Slashdot Mirror
Thailand Blocks Anti-Royal Websites
societyofrobots writes "'The Thai government says it is planning to build an Internet firewall
to block websites deemed insulting to the country's hugely popular royal family.' In the past, Thailand has blocked YouTube because of a video that criticized the King. While, locally served websites that criticize the king are forcefully taken down, this new law will attack external sites."
Fuck the king of Thailand, whomever he is.
There is a war going on for your mind.
I'll bite before the apologists do that claim it's OK "because it's their culture" or some other nonsense where they try to find a way to justify individuals being oppressed by their government.
It doesn't matter how many people like the Royalty there. In fact, I would call that blind nationalism--not at all a good thing.
If the royalty there--and I know someone is going to bring it up--is so good, then why are they allowing/accepting this nonsense to be put into law? Nobody honorable anywhere allows censorship to go on in their name.
Anyway, especially in this day and age, royalty is at worst a tyranny of one family often with weird eugenical notions of bloodline purity, and at best is a grandiose leech on society with weird eugenical notions of bloodline purity.
Ah, so *that's* why they need laws to stop people from saying nasty or critical things about them, its because they're *popular*...
I understand now.
Oddly enough we manage in the UK without laws to stop people from insulting the queen. We don't forbid it, and for the most part people don't do it. Strange that....
A learning experience is one of those things that say, 'You know that thing you just did? Don't do that.' - D. Adams
Microsoft, Google and Yahoo! might have something to say about this.
We figured out a long time ago that it's easier to elect seven judges than to elect 132 legislators.
If this were the case, /. better stop publishing stories about the Great Firewall of China... considering this is almost exactly the same thing.
Just because it doesn't pertain to America, doesn't mean it doesn't matter.
Crackin' Wise - Blogging about whatever we want
Just because it doesn't pertain to America, doesn't mean it doesn't matter.
You must be new here.
And by 'here', I mean America.
Cultural relativism is pretty much complete bullshit. It can be used to justify oppressing people "because it's the cultural norm", especially when those norms are being generated by a tyrant or dictator.
They should protect the international reputation of their country before the local reputation of their king.
Its illegal to disrespect any picture of the royal family that includes currency.
Get drunk and smash a picture of the king, be prepared to either run or bribe the police.
So it doesn't suprise me that they do this. Not that it makes it right. For the most part though the Royal family seemed to be well thought of from the people I talked to when I was there in '04. But while being one of the wealthiest people on earth he should be ok with taking a bit of flak.
I accidentally discovered this on YouTube a while ago. Say something about their king and you get a hundred Thais flooding your Inbox telling you to apologize "or else". lol, or else what?
... and yet, if another country later decides it's okay to use mass filtering or blocking services, they will point to countries like Thailand and China and say "Well, it works for them, why not?".
It's another instance of the fragmentation of the World Wide Web. It will get worse before it gets better.
What's the value of information that you don't know?
What gives guys? There's room for more than one baseball team in Missouri!!!
Oh, wait. Nevermind.
This Thai royal family must have a pretty thin skin, to not be able to take any criticism from anybody.
You must be new here.
And by 'here', I mean America.
Consider, there are an awful lot of us who've been 'here' (/.) for years, and who think of America as 'there'.
Smivs on the intertubes!
Internet Gambling
A few others for you:
The Pirate Bay
DeCSS
2600.com
Free Speech Zones
Guantanamo Bay
Executive Signing Orders
Libby Scooter
Haliburton
WMDs
It's much nicer if their firewall blocks attacks rather than mine. If I can lower my bandwidth and defend my systems (in part) merely by posting a web page that says "The Thai Royalty sucks!" (or "The Chinese Government Sucks!), then I'd do so immediately.
"It could be regarded an act of treason to place a postage stamp bearing the British king or queen's image upside-down"
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7081038.stm
The world is made by those who show up for the job.
It hits so many different nerves, case-by-case.
I wonder how the Great Firewall of America will be characterized?
Welcome to the Panopticon. Used to be a prison, now it's your home.
Cultural relativism is pretty much complete bullshit. It can be used to justify oppressing people "because it's the cultural norm", especially when those norms are being generated by a tyrant or dictator.
Sure. Guess what? Cultural norms are just part of being human, and we all cling to them and tend to enforce them in our communities of interest - even on Slashdot.
Even the assertion that censorship is a form of oppression is based on a cultural norm of freedom of speech. Until someone says something that you think is beyond the pale, like "it is desirable to rape young boys" - yikes. Or maybe "Slashdot is a pile of sh*t and technophiles are morons". Or how about "black people are genetically predisposed to intellectual inferiority". (All of which I disagree with strongly, I hasten to add.)
There are no universal "rights" of humans - we do the best we can to ensure better societies for ourselves, but there may be different paths to th is goal that are equally valid (depending on your measuring stick). The previous poster who pointed out U.S. incarceration rates made this point well, I think.
"Cultural relativism" may have become a bogeyman for the reasons you suggest, but the original notions that have been branded as relativism - including academic specialization in the study of various cultures - have as their premise that we may have something to learn from other cultures. However, some folks believe that exporting our "one true" culture is the only way to make the world a better place. Really?
f this were the case, /. better stop publishing stories about the Great Firewall of China... considering this is almost exactly the same thing.
Who told you they are the same thing? No one, you just don't like to read I suppose. They are not the same thing The Chinese are blocking access to INFORMATION, the Thais are not even attempting to censor what factual data is available to citizens.
Hey can I come into YOUR house and insult your mother all day? NO? Well you're a facist then aren't you.
Until the 1930s, the King of Thailand was officially a God. While all kings and constitutions since have disavowed this view, most Thais still feel that (especially) the current King is more than just a man. He is seen as both a God-like and a father figure. I do not think it is any business of the rest of the world to approve or disapprove of this view. You are talking about something very much akin to a religion.
The Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej enjoys shaving donkeys all over, then sucking on their balls.
He wanks himself several times a day to pictures of pigs wearing men's trousers.
All the food he has ever cooked has tasted bad, and any dish that is named after him will taste bad.
His hair is really a wig made from the butt hair of camels.
He is a very poor photographer; in fact, if he even tried, he would hold his finger over the lens and be ridiculed.
All the holes in his teeth are especially deep, and he smells strangely.
If this were the case, /. better stop publishing stories about the Great Firewall of China... considering this is almost exactly the same thing.
Just because it doesn't pertain to America, doesn't mean it doesn't matter.
Exactly. Considering the tendency of the people in power to justify their proposals as "World's best practice", you have to be aware of what other countries are doing these days.
As an example, I expect someone to try to justify the proposed Australian censorship by claiming that "this hasn't hurt Thailand, why should we do the same for the much more important cause of protecting the kiddies?" And after that, you in the US will be hearing, "Australia does it, why shouldn't we protect our kids too?"
Except in this instance it's not oppression. Go up to any Thai person and call the king an asshole.. Hope you make it out alive..
Go to Thailand and piss on a poster of a king in front of 100 Thai people and a policemen. They'll be 101 wittiness's to your murder but no one would have seen the suspect.
...but after this post you won't be able to access slashdot, because your Royalty are a bunch of narrow minded horse-raping hermaphraditic dipshits who can't take a bit of criticism
-- Sex is the antonym of pringles. Once you pop it's time to stop.
in their high hats
Laws against murder are not an improvement if they accompany laws permitting murder.
Watch for it. It will happen here next year. All websites critical of the Messiah will be blocked after being called "hate speech" and "racist". Mark my words, by the next election there will be no opposition. Think it can't happen here? How stupid are you people?