Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Thailand Bans YouTube

Posted by Zonk on from the getting-to-be-popular dept.

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."

4 of 377 comments (clear)

  1. Now if only... by MikeRT · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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.

    1. Re:Now if only... by vux984 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Any moral system that condones 10 years of prison for spray-painting a picture of a person is B-R-O-K-E-N.

      Probably.

      Then again, the US legal system condones punishments for modifying your own hardware in defiance of the DMCA that exceed what you'd get for assault or auto theft. That same system recently had the potential to lock some guy in prison for 55 years for the crime of 'computer intrusion' -- making it a crime on par with murder.

      More telling perhaps, a big chunk of the US is constantly trying to pass legislation to make burning a particular piece of cloth illegal. Is that any less absurd than a law against spray-painting a picture?

      I'm not saying I think the Thai law is sensible, but you don't have to go to Thailand to see "ass-backwards".

    2. Re:Now if only... by curecollector · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Alright, this is a day when I wish I had some mod points kicking around. Insightful + 1.

      If there's one thing that always drive me up a wall, it's all of this relativism when it comes to matters of culture. At least in America. For some strange reason, it's become taboo to flat out say, "in my eyes, this culture is fucking insane".

      I mean, think about it: there are parts of the world where they believe that the grain that America gives them is giving them AIDS. There are parts of the world where people believe that raping a virgin (babies included) can cure AIDS. There are parts of the world where they execute/impose life sentences on drug dealers (of those who they believe to be drug dealers), yet child prostitution runs rampant, in a semi-open manner. The list goes on. I'll be honest, as far as I'm concerned, it's all fucking backwards.

      (PS - I'm not saying America is above reproach, either. Not for a second. Hell, the rest of the world has no problem pointing out what they perceive to be our flaws. Why is it that we can never point out theirs?)

  2. Re:Respect and Freedom? by voice_of_all_reason · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Try a stunt like that and you'll be lucky if the police gets you before the enraged mob does.

    Any people that would beat or kill you for insulting someone are not enlightened, cultural superiors. They simple zealous lunatics.

    The real test would be their reaction to some Danish cartoons.