Committee to Protect Bloggers » Thailand

Australian Blogger Arrested in Thailand for Insulting King

Victor — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 08:37:05 +0000

A quick update to the item we had posted earlier,

Harry Nicolaides has apologized to the Thai king saying it was not his intention to insult the royal family and that he was only reporting what other Thais were saying.

His arrest was due to a book about the Royal Family, he says only 50 copies were printed of which 2 were sold. And that in the 300 page book only 3 line were offending to the King and has led to his arrest.

His passport is being held for fear that he might skip the country we hope the situation ends amicable for Nicolaides.

Australian Blogger Arrested in Thailand for Insulting King

Curt — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 14:08:17 +0000

Australian blogger and writer Harry Nicolaides was arrested for insulting the king on Sunday in Bankok, according to the Australian Broadcasting Company (via Bankok Pundit).

He has been visiting Thailand since 2003 and has written a book which mentions members of the royal family.

It is uncertain whether Nicolaides’s blog had anything to do with his arrest.

Websites shut down in Thailand

Victor — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 13:29:04 +0000

Update: A Thai member wrote to say Blogger.com (blogspot) has been blocked also. But Bankokbuddy wrote that it had been unblocked. Can anyone tell us what the situation is currently?

***

The Thai Ministry for Information, Communication and Technology has ordered more than 1200 sites shut down due to “violation of the computer crime act and specifically 344 of them for insulting the monarchy.”

The minister, Mun Patanotai, said that the ministry detected the sites between March and August this year and that the sites were disturbing the peaceful social order and morality of the people and others which were detrimental to the country’s national security.

He says that ISPs have been instructed to block the sites and he has sought court action against them under article 20 of the country’s laws. Obtaining court orders against 400 of them.

Disturbing how free speech and online freedom don’t seem to exist for these blunderers.

Thanks to Bangkok Post

Charges Against Thai Blogger Dropped

Curt — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 18:11:21 +0000

One for the win column. According to RSF, the charges against the pseudonymous Thai blogger Praya Pichai have been dropped.

There is no news about the anonymous woman arrested on the same day as Praya, August 24. Praya was able to afford bail. The woman in question was not.

Thailand’s threatening Computer Crime Act remains intact.

Thai Anti-Free Speech Laws

Curt — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 20:15:25 +0000

Former Thai Senator Jon Ungphakorn published an op-ed today in AsiaMedia on the measures that Thailand has taken against free speech.

Since the military coup of Sept 19, 2006, Thailand has almost caught up with China as a world leader in the field of internet censorship and control, particularly with regard to freedom of political expression. This is a completely unacceptable environment for the promised return to democracy at the end of this year.

On the day after the coup, the Council for Democratic Reform that took over the country ordered the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology (MICT) to “control, intercept, suppress and eliminate the distribution over all information networks of articles, text, speech and other forms of communication that might adversely affect administrative reform of the democratic system under the constitutional monarchy”.

This order has never been rescinded.

According to Freedom Against Censorship Thailand (FACT), by May 28 of this year, the MICT was blocking access by the Thai public to a total of 11,329 websites.

He goes on to talk about the implications of the Computer Crime Act, passed in July, under which Thai blogger Phraya Pichai was arrested in August.

Article 14 of this act makes it a crime punishable by up to five years’ imprisonment and a maximum fine of 100,000 baht for anyone to import into a computer system, or to forward or propagate:

1) False information or forged data likely to cause damage to others, or to the general public;

2) False information likely to damage national security or cause undue public alarm;

3) Any information contravening national security or anti-terrorism laws;

4) Obscene materials which are publicly accessible.

Internet service operators who knowingly allow such crimes to take place on computer systems under their control are also liable to the same punishment.

Such vaguely defined and all-encompassing grounds for criminal charges will surely encourage discriminatory use of the law by those in power to punish political opponents and dissidents.

Website hosts will obviously be reluctant to allow controversial political views on any websites connected to them.

He mentions two arrests, though he does not indicate who the second arrestee was.

Shockingly, neither case attracted the attention of the mainstream media. It was mainly on internet sites and in email circles that the news of their arrests became known.

The fact is that in Thailand today, political expression on the internet is more subject to censorship and control, and carries a greater risk of criminal penalties than similar expression on mainstream media such as the printed press.

Read the full essay here.

Bebo Blocked in China?

