We have relaunched: What's new at ZDNet Asia?

ZDNet / News / Internet

Thai censorship bill set for passage

By Achara Ashayagachat, Bangkok Post on April 30, 2007

Summary

Proposed new law gives the information and communications technology minister unrestricted power to shut down pornographic and anti-monarchy Web sites.

Events

Microsoft MSDN/Developer Event
25 Mar 2010

One Marina Boulevard, Microsoft Singapore

IT Architect Regional Conference Singapore 2010
20 - 21 Apr 2010

Singapore Management University, Singapore

The Internet Show 2010
21-22 Apr 2010

Suntec Singapore

A bill to give the information and communications technology (ICT) minister unrestricted power to shut down pornographic and anti-monarchy Web sites is expected to be tabled in the military appointed National Legislative Assembly (NLA) next month.

IT law expert Paiboon Amonpinyokeat told a seminar on Internet censorship yesterday that the law would equip the ICT minister with the legal muscle to deal with wayward websites.

The government currently has to go through the Council for National Security and seek cooperation from Internet service providers to block Web sites with offensive content.

However, the Cyber Crime Bill would clearly stipulate a procedure for the ICT Ministry to shut down or block Web sites deemed damaging to society and state security, said Mr Paiboon, a partner at Gilberte, Reed & Co law firm.

Under Article 17 of the bill, the ICT minister could seek court approval to shut down undesirable Web sites. It would be the first time that Thailand had a legal tool to deal with the problem, he said.

Mr Paiboon recommended, however, that self-regulation among "netizens" and "net operators" should be promoted along with the new law.

Jittat Fakcharoenphol, a lecturer at Kasetsart University's computer engineering department, suggested that there were ways to deal with issues disturbing to society.

"We should not think only about the law but about applicable technology when we want to block undesirable Web sites to prevent indecent content like pornography from reaching minors," he said.

Proactive measures through sensible technology could be a more effective tool in blocking Web sites, he said.

C.J. Hinke, from Freedom Against Censorship Thailand (Fact), said 1,279 books were banned in Thailand from 1850 to 1998, most in an attempt to suppress communism.

Mr Hinke said the lese majeste law has become a powerful tool for authorities to enforce censorship, despite the fact that books and films with content critical of the monarchy do not change the truth about the good things His Majesty the King has done for the country.

"I think Thai authorities should stop treating people like children and allow discussion among ourselves so we can really debate and become an informed society," he said.

Thanapol Eawsakul, editor of Fah Diew Gan magazine, said Thai society would take a similar path to Singapore's if it was to use self-censorship as a principle.

Related stories

China: We don't censor the Internet. Really

Talkback

Add your opinion

In order to post a comment, you need to be registered. (Sign In or register below)

Post your comment
Transform your business interactions with real-time voice, video and telepresence solutions.
Tech Vendor: Cisco

ZDNet Asia Live

Reasons to care about Viacom v. Google - Zd Net Asia.com: Last Thursday's 200-page dump of cour... http://bit.ly/crqRzF #SME #UMG #WMG #EMI

4 hours 10 minutes ago by metaphysicalist on topsy

@BarackObama People voted you in for change. Why are you not listening on ACTA http://tinyurl.com/y8u56g9 #hcr HCR

5 hours 22 minutes ago by studio1411 on topsy

MB Kabbalah IChing - Free Software Downloads - ZDNet Asia: MB Kabbalah IChing is a zodiac sign based software that... http://bit.ly/czUQRr

6 hours 15 minutes ago by fighting_jew on topsy

Found this great little deal calculator http://www.zdnetasia.com/downloa...

13 hours 36 minutes ago by winstoncranford on topsy

Read my blog post on getting the most from your Nexus One: http://www.zdnetasia.com/blogs/m...

RT @3wconsulting: Whitepaper from http://3W.com.au "Outsourcing Your IT Requirements to Philippines" now on @zdnetaustralia & @zdnetasia http://ow.ly/1oY9f

Whitepaper from http://3W.com.au "Outsourcing Your IT Requirements to Philippines" now on @zdnetaustralia & @zdnetasia http://ow.ly/1oYbA

Whitepaper from http://3W.com.au "Outsourcing Your IT Requirements to Philippines" now on @zdnetaustralia & @zdnetasia http://ow.ly/1oYbz

Zdnetasia.com Estimated Worth $178,365 USD. Daily Ad Revenue:$244 USD, Daily Views:81,445 Pages... - http://www.haplog.com/www.zdneta...

The receivers don't transmit back to the satellite. Unless there is a phone line attached to the receiver, they don't have any wa...

