Audioclipgate : Abhisit unleashes his thought police against 2 suckers

Thought police ? Thinkpol in newspeak.

Police have arrested two employees of SC Assets Plc for having allegedly mailed the doctored audio clip of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva.

The two were arrested on Sunday by Crime Suppression Division police. [...]

The two were arrested under the warrant issued by the Criminal Court on Sunday on charges of disseminating false information via computer network, causing damage to other people.

The sources said the interrogation found that the two were not the ones who doctored the audio clip to sound that the prime minister ordered the use of violence against red-shirt protesters.

According to the sources, the two simply mailed out the copies of the audio clip after one of them got a CD containing the clip.

Investigators are now finding out from whom one of the suspects had obtained the CD. (Nation)

This story about the “doctored audio clip” has no interest, whatsoever.

It’s just another thai drama, AKA a hurricane inside a glass of political water.

Abhisit has denied the story and has denounced the manipulation. Fair enough. Case closed. The case should have been closed…

But we are in Thailand, a country where you get 18 years of jail for a speech made in public…

A country where the police can come to arrest you because you have just sent… an e-mail !

Your crime ? Thought crime.

The 2 poor suckers… are just suckers indeed. But they were arrested by the bully boys of Abhisit, in the name of an insane law.

Burma ? North Korea maybe ? Iran perhaps ? China ?

No. Thailand, 2009.

Wake up Thailand…. things are getting dangerously out of control.

And as usual, we are waiting for the official reaction of our dashing Prime Minister about those serious matters. What does he think ? Does he agree ? Does he disagree ?

Allegedly educated in Oxford, Abhisit has ruined our ears with big and promising words since his “election” (ah ah ah) last december : “democracy”, “rule of law”, blablabla etc.

Afterall, why not ? The guy looked sincere…. And he was certainly an angel compared to Samak-The-Monster.

But how this man can look himself in the mirror now ?

Abhisit you’re a disgrace.

Computer Crime Act at work : one webmaster arrested… lese-majeste and politics again

Et voila ! The Junta designed the Computer Crime Act… and now our dear “democrat” Prime Minister, the dashing Abhisit (you know “Ofxord educated” blablabla), seems very happy to uses it.

When the lese-majeste hysteria meets an insane law designed by military… For that matter Abhisit does a synthesis.

A scary one.

The CC Act was not often used (two cases in 2007 it seems, followed by one in 2008).

(To know more about the CC Act, read my article of july 2007, and the translation here).

Crime Suppression Division (CSD) police yesterday raided the office of Prachatai’s political website and took its webmaster into custody accusing her of violating the Computer Act.

About 10 CSD officers led by Pol Col Satit Tachayapop, deputy CSD commander, went to the (prachatai.com) office yesterday. Armed with a search warrant dated March 5, 2008, they searched the office and detained Cheeranuch Premchaiphorn, the webmaster.

The CSD team accused her of violating Article 15 of the Computer Act as well as disseminating lese majeste content on the website from Oct 15 to Nov 3 last year.

The police interrogated her for hours and copied all files from her personal computer. Chantana Banpasirichote, a political lecturer from Chulalongkorn University, yesterday used her position to guarantee Ms Cheeranuch’s bail.

Chuwat Lertkitisuk, the website editor, said the police raid could have been prompted by certain messages posted on the site’s web board.

A lot of messages have been posted, and the webmasters might not be quick enough to delete alleged lese majeste messages from the web board, he said.

CSD officers also seized PCs and relevant documents as evidence, he said.

“This is obviously media intimidation and the latest case of using lese majeste as a tool to curb freedom of expression,” said Mr Chuwat. (Bangkok Post)

It might be important to remember that this website was created by a former senator… who is the brother of Giles… the academic charged with… lese-majeste and who fled to UK.

Nothing happens by chance… We have here a deliberate campaign… A campaign of intimidation and repression. Abhisit might not have ordered it… but he supports it for sure.

Furthermore, he’s an hypocrite and a liar.

Abhisit said those in charge of the web board had a duty to make sure no lese-majeste comments were posted.

“I am willing to listen if they have any doubts,” the premier said.

Asked by the media why those prosecuted seemed to be media critical of the government, Abhisit said he would look into the matter. “They can always file a complaint,” he said. (Nation)

Alleged IT Minister speaks about lese-majeste, national security, Al Qaeda, holistic way, and 3G (the phone not the G string)

Thank you ! Thank you Bangkok Post for the hilarious (and scary…) interview of Ranongruk, the alleged IT Minister.

My readers are probably aware. They know this woman…

She’s one of the Frankenstein Ministers… She started her career as a nurse… Then she became… are you ready ?… Deputy Finance Minister in Samak’s government in march 2008.

