Thai Government To Close 400 Anti-government Sites 267
Will Lord writes "The Guardian is reporting that the Thai government plans to close down 400 anti-government websites and is asking ISPs to block 1,200 more. The response follows a declaration of a state of emergency which has seen troops take to the streets of Bangkok to police anti-government protests.
With web crackdowns like this becoming more and more frequent, do you think we will start to see similar (overt) activities from US and European governments?"
Roots of the Issue (Score:5, Interesting)
With web crackdowns like this becoming more and more frequent do you think we will start to see similar (overt) activities from US and European governments?
I doubt it ... although, I think China & Russia will follow suit (if they aren't already).
... although I was getting a bit frightened there when it seemed for the longest time that a small select elite few wanted the war in Iraq. When Bush was re-elected, there wasn't much I could say however. I feel like half the country wanted it so there's no sense in me violently reacting to this. I'm certain the Thai feel much differently about their situation.
From what I've read, the short of this state of emergency is simply an elite urban ruling class that supports the Thai monarchy and abolished the prime minister back in 2006. The elite class is calling itself the People's Alliance for Democracy even though they have little to nothing to do with fair representation across the entire state. Again, I don't live there, this is second hand information.
Basically, violent protests from both sides are going down and people are dying. Hopefully shutting down the sites that point out the obvious will stop these clashes. I sincerely doubt it, this will clearly be more justification for the rest of Thailand to revolt against the Monarchy.
Unfortunately, Russia & China could both be seen in this same light with Beijing & Moscow being islands of wealth in an otherwise third world country.
I doubt the US and much of Europe need to do this
If you can't see healthy dissent in a country to some extent--something is terribly wrong.
Do I think western countries will crack down? (Score:4, Interesting)
No. You may see maneuvering by ISPs and content providers. I seriously doubt you'll see any crackdown by the governments.
This seriously reminds me of that yearly list of censored stories. I mean, you get the list, you whine they're censored, yet provide links to each one. Sorry, there's no censorship here, least of all against anti-government sentiment, whether the content is true or 100% false, as should be quite obvious by some of the sites out there.
I visited Thailand in 1973 (Score:5, Interesting)
I spent August 1973 to August 1974 in Utapao AFB in Thailand. Utapao was a short boat ride away from Phuket (pronounced "fuck it"; the Thais have a different alphabet than we do) At the time, Thailand was then a