Curt — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 17:38:14 +0000

I read a comment on Mashable that Bebo, the social networking site, has been blocked in China for the last week. Can anyone verify or debunk this? I saw a mention, which looked like it was from a Chinese message board indicating that it’s so.

Update: This has been confirmed.

Update: In the comments, Ania says Bebo may also be blocked in Thailand.

I haven’t been able to get into bebo for over a week in Thailand now. I heard from one of my students that it’s another website banned by the new military government. Does anyone know anything about this?

Thai Blogger Released on Bail, Another Arrested

Curt — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 22:09:24 +0000

On September 6, the Thai blogger who uses the name Phraya Pichai was released on bail. This blogger was the first to be arrested under the country’s new “Computer Crime Act,” according to Reporters Without Borders, which had gone into effect on July 18. He had been held for two weeks at Bankok Remand Prison.

According to the Bangkok Recorder magazine, the blogger, a 37-year-old male, was “charged under Article 14 (1) and (2), which prescribes punishment of a maximum five years imprisonment or a THB 100,000 fine for posting false content on the Internet to hurt others and public security.”

According to Prachathai, an online news source, (via The Nation), a second person was also arrested. This “unnamed woman had been arrested on August 24, the same day the 37-year-old webmaster was arrested, and had been detained in the prison since then. It said her family had financial constraints and was struggling to free her on bail.”

Veoh and Metacafe Blocked in Thailand

Curt — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 01:07:55 +0000

Just as YouTube was unblocked in Thailand, we find out that Veoh and Metacafe are not so lucky (Asia Sentinel via GVA).

Again “videos deemed offensive to the royal family” were to blame, according to the Sentinel.

Veoh, a site similar to YouTube, was blocked earlier this month after a user posted a rrisque personal video purportedly of the Thai Royal FamilyICT Minister Sitthichai Pookaiyaudom has said that YouTube would be unblocked once Thailand’s internet service providers (ISPs) have installed cache engines that allow officials to block individual URLs instead of entire websites. Supposedly this was going to happen a month ago, but still today visitors get this Thai-language message when clicking on YouTube, Veoh or Metacafe: “Sorry [state telecom company] TOT as an organization of Thailand has seized the connection of this website due to certain content, messages and images that are inappropriate that have had a tremendous impact on the hearts of Thai people.”

And, with a nice shot, the Sentinel adds, “Apparently the Thai people are unable to look after their own hearts by simply not clicking on YouTube, so the Bangkok nannies will do it for them.”

It’s clear the authorities in Bangkok intend to pressure any media providers to toe the line. Let Veoh and Metacafe know how likely you’ll be to use them if they buckle like YouTube did.

YouTube Agrees to Self-Censorship

Curt — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 19:41:06 +0000

Oh, joy. YouTube is no longer blocked in Thailand (according to Bankok’s The Nation newspaper, via Mashable).

All YouTube had to do was agree to sacrifice any principals it might have had, or might in the future wish to tout, regarding free speech.

This follows an agreement between the Ministry of ICT and YouTube that the site would curb any clips which have contents considered an affront to Thai people or those that violate the Kingdom’s laws.

Sitthichai said YouTube had just finished creating a program that would block sensitive video clips from being accessed from Thai Internet service providers (ISPs).

Congratulations, YouTube. Let me guess. You have no right to break the laws of another country? Right. I think we’ve heard that somewhere before. I’m sure the money cushions the fall. At least the YouTube folks have older gentlemen to advise them, gentlemen who have themselves been educated by such professors as one would find occupying, say the Chair of Internal Security at Beijing U.

In case it’s only been said 1,000 times: Yes, you do have a choice. You can refuse to do business where doing so hurts people and damages the free speech that allowed your company to come into existence. Or, you could band together with other companies and exert pressure and governments of places like Thailand. No choice? Hardly. There are always choices.

WordPress Blocked in Thailand Too

Curt — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 23:55:37 +0000

According to Global Voices, Thailand joins Turkey in having blocked access to the popular WordPress.com blog platform and hosting site.

On August 22th, 2007, access to wordpress.com blogging platform has been blocked by TOT (Telecommunication Authority) preventing Thai Internet users from accessing Thai Wordpress and all blogs hosted on wordpress.com. “A notice has been shown when trying to access any Wordpress page: “Sorry. TOT Plc., as an organization of Thai people, has restrained the access to this website as it contains content, text, and/or picture that is unappropriated which affects the mind of Thai people all over the country and cannot be accepted.”

I have written to WordPress founder Matt Mullenweg to try to find out why it’s been blocked.