She thought that the VAT was paid only by tourists… and she went on Google to learn about her new job. I’m not joking (proof here).

Abhisit made her IT Minister… I’m wondering who is the most ridiculous for that matter. Anyway. We knew that she would be a real winner.

She started quickly, end of december, with a striking agenda : lese-majeste everywhere, even in her tea.

And now this interview with Bangkok Post. It’s a master piece, nothing less.

I’m copying the whole article, for the legacy. So historians can have a good laugh in a few years.

The Magical Kingdom and The Economist : “police do not have to officially ban the magazine”

Et voila ! Another day in the Magical Kingdom… where humans and animals live in harmony, on the banks of river of honey and gold. And where… the most important thing is : to avoid loosing face.

Thailand ? You can choose between Lalaland or Disneyland, with Inspecteur Clouseau or Forrest Gump.

The Thai distributor of the Economist said Tuesday it had banned this week’s edition of the magazine because it contained a story critical of His Majesty the King.

Asia Bookssaid the article, which discussed thealleged role in politics of the King,”risks insulting the monarchy.” [...]

“Police have talked to importers and distributors who agreed not to import the issue of Dec 6-10 because an article in the magazine criticised the monarchy,” said Pol Lt Gen Thiradet Rodphothong, commander of Special BranchPolice.

“Therefore the police do not have to officially ban the magazine,” he said. (AFP)

What a piece of work of the famous thai rethoric !

Any rational mind would infere that : if the police asked the distributor to ban the magazine, then… we could say that the police has itself banned the magazine.

But in Thailand, logic doesn’t apply.

Anyway. Those 2 famous articles (already) are going to get even more audience after this news from AFP (press agency serving medias worldwide).

Congratulations to the police !

And those 2 articles are online (with copies probably on hundreds of servers)… and will stay on the Internet for ever.

We are waiting now the thai police to “not ban” The Economist’s website, so the thai ISP’s could “ban not” the website. I mean something like that… I’m confused now.

Thai authorities block one Wikipedia page about the King

Here we go again… The thai authorities are putting their dirty fingers into web censorship, toying with freedom of expression (a totally foreign concept for them). Well actually, it never ended.

It started with Thaksin, then the Junta made it an art form… And of course, the “democratically elected” government last december continued the job... With great celerity.

All of them, the PPP, the military, the monarchists, the communists, the PAD, the nudists, the pet lovers, the soccer supporters, the golf players, the UFO believers, and of course the sweet Democrats, leaded by the sweet and Ofxord educated Abhisit. They love it. All of them. Not one to condemn such policy.

What a joke.

Check my Censorship category… there are some tasty stories…

So what the fuss is about this time ? Some insulting video made by teenagers ? Some porn ? A threat to national security ? Nope. A wikipedia page dedicated to the King.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhumibol_Adulyadej

This specific page is currently blocked in Thailand. Confirmed on True ADSL in Bangkok, Maxnet, Loxinfo (but working on TOT).

The golden medal of the hypocrisy goes to True. Those bastards just display the regular “Not found” page…

Loxinfo is more honest and displays a message (in thai and english) : “This URL has been blocked by a Court order or it could have an affect on or be against the security of the Kingdom, public order or good morals. “

The stupid pathetic war continues… Some little civil servants must be sweating in their caves, pursuing the “public order and good morals“… Like their chinese counterparts. With one big difference : China doesn’t hide itself. Thailand does. Behind smoke and mirrors.

Hey ! I’ve got a news for you. The Economist has 2 articles on line that “could have an affect on or be against the security of the Kingdom, public order or good morals.”

Dare to censor the newspaper’s website ? Come on. Come to daddy. It’s easier to ban an anonymous webpage on wikipedia… than the website of an important and respected international media, right ?

Oh I forgot they need a “court order”. Unless, like usual, there is nothing more than a theater of shadows… And no court order at all…

Lese-majeste : Democrats propose a law to crack down on Internet

What can you do when you’re a member of a party that :
-has absolutly no ideas
-has mediocre leaders
-and is unable to win any elections ?

The Democrat Party has the answer : lese-majeste of course.

It’s not the first time that some MPs try to get their 15 minutes of fames by toying without any shame with the higher institution (read here).

But now, they go one step further : with a proposition of law.

A group of MPs from the opposition Democrat Party yesterday proposed a draft legislation that would penalise people making defamatory remarks or contemptuous tones against the monarchy on the Internet or via computers. [...]

The law’s proponents explained that at present there is no law that deals with offenders of lese majeste through modern electronic means, such as on Internet websites and in computer systems.

Under the proposed law, anyone putting inaccurate content about the monarchy on the Internet or a computer system faces a jail term of between three to 20 years or a fine ranging from Bt200,000 to Bt800,000.

