Slashdot Mirror
Thai Gov't Welcomes Twitter's Censorship Plans
patiwat writes "The Thai government has called Twitter's tweet censorship move a 'welcome development.' Tweets may now be blocked at the request of the Thai government; the system will be used to discourage and punish lese majeste (criticism of the Thai King). The government previously declared that Facebook users worldwide 'liking' a lese majeste Facebook link would also be prosecuted; over 10,000 Facebook pages have been removed and hundreds of individuals, including children and academics, have been jailed. Calls to reform the lese majeste laws have been fiercely criticized by no less than the Army Commander, whose backing is critical to the government's stability."
Anyone who needs laws to prevent criticism of themselves obviously has a problem, and banning the criticism is sticking their head in the sand.
This sounds like they are taking the wrong lessons from Red China. Younger people who come to the US for school from China never heard of Tienanmen Square! Thai people seem more informed, but not for long.
Home of The Suki Series
*GASP* No way!
For justice, we must go to Don Corleone
Sh*t just got real... Lets see if Anonymous has something to say about this now.
Spinless bastards for even building this functionality.
The correct response is "HTTPS everywhere; suck it up despots".
because it seems like a null/win scenario to me.
Post to be removed shortly.
That all of these technological marvels were initially used as a means to communicate during times of unrest and now they themselves are becoming instruments and willing participants in the suppression of insurrection and communication that has not been sanitized. This is the type of behavior that I expect from the likes of GE, Novatris, and ADM, but when supposed open web companies like Twitter start actively colluding with oppressive regimes it does not bode well for humanity as a species.
I got here through a series of tubes
The government previously declared that Facebook users worldwide 'liking' a lese majeste Facebook link would also be prosecuted
Yikes! I haven't knowingly liked any lese majeste posts or links, but you never know... I guess I'd better make sure none of my international travels involve a stopover at the airport in Bangkok, I'd hate to get a surprise arrest for something like that...
Forgive me if I don't understand what's happening here, and I may not, but from what I've read:
- Twitter gives governments the right to block Tweets from appearing in their country.
And that's it. They don't actually search for specific content, like YouTube does on video uploads. So wouldn't it ultimately be up to the Thai government to find these Tweets anyway? In which case, how is this in any way tied with Twitter, other than that they're blocking the Tweets from appearing to Thai residents (possibly allowing them not to get arrested)? Furthermore, Twitter provides a very easy workaround in that you can override their detection of your country and set it to something else (like, say, the US), and be able to see the "censored" Tweets.
Yes, what they're doing is unethical, but Twitter isn't doing much to contribute here.
It's better to vote for what you want and not get it than to vote for what you don't want and get it.
- E. Debs
First off I'd like to suggest that anyone with even the smallest passing interest in this read these series of articles here: http://www.zenjournalist.com/download-thaistory-123/ it is without a doubt the best resource ever published in terms of providing context on the situation. As someone with a personal interest in this (my wife and her family are Thai) I will say that the entire thing is a disgusting mess and has nothing to do with HRH King Bhumibol directly. The Lese Majeste laws are used by Bangkok elites to quell dissent. Pure and simple. If anything it degrades the monarchy more than anything since it turns the kings "face" into a symbol of oppression. This is veering the country into a dangerous direction since it is the monarchy who was perceived (perhaps wrongly) as a moderating force between the Bangkok elites and the more agrarian populace (who are mad to be middle class). The smallest shift from perceiving the monarchy as a force of moderation to one of oppression in the country is something that the country won't long tolerate. Even with national censorship, don't think for a second it will have a lasting effect - facts that range from the socially important (like the Queen's tacit support of yellow-shirt violence) to the sordid (like the prince's sexual escapades) still get talked about amongst friends. Young Thais are connected internationally and they are interested in this material no matter their political leanings. What complicates it further is the fact that the military's ranks are now filled with many red shirt supporters even though the top brass supports the elites using the king as a figurehead. There is not a lot that outsiders can do. You can boycott thailand as a tourist destination or write letters to the companies who manufacture there letting them know that you are not pleased that they financial support such a regime (which they do).
-_-
Horses Eat Hay!
Were the headline: "Thailand Rejects Twitter's Censorship Plans", that would be news.
Everything and its opposite is true. Get used to it.
I, for one, welcome our new royal thai overlord.
That, or maybe some moderators are repelled by racism.
