In recent weeks GamePolitics has been tracking a campaign of video game repression waged by the government of Thailand.
The Bangkok Post now reports that the Thai government is cracking down on the Internet as well:
The Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Ministry has detected more than 1,200 websites that violated the Computer Crime Act... The ministry said that between March and August this year, it detected more than 1,200 sites disturbing the peaceful social order and morality of the people, and/or which were considered detrimental to national security.
ICT Minister Mun Patanotai [seen at left] said the ministry has advised internet service providers to block these websites immediately and had sought court actions against them under article 20 of the law. He said the court issued three orders shutting down about 400 sites, 344 of which carried material that was contemptuous of the royal family.
GP: 344 websites shut down for being "contemptuous of the royal family? Amazing. And very disturbing...
Comments
They would better close illegal shops in thailand...
well in Thailand, royal family is linked to Buddha, that's why being rude with them is as being rude with Buddha. If remember, the King is an Avatar, as a reincarnation of God on earth.
Well this not enough to justify violent censorship, but just an element to understand that phenomena.
So essentially I could make a website intitled theThailandroyalfamilysucks.com and be considered in trouble with the Thailand government?
Quickly someone point me in the direction of the nearest interweb site making class. xD
Maybe certain censors in the US will actually get an idea of where the slippery slope leads.
...and actually be inspired by it. o.o
no, actually, we are moving forward... to a happy totalitarian dictatorship, think nazi germany!
Jesus Jack Jones Thompson told me to do it!
Only 1,200? Surely there are more.
E. Zachary Knight
http://www.editorialgames.com
Oklahoma City Chapter of the ECA
MySpace Page: http://www.myspace.com/okceca
Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1325674091
That's only the ones they were able to find....you know, like:
Thailandsucks.com
Thailandblows.com
Thailandisforhomos.com
DownwithThailand.com
Thailandcansuckmyleftnut.com
Ya but Budda dose not care if you are rude to him lulz, stupid humans feigning god.
Now as for the government tighting up gee ain't draconian authoritarianism grand, nothing like saying freedoms create security issues for government and thus they must be limited more.
Heads up to the USA we are next!
I is fuzzy brained mew =^^=
http://zippydsmlee.wordpress.com/
(in need of a bad overhaul)
All together now #It's FInal Crackdown, doo-de-doo dee-doo-doo-doo doo-de-doo doo-de-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo#
Here's the thing; the Prime Minister isn't actually acting on behalf of the royal family. More likely than not, he's being a fascist because he thinks it'll win him a bit of political capital or something, which makes no sense because people have hated the Prime Minister every time I went to Thailand. They love the King and Queen, though.
Is this the same Prime Minister that got 'locked out' the country by the military last time he went away?
I'm pretty certain that we are talking about the very same Prime Minister. The people hate him, the Royalty hates him, and the military hates him. I don't know how he thinks he can run a country when everyone hates him.
Yup, and right now his house and office have been taken over with demands he resign because of, surprise surprise, accusations of corruption and abuse of power.
They really, really, really fucking hate this prime minister. I honestly think he's pretending to be acting in the interests of the King and Queen only because he thinks it'll help him curry favor with the people he's pissed off. I doubt very much that the Royal Family wanted these sights removed.
In my opinion, you are correct in all those points....
Are you actually Thai?
If so, do you know what affect all this bullshit is going to have on Pantip Plaza in Bangkok? I remember going in there and feeling like a child at a toy store, what with all the electronics and games and whatnot spread all around for me to see. Most of the games were pirated, and all of them were at least somewhat violent.
As far as I can tell, it probably won't have much of an effect. They did have campaigns to stop pirated stuffs a long while back but that did absolutely nothing. Shops are still bribing their way out of the hands of the police. Heck, I've seen officers walking straight past shops selling warez and they did practically nothing despite the fact that they were only a meter away.
First they do something stupid like Ban Games NOW they are doing something that is so stupid I can't even wrap my head around it. Thailand YOU FAIL!!! BADLY!!!! Oh I am sure that the Thailand people are fine, I have no beef with them but the Thailand Government AND it's Royal family has FAILED!!!!
Congrats on being ignorant.
The Royal Family's good, the government is fucked up beyond recognition.
So if I'm correct, then the royal Thai family has no "real" power and is merely a centerpiece of Thai royal heritage? Kind of like the Queen Elizabeth II of the UK.
The King and Queen have no real power, but are very respected in the community. They do occasionally assert influence over decisions, but nothing like what the last Prime Minister or two have done, which was to abuse power for their corrupt ends. The King and Queen are very benevolent rulers, and I've never heard a person in Thailand speak ill of them. I went and saw a movie, and before it played, they had the Queen's song and everyone stood up.
That's the King's anthem actually. And yes, like you said, the King and Queen has no real powers compaired to the prime minister.
Go to:
thailandsucks.com
for more info
eep Thailand is getting very scary...
Wow, Thailand is ready to pin anything they can on that murder.
First games, now websites. I wonder what's next.
Welcome to Thailand! We're one of the world's leaders in human trafficking! We'll be more than happy to rent you this five year old... But don't you dare bring those morally repugnant video games to our soverign land! Or your wicked Intenet!
Frakin' backwards country.
Please, if you're going to make fun of something, aim for the government, not the entire country...
well one thing, thailand is a nice country, i just don't want to live there because of the their version of the first amendement is basically whatever the goverment thinks is right and the people are wrong... the people need to stand up to this kind of crap, e.g. the royal family of morons!
Jesus Jack Jones Thompson told me to do it!
Congrats jackass, you're placing the blame on the wrong people. The blame lies on the prime minister, not the Royal Family, and its stupidity like yours that makes it little wonder that the western world is disliked in eastern nations.
So... "Disturbing the peaceful social order" and "Detrimental to national security" actually mean "We can't provide what the people want / The people don't like what we do".
Nice damage control there.
And Jack supports these guys. What a laugh.
Well you know what they say: Freedom killers of a feather flock together.
Yeah, I'm pretty sure his site(if it exists) would get blocked
So tis isn't even about protecting the populace form anything.
It's about controlling what ideas they can see and about the prime minister getting brownie points.
Pretty much. Thank god I'm moving out of here soon...
Thailand is on it's way to being a totalitarian dictatorship and it was all possible after they made a big lie out of some kid killing a taxi driver.
Can't remember who said it, but-
Dear Thailand: Come back when you decide it's not okay to fuck kids.
-Remember kids, personal responsibility is for losers! For information on games and psychology, look up: Jonathan Freedman(2002)Block & Crain(2007) Just to name a few...
THANK YOU!
I posted earlier about that...
If any of you website operators are pissed there is one simple solution.
Move your websites so that their servers are not located in Thailand, and if you have a relative that lives in another country they can help run it.
I wonder if Thailand's trying to be like China.
They ban the entire domain, so it doesn't work. And yes, it's getting to the point of being like China, but not quite there yet...
This guys is talking about morality in a country where you can go to a bar and watch a girl pop balloons by shooting darts from her pussy.
Before you start bitching at me for stereotyping, I've been to Thailand and have watched that happen as well as a few other things.
Browse Tiffany Ring in Tiffanylife,You can buy cheap Tiffany Rings with High quality,Ours including Tiffany wedding rings,cushion ring, x ring and so on.The Best Tiffany &Co Sterling Silver Rings in tiffanyline,you can buy Wonderful Tiffany Rings here.We also provide wholesale discount Tiffany Rings