Those uploading defamatory or contemptuous content about the monarchy face an imprisonment of five to 20 years or a fine of between Bt300,000 to Bt800,000.

The law will also punish anyone falsely accusing others of such wrongdoings, with imprisonment of three to 20 years and a fine ranging from Bt200,000 to Bt800,000.

The law also seeks to punish people hiring others to do the job for them, the Internet service provider or computer system administrator who fails to cooperate, as well as repeat offenders. [...] (Nation)

Someone should explain them that Thailand has all the necessary laws to deal with this problem :

-lese-majeste, part of the Penal Code
-and of course the new Computer Crime Act

Furthermore, someone should explain them that lese-majeste doesn’t cover one mean in particular : whether you make a speech in public on the street ( (Da Torpedo), a speech in a room (Jakrapob case), an article on a famous TV’s website (BBC Jonathan Head case), write a book, an article, a radio show, in a cinema, anything… everywhere… by any means.

Lese-majeste is lese-majeste.

We don’t need a special law for lese-majeste… on Internet. Or on “computers”.

Furthermore, those MPs don’t even read the newspapers : “The court issued three orders shutting down about 400 sites, 344 of which carried material that was contemptuous of the royal family.” (september 2008).

It’s the proof that the authorities can already handle lese-majeste on Internet.

Poor country. Poor people.

Lese-Majeste and censorship : a thai minister has found the chinese way !

The Information and Communications Technology Ministry (ICT) says it will revoke the licences of internet service providers (ISPs) who fail to take appropriate action against clients who publish lese majeste content.

ICT Minister Mun Patanotai yesterday met ISP bosses and alerted the National Telecommunication Commission (NTC) about the proposed tightened measures.

The regulation is being drafted and should come into effect later this month, he said.

If ISPs fail to shut down sites which contain lese majeste content after receiving three notices from the ministry, the NTC would be asked to revoke their licences immediately.

Mr Mun added that in particularly serious cases, the ministry would not need to issue three warnings before ordering the website to be closed.

Foreign-based websites offensive to the monarchy may be hard to close, but the ministry could block access to them from within Thailand, he added.

The ISPs were assured that they ran no risk of being sued for implementing the restrictions, Mr Mun said.

He explained that the amendment to the computer crime law the ministry and the NTC are working on will provide wider legal protection for the authorities in their attempts to rein in inappropriate websites. (Bangkok Post)

Congratulations mister -alleged- Minister ! You made a fool of yourself with your project to invest 500 millions THB (14 millions dollars) in a firewall to block 1000 websites “attacking the monarchy”.

People laughed at you because you were obviously over-charged like a tourist strolling around Patpong  saturday night, like a sucker.

500 000 THB per website, that’s costly for sure.

So, congratulations with your new idea that we could summarize by “the chinese way”.

At last, you managed to understand that it’s much more cheaper to put pressure on the ISP… so they can make the dirty work for you. Free of charge of course ! And with zeal…

You’re a good pupil : you have learned the chinese way.

Lese-majeste hysteria : “32 cases under investigation”

You have to relocate an Asean summit in Chiang Mai… because you’re a chicken-little afraid of protesters in Bangkok ?

Everybody is laughing at you because you don’t even have a proper office to work… protesters are occupying the government’s house since august and you have to relocate to an old airport ?

You’re start to feel the heat of the coming economic downturn ?

You lost face big time when the Queen supported your opponents ?

You’re a mere and alleged Prime Minister, brother in law of a convicted fugitive ?

You know more than everybody else that your days are numbered and that nobody is listening to you ?

You’re so lame and so tired ?

In a nutshell, you’re totally and pathetically screwed ?

Lit up the Reichstag baby ! Unleash the power of the “lese-majeste hysteria” Bring in more cases ! Everybody could be virtually accused of lese-majeste. And even if they aren’t guilty, they could… be guilty. It’s enough. And as the Great Architect create a Great Firewall to isolate the lese-majeste websites. Beijing is your best friend and model.

It will help newspaper to sale copies, it will give you a cheap but convincing “brevet of good royalism”. You need medals, even in chocolate. A thai official with no medals is like a som tam without chili. It will divert public’s attention. With a little help you could even start a mini war with Cambodia, along the border.

Poor little country… so insecure and so immature…

The Central Investigation Bureau is trying to wrap up 32 cases on lese majesty, including the alleged insult involving former PM’s Office minister Jakrapob Penkair, CIB commissioner Lt General Worapong Chewpreecha said Wednesday.

Of the 32 cases, four reports have been forwarded for the prosecution review. Some 15 ongoing probes involve offensive messages posted in various Web sites. (Nation)

And it’s important to note that the hysteria is perfectly shared by… The Democrats !