Space game using normal deck of cards: http://BattleCards.org
We have already learned that the Thai King has several 9-to-12 year old boys kept in his palace in order to perform acts of sexual gratification for him. When it got out that he enjoys these pleasures while visually taking in old films of Adolph Hitler, blocking the tweets did nothing to prevent the spread of the information.
What the Thai people need to understand, is that their country should be an exporter of drugs, not an importer. The Thai King's cocaine habit (used by both himself and to enhance the performance of his boys) should be easily balanced by mass heroin exports, but instead, he is still confiscating opiate products whenever they're found, and the ultimate destination of these products is unknown. If he is reselling the seized heroin to enlarge his own coffers at the expense of Thai farmers, they need to know that. The Thai King, while paying attention to the anti-drug movement in the international community, is known to be encouraging his subjects to grow opium. Those subjects need to stop doing that, if they aren't going to receive the revenue. Again, this is something coming to light in spite of any Twitter blocking.
There's been censorship everywhere since a long time.
The stronger always wins and talks/broadcasts/publishes/deletes/censors.
The weaker dies.
That's it.
Sent as ripples into the electromagnetic field. No single photon has been harmed in the process.
Face it. censorship works. Just see comments above.
Ever noticed how many people obfuscate the words *fuck* and *shit* even here on slashdot?
Censorship is in your heads already.
There are fewer illiterates than people who can't read.
While everyone is saying how horrible this is, I say it is a GOOD THING, but not because I like censorship. Just like SOPA, these sorts of behaviors provide a HUGE competitive advantage to networks that can set themselves up to enable truly free communications. As things get worse, countries and areas that provide safe havens for real communication can also make a killing (just like some foreign banks do in aiding tax evasion). What someone needs to do is start building those services....
Numerous offenses have been considered "criticisms" of the Thai royalty, and have resulted in police investigation, at the very minimum, to decades in jail, to public lynchings:
- Analyzing the royal family's role in the 2006 military coup and the political crises that followed
- Not standing up while the royal anthem is played at the beginning of movies
- Clapping while somebody is "criticizing" the royal family
- Drawing graffiti on paintings of the royal family
- Reporting or blogging about any criticisms in a way that repeats the criticism
- Not deleting webboard comments criticizing the King immediately after being ordered to do so by the police
- Calling for reform of laws that govern jailing of "critics"
- Complaining that a member of the royal family is disturbing other passengers on a commercial airplane flight
- Turning down the invitation to play music at a royal birthday party
- Analyzing the King's wealth (he is by far the wealthiest royal in the world)
- Mentioning the word "guillotine" or the Nepalese royal massacre in songs or public speeches
- Questioning the fitness of the Crown Prince or his taste in women or dogs
- Staging theatrical productions where one of the actors had a passing resemblance to the Crown Prince (although the resemblance was later found to have been photoshopped)
Basically, anything that isn't an overt display of love and adoration is considered "criticism." It goes without saying that public displays of fawning adoration of the King are ubiquitous, and "critics" quickly silenced and their families threatened and harassed.
It's ironic to note that in 2005 the King publicly asked for a hundred flowers of criticism bloom. "I must also be criticised. I am not afraid if the criticism concerns what I do wrong, because then I know," he said on national TV. In the years that have followed, he did indeed know, and thousands of people have been jailed for criticizing him... the suckers.
Or at least it should.
I hear that Bhumibol Adulyadej is an avid rusty trombone performer and eagerly felching sailors at any given opportunity. True story! ... this isn't my best trolling but it should be enough to make it advisable to stay away from Thailand. Also, if you don't recognize those terms, don't look them up on wikipedia or urbandictionary. Save your rosy-cheeked innocence and run!
profit and growth will always be more important than customers/citizens and freedoms.
Army Commander, whose backing is critical to the government's stability.
When your stability is dependent on the backing of the Army Commander, your government is not stable in any way. History has shown that over, and over.
"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
Spreading a rumour without citing creditable sources is an ill manner; especially, using AC to post is showing the intention of defamation. That may be what you do on tweeter as well, huh?
http://xkcd.com/1010/
Denounces the law. He has stated numerous times that he of all people should be critisized the most. He is actually a wonderful guy.
I myself being a Thai resident, am absolutely petrified (along with most thais) of what will happen when he passes away and his useless cunt of a son gains power. Cunt being an understatement.
mcot.go.th is absolutely useless of censoring anything and the biggest isp's do a half arsed job of filtering. Luckily tor works great here!
10 internet dubloons to the first person committing lese majeste on youtube. 5 extra for something with feces.
Can anyone post those links that I could like them? ASAP please.
