTUBE now?