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Thai Gaming Sites Ordered Shut Down After Suicide
eldavojohn writes "Seventy-two websites have been ordered shut down by the courts in Thailand following the suicide of a 12-year-old boy who jumped from the sixth story of his school after his father banned him from playing computer games. This brings more action from the court: 'Some websites are rumored to take in over 100 million baht from online betting a night at peak periods, causing huge economic losses to the country. To prevent online gambling, the DSI, also a member of the internet safety committee, would notify all Internet service providers across the country about the court order. From now on, any provider found to encourage or provide online gambling will not only face a jail term and a fine, but also have his/her ISP license revoked by the ICT.' Thailand is no stranger to internet censorship of various sites."
This might be explained or at least rationalised slightly better if you understand the differences between Asian culture and the one which, presumably, you come from (My assumption is the US, but I could be wrong)
Now, I don't make the rules here, so when I say it is sometimes seen as a 'very grave family insult' to commit suicide, you might think this is stupid, backward, and crazy arsed dumb 12 ways from Sunday. And you would be right too. Thai people tend not to want to directly confront any problem head on, they like to tackle things a little more obliquely, talk about it in vague hand waving first. "Yes" often actually means no, or just maybe.
Knee jerk reactions such as this do sort themselves out in parliament or the legal system. Give it a month or two to have the person responsible for this action will get slapped around, the law might not get stricken from record, but it wont really be enforced either. Aside from this, there are always deeper issues at play, people using tragedy as an excuse to push their agenda. None of us anywhere in the world are stranger to this though!