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.
... 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!
"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.
Or else they'll just have to get over it. And you won't like them when they get over it.
Would you like a slice of toast?
Two words:
So what?
Its not like the parent poster was advocating any of those things. Pointing out someone else's flaws does not diminish your own, and you're a tool for suggesting otherwise.
National Security Letters
The more people I meet, the better I like my dog.
Censorship is still a form of oppression, even then. Freedom of speech is only of any use if someone, somewhere, wants to silence you. And it's most truly needed when most people want to silence you. Nobody was ever locked up for remarking on how lovely the weather was today.
Real Daleks don't climb stairs - they level the building.
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.
Censorship is always oppressive - there should be no rules against free speech.
Society is free to make rules against speech which it finds offensive, and the individual is free to ignore those rules.
I personally think that Germany is wrong to ban Holocaust deniers - if there is evidence that 6 million Jews died, then produce it.
The repression of skepticism of the Holocaust makes me think that the evidence for it is lacking - if there is evidence, why don't they produce it rather than making doubt illegal?
And yes, I'm against the 'lese majiste' laws in Thailand, because there's no way that some inbred fuckwit has the right to demaqnd respect from proper, well bred people.
One swallow does not a fellatrix make
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.