I find this comment offensive. Hopefully it will be banned in Thailand.
I thought all this globalization was a way for the US to entice the people of other nations to freedom and democracy. I guess since this hasn't really come to pass (especially in China) the US has decided that if you can't beat em, join em.
where a huge crowd of people of the rest of the world speak out what they think of that pathetic dictator who calls himself king. And maybe what they think about a company that supports a pathetic dictator like him in oppressing the people.
It was satire, you chump.
I live in Thailand, so I'm really getting a kick...
mcgrew said...
I'm pretty sure that in Thailand's case, it's not to keep people from saying bad things about the government, but to keep them from saying bad things about the king.
The problem with this is that the government is treating criticism of the government as criticism of the King, so they use the lese majeste laws to stifle their opponents. It is my understanding that the King does not even agree with the lese majeste laws and has pardoned a good number of people who have been convicted under them. However, he tries to keep his hands off political things because that would (apparently) ruin the constitutional monarchy he is intent on having (which doesn't really exist, what with all of the corruption and coups and such). Also, he is really old and basically on death's doorstep, and so probably doesn't even have the capacity to say anything about these abuses now, or may not even be aware of them.
So, instead the extremely corrupt and petty Thai government gets to have its way with these laws and use them to stifle any criticism of government they choose.
The King of Thailand is actually quite a decent guy who has done a lot of good things over his reign. The people love him, and with good reason. However he doesn't actually rule the country (though he easily could, and the people would support him), so the government has its own way and he keeps his hands off. And the Thai people get to suffer for it (unless they have the money to pay their way out of any trouble).
"Empathise with stupidity, and you're halfway to thinking like an idiot." - Iain M. Banks
Twitter should refuse to do business in totalitarian regimes. The more obviously things are suppressed the more people will ask...
Why a 61 year-old grandfather should be sentenced for 20 years in Thailand's infamous jails for 4 alleged SMS messages about democracy. (he's also been denied treatment for cancer - an expected death sentence). http://gjbkkblog.wordpress.com/2011/11/24/20-years-sentence-for-sending-sms/
Why they use army snipers to murder unarmed democracy protesters taking refuge in temples and foreign journalists (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Search/Hiro%20Muramoto).
The more these injustices occur, and the less people can speak openly, the more distrust will grow. This should only make people ask more whether the Royals are fit people to amass a personal fortune of $35Bn USD from their business monopolies (i.e. ~50% more than King of Saudi Arabia or Sultan of Brunei). http://www.forbes.com/sites/investopedia/2011/04/29/the-worlds-richest-royals/
The more obviously they are suppressed, the more they will ask why the Royal heir-apparent makes his own wife eat naked on the ground on all fours, in front of guests, from the dog's bowl (http://www.wikileaks.org/wiki/Suppressed_video_of_Thai_Crown_Prince_and_Princess_at_decadent_dog_party). Are these people who love and respect all Thais? The apple doesn't fall far from the tree and still no one can explain the mystery death of the King's brother (original heir).
If the King is so rich for the good of the country - why does he need constant PR advertisements on television so many times every day? If people only ever hear good things about the King of course they will be brainwashed to think he is good. But when someone needs 20 years jail for a couple of SMS message to suppress people speaking the truth - then people start to wake up that the reality is very different. Now days, so many hundreds of people are thrown in prison every year, for no other crime than speaking the truth.
The current Royal family has always used power to change the law or government (even PM's knows this http://www.zenjournalist.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/yingluck-1024x652.jpg). Royals control the army, the army changes the government at their will, the chosen government writes their own constitution to reinforce this system and protect each others business monopolies. That's how they have always done it.
It's now estimated that Thailand is blocking ~750,000 websites for lese majeste and open political discussion. More Thai's need to use proxies, Tor, TAILS, etc.
Whatever their intent, Twitter would be misguided to collaborate with these dictators.
It's not just Twitter's fault though (Facebook, etc. already censor too). It's already illegal for US companies to bribe foreign officials. The US needs to make it illegal for their companies to support other human rights abuses too (Twitter needs to be given a level playing field).
Who uses nit-witter to follow news or upcoming protests? This whole news over Twitter is laughable. There are far better blogs or web sites that promote people who are fed up with oppressive military dictators. Twitter is for those who read the NY times headlines then tweet some stupid bullshit " hey read the ny times did you hear?" I am dumbfounded as to why slashdot bothered with this??
It can and will lead to other sites censoring content, but lets worry about that when it hits the good sites..