You Tube is blocked in Thailand

[Farang]

'
You, for one, seem to care. And yes' I've seen it. While I do not like the misuse of freedom of
speech and expression, they still are too valuable to be thrown away at first indignation over one
prank or another. If we go that route we should dismantle the whole internet altogether. There'll
always be someone indignant over this little detail or that. Just listen to some Thai minister
or another who accuses internet luring Thais with despicable pornography and voluptuousness in
form of boom-boom films, much of which are made in Thailand, by the way.

Of course, concepts and principles such as freedom or human rights are just intangible ideas
and therefore not readily understood by everyone, whereas a picture, a book - or a video - is
something concrete, something you can grasp and gleefully throw into the fire to purge the evil
from The Righteous. The ideas and tenets, however, are infinitely more valuable than some
offending product, no matter how inflammable and brightly burning, the offense of which
often is only in the one myopic eye of the opinion holder.
,

[STEVE G]

The blockage im-posed on the YouTube website in Thailand will continue until a particular still image from a contentious video clip regarded as lese-majeste is also removed from the website, Information and Com-munications Technology (ICT) Minister Sitthichai Pookaiyaudom said yesterday.


He said the earlier removal of the 44-second film clip containing the content from the US-based website was not enough.


"We also want that picture removed before we unblock YouTube," he added.


The ministry earlier said it would impose the blockade indefinitely until other measures were adopted or YouTube decided to remove the lese-majeste video clip without conditions.


Next Monday, police and the ministry will work out issues


to deal with such a case in the future.


Sitthichai said he was "dismayed" and complained bitterly when Google Inc, which owns YouTube, refused to remove the content, citing that it still kept material mocking US President George W Bush far more harshly than what was deemed inappropriate against His Majesty the King.


Sitthichai added that YouTube insisted it would still keep the clip.


"YouTube said it thought there was not enough reason to remove the clip after viewing the video and making its judgement on the content," he added.


He described the posting as "unacceptable" to all Thais.


"Thailand is a small country and has no negotiating power to get the content removed from YouTube. What we can do now is block the YouTube service locally, until the clip is removed," he added.


During the ICT Ministry-ordered blockade, any Internet service provider in Thailand found to be hosting websites containing content that insults His Majesty or the Royal Family or still leaves access to YouTube open to local users will have its operating licences revoked immediately.


The clip was later removed, not long after the blockade of YouTube began in Thailand on Tuesday night.


A message on the YouTube page where the clip was used said the 44-second video clip in Flash format was removed by the user - self-described as a US-based, 30-year old with the user name "Paddidda".


After posting the clip not long after March 25, when he or she registered to use the service, the user never logged into the page until yesterday evening, when the clip was removed, said a note posted yesterday on the YouTube page in question.


Associated Press explained how the content in the video clip violated lese-majeste law. The number of visitors accessing the YouTube page reached 66,553, before the clip was pulled.


In an e-mail statement on Wednesday night, YouTube spokeswoman Julie Supan said the company was "disappointed" its site had been blocked.


The Nation,

[Jaime]

[prcscct]

BANGKOK, Thailand - YouTube offered Saturday to "educate" Thai officials who want to block individual clips from its video-sharing service, hoping to end an impasse that arose after a slideshow mocking the country's revered king appeared online.

Thailand blocked YouTube on Wednesday after its owner, Google Inc., refused to remove the slideshow of King Bhumibol Adulyadej.

The initial video, which was withdrawn Thursday, showed pictures of feet over the king's head — a major cultural taboo in Thailand, where feet are considered dirty and offensive — and graffiti scrawled over the 79-year-old monarch's face. At least one still frame from the video remained on the site.

A variation of the withdrawn video reappeared Friday, along with another one that showed a picture of the king superimposed with a monkey's face. It also carried messages with profanities and said Thailand's "leaders are evil and hate free speech."

YouTube said Thailand's information ministry was having difficulty blocking individual videos.

"While we will not take down videos that do not violate our policies, and will not assist in implementing censorship, we have offered to educate the Thai ministry about YouTube and how it works," said Julie Supan, head of global communications for YouTube.

"It's up to the Thailand government to decide whether to block specific videos, but we would rather that than have them block the entire site," she said.

Insulting the monarchy in Thailand is a crime. Last week, a Swiss man was sentenced to 10 years in prison for vandalizing portraits of the king.

Sitthichai Pookaiyaudom, the minister of information and technology, said the government remove its ban on the site only when it has the technical capacity to block individual pages or until all the contentious clips are blocked or removed.

"I don't want to hear a lecture on free speech ... I am a proponent of free speech but this is just culturally insensitive and offensive," he said, adding that he would not block access to materials that are anti-government. "But we will not tolerate materials that offend the monarchy."

Some in Thailand have criticized the ban as a violation of freedom of expression and another sign of censorship by the military-installed government that took power after a coup ousted former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

Many viewers, however, have reacted with outrage, hurling abuse at the clip's creator. Some newspaper columnists have praised the ban, saying YouTube should respect cultural sensitivities and not allow videos that would be considered illegal in Thailand.

The government has also blocked a number of other Web sites deemed insulting to the king.

[caller]

I'm not really bothered about the video clip as it seems almost childish in its content from the descriptions given, but if it was designed to provoke, then it certainly worked. It would have been far better to have ignored it and then it would have been quickly forgotten, instead the poster is now on a publicity grabbing roll and Thai politics are once again in the news.

The reports I have read in the UK have been factual and "dry" just pointing out Thai law. leaving others to decide on their reasonableness or logic.
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I know nothing

[ozuncle]

Has anyone seen you tube publish anything:

Pornographic.
or

Mocking Muslims.
?

I still say that you tube could easily have withdrawn this post when requested.

The only ones who are affected are Thai people and perhaps the man who was recently convicted for grafitti.

They censor when they want to!
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You only live once.

[DawnHRD]

Youtube are wrong. The video was obviously meant to incense & inflame (feet superimposed upon HM the King's head???) & it has done so. The Thai authorities (at the mo) did the predictable thing in blocking it. Youtube would not withdraw (publicity is always good!!), so I think it's right that it continues to get blocked. What are we missing? A bunch of saddos & their pictorial blogs? Think I can survive without that...
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"The question is not, can they reason? Nor, can they talk? But, can they suffer?" - Jeremy Bentham, philosopher, 1748-1832

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[nevets]

I had u tube on my laptop about 5 months ago i deleted it ,i found it to be rubish and thats where it went in the bin.

[STEVE G]

The problem YouTube has is that because of the way it works, they have little control over content and as soon as they ban anything it just unleashes a wave of bored troublemakers who will just keep posting similar material.
Recently they tried to remove a clip that was causing offence in Brazil and they found it was re-appearing hundreds of times a day.

[Lev]

I'm afraid I have to lock this topic for the safety of the forum, another has recently been censored - we do not want HHAD going the same way.

Thanks for your understanding.
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