As it stands, any bored, 12-year-old, attention-seeking kid in his bedroom in Middle America can now create instant mayhem in the Thai government and boardrooms of Google. YouTube is working on imposing a block on the offending videos so that they cannot be viewed in Thailand, but the onus is obviously going to fall to the government of Thailand to find and complain about any new videos that might appear.
Additionally, the ramifications for the openness and accessibility of the internet in Thailand are quite grave: Basically any website — not just YouTube — that has member/visitor-posted content (i.e. Blogger, Typepad, MySpace) can fall victim to people who would insult the king. Thailand can either choose a wholesale ban of all of these websites if/when they fall victim to malicious posters of rude content... and hope that they find sympathetic ears from the administrators of these sites to their demands to ban certain content... or they can maintain a 24-hour hypervigilant audit of these sites so that they can rush to block individual pages, searches, archives, and backlinks... a daunting task that probably would be ineffective.
To tell you the truth, I really don't have an answer to this problem. I really don't think that the Thai government does either. The law they are enforcing dictates their actions. If the problem stays limited to a few videos on YouTube, then a solution requiring more foresight probably won't be necessary. However, problems like this don't often go away quietly.
This editorial in The Bangkok Post sums it up nicely:
The Royal Thai Police and the so-called cyber police from the ICT Ministry continue to arbitrarily use laws introduced after the coup to shut down websites they deem offensive to the monarchy or a threat to national security. Recent acts of state censorship include the blocking of YouTube and efforts to take to task the owners of the website of the Saturday Voice group which put up an online petition to seek the removal of Privy Council president Gen Prem Tinsulanonda.My recommendation to the Thai government: Ask His Majesty what he thinks. I'm willing to bet that he can help you out.
The internet and the policing of its content is a dilemma that governments across the globe are facing. Thailand, as yet, does not have any specific Internet laws. A proposed bill on cyber crime is currently under consideration by the National Legislative Assembly but as it stands, it poses a considerable threat to free speech and places far too much unchecked power in the hands of the authorities, giving the government the right to shut down any website without having to make a case to gain approval through the courts.
Unfettered censorship of the internet and the continued prevalence of entrenched self-censorship through fear and confusion are the greatest barriers we face in ensuring our right of access to information, research and discourse, as well as basic press freedoms and open discussion. It is vital that such basic freedoms of discussion and access to information are championed because without them, none of our other rights and freedoms can ever be guaranteed.
2 comments:
Ya got that right. The king could stop this quickly if he were to pronounce he can handle criticism. I'm sure he can and needn't fear such insults.
Otherwise, it will be sticking fingers into the dikes. The government can stop a leak here and there, but more will sprout elsewhere.
Actually, he already has made such a statement several years ago.
I think that the problem is that the king can handle being insulted... but the Thai people themselves can't.
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