Meanwhile, Democrat MP Peerapan Saliratvipak said he would sponsor draft amendments to the 2007 Computer Offences Act.

Peerapan said his draft was designed to overhaul and boost the efficiency of law enforcement to detect smears against the monarchy on the Internet.

At present, the Information and Communications Technology Ministry and police often pass the blame to each other on the jurisdiction to uncover the offences, he said.

Authorities concerned have the mandate and the technological know-how to detect offensive messages, but they try to shift the blame instead of doing their job, he said.

He also criticised a ministerial proposal to spend up to Bt500 million to build a firewall for the Internet gateway to screen and block messages uploaded abroad, arguing that equipment was already in place. (Nation)

The last sentence is… tasty.

Internet : Thailand wants to build a firewall to protect the monarchy

The world is falling a part with an inane financial crisis. Thailand has no government. The alleged Prime Minister doesn’t even have an… office (occupied by PAD’s protesters since 2 months), the government is obviously attacked (the Queen going to the funerals of a PAD protester killed)… but it’s still important to save face, to pretend, to be more royalist than the King himself.

Even though it would lead to act like a good democracy such as… China. Mai pen rai.

Go Thailand ! Go deeper into the Rabbit Hole.

The Ministry of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) plans to spend about 100 million to 500 million baht to build a gateway to block websites with contents defaming the royal institution.

ICT Minister Mun Patanotai said exactly 86 per cent of those websites are from foreign countries. He said his ministry will give more attention to websites violating lese majeste laws than pornographic, obscene and terrorist websites.

According to the minister, thousands of the websites have been found to have information offending the monarchy, but they could not be revealed because Internet users would visit them once they are known.

The minister added the more such websites are suppressed, the more they grow, but police will continue to penalise the offenders nonetheless.

Prime Minister and Defence Minister Somchai Wongsawat had discussed this with the intelligence units, the Telephone Organization of Thailand (TOT) and the Communications Authority of Thailand (CAT), Mr Mun said. (Bangkok Post)

Censorship : courts order closure of 400 websites

The Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Ministry has detected more than 1,200 websites that violated the Computer Crime Act – of which 344 had content deemed insulting to the monarchy.

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 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.

The ministry had also sought help from the police to bring all the violators to trial.

(Bangkok Post)

Comments ? I think it’s not necessary.

As far as censorship is concerned, the current government is perfectly equal to the Junta (designer of this infamous law in 2007).

They did it : law requires companies to store all Internet data for 90 days

Until this day, we had doubts. It seemed too big to be true (read here)… The shamefull Cyber Crime Act, pushed by the Junta in 2007 (read here)… included an obligation for “Internet services providers” to store Internet traffic data for 90 days.

Log systems for everybody ?

The burning question was : what is the definition of a “services provider”. Internet cafes or other public places ? Or all privates companies, with a just computer network and an Internet access (for email for instance) ?

This article published in Bangkok Post today, with quotes from an official of the IT Ministry seems to give a final answer…

They dit it !

It’s important to note that Thailand is the only country in the world to have such obligation… I mean even China does not have such requirement…

Can you imagine the mess ? And the costs of such broad technical obligation ? The endless new opportunies for corruption (what we can call “targeted implementation of laws and regulations”)… ?

It’s unbelievable, astonishing.

From Aug 23, private firms, organisations and government agencies will be required to store all internet traffic data for 90 days so it is available as digital evidence for police. Pol Col Yannapol Youngyuen, commander of the Bureau of Technology and Cyber Crime at the Department of Special Investigation, said the IT Ministry order has no exceptions and will include banks, hotels, schools and internet cafes.

He said digital evidence gathered from computers is useful in tracking those engaged in cyber crime.

Cyber offences, ranging from email forwarding of pornographic pictures to posting libellous messages on forums, are on the rise, Pol Col Yannapol said, but police agencies find it hard to gather the evidence to bring the perpetrators to justice.

He said internet cafes will also be required to collect information to identify computer users, such as ID cards, time of logging in and sites visited. Shops that fail to heed the rules will face fines up to 500,000 baht, he said. (Bangkok Post)

And what is even more astonishing is the silence of the current government (democratically elected as we say). They should abrogate this infamous law designed by the generals. But it seems that Samak has other, more urgent, priorities…

And what about the “opposition”, the so called Democrat Party, led by Abhisit, the so called “new thai politician” educated in the UK ? Again, a striking silence.

If we can assume that Samak and all his friends don’t give a rat shit about Internet, right to privacy and freedom, what are the positions of Abhisit on these issues ?

Accomplice nothing less…

Poor Thailand…

UPDATE AUGUST 15

A very interesting commentary published by Bangkok Post : “Cyber crime: Big Brother is watching” (with timeline, and other details, and particularly on the very broad interpretation of the law from the ICT Ministry).