2 days 34 minutes ago by bessellbrowne on Apple to join the geolocation craze?

whatever little understanding I have we 'll only progress toward end of the world if we use HPCs to lenthen life of human being. Huma...

2 days 40 minutes ago by abhi32002@gmail.com on High computing promises elixir of life

Thanks for the knowledgeable article on SDDs. Allas...when all this reasearch will happen in Indian Universities. Hope the new bill on Fo...

2 days 53 minutes ago by abhi32002@gmail.com on APAC HPC users eye solid-state drives

It was a good article. This brings a good opportunity for Indian IT firms to come up with new solutions in this field. HPC can become a b...

2 days 12 minutes ago by abhi32002@gmail.com on High computing most-wanted job in Asia

COL KR DHARMADHIKARY(RETD) its very late to reply the link, but if it is still alive and looking for opportunity, i would like to know th...

2 days 9 minutes ago by deb021280 on Education takes off in rural India, helped by PCs

High performance computing (HPC) most-wanted job in Asia http://bit.ly/9vFC3i (via @zdnetasia) #singapore

RT @zdnetasia: EMC COO, Pat Gelsinger, on bridging gaps in the organization and its cloud ambitions in Asia. (cont) http://tl.gd/i5jjd

EMC COO, Pat Gelsinger, on bridging gaps in the organization and its cloud ambitions in Asia. http://bit.ly/9etOZW

Asian SMBs need to pay more attention to disaster recovery planning http://bit.ly/bDet08 via @zdnetasia

Asian SMBs need to pay more attention to disaster recovery planning http://bit.ly/bDet08

"YOG should have social media rules, too - Internet - News" http://bit.ly/dn6vjD

2 days 56 minutes ago by socialsentiment on topsy

[TECH] URL Shorteners slow Web redirection. - http://bit.ly/bySnWK @zdnetasia

URL shorteners are great but they can slow web redirection & you pray it would never go down http://bit.ly/bySnWK via @zdnetasia

URL shorteners slow Web redirection. http://bit.ly/bySnWK

Chinese agencies cry foul over Google. http://bit.ly/by6rwV

all of sg's isps have been practising compulsory invisible proxy for all home subscribers at their backend since many years back alre...

4 days 52 minutes ago by melvinchia on Web filters mean bad news for business

it is not to good for china.
Proactol

4 days 37 minutes ago by nathonastle on Chinese ad partners beg Google for information

Very good explanation of JMX

5 days 43 minutes ago by Babith B on Managing applications with JMX

The reaction to a report issued Tuesday by Flurry Analytics managed to completely overlook some interesting news--the Android-based Motorola Droid outsold the original iPhone over the same period of time following their respective launches--to focus instead on the sales numbers for the Nexus One.

5 days 46 minutes ago by lonemavericks on diggs

Another ZTE story....

5 days 48 minutes ago by Moderate Your Greed on Philippines opens bid for final 3G license

We at www.fifosys.com have also seen a growth in IT outsourcing and anticipate it as a growing field.

5 days 21 minutes ago by sarah Jane on Companies' outsourcing spend to increase

I agree with you. The iSiVaL is super portable and TVs can't expand their image size. I recorded a video that might bring some ideas to...

5 days 52 minutes ago by Jesse B Andersen on Buying a projector? Try an LED TV instead

hermm... he deserved it.. he shud not talk abt sensitive things like tat, well, he shud think twice before saying all those things, event...

5 days 30 minutes ago by ... on Facebook user charged in Malaysia

Password manager tools are potential security threat. Criminals who hack into the computer can use the password manager to log onto any s...

5 days 30 minutes ago by ohanae on What defaults should random password generators use?

I've found the cross platform utility unetbootin to be rather handy for this kind of thing as well.

6 days 4 minutes ago by Jim on Use Live USB Creator to install Fedora 12 from a USB stick

Thanks for the article. I think the debug command has an "\" after "C:" it should say w32tm /debug /enable /file:C:\l...

6 days 4 minutes ago by Roger Biefer on Manage time accuracy with W32Tm

Keep up with ZDNet Asia

Linkedin Join our network

RSS Feeds Subscribe now

Newsletters Subscribe today

Twitter Follow us

Inside ZDNet Asia

Special Report: Tech Focus in 2010

Latest Videos on Tech Industry

Insight: Interviews with Newsmakers

Search for over 15,000 Tech Jobs in Asia

Find your Tech answers in TechGuides

IT Library: Over 60,000 IT papers at your fingertips

Download IT Priorities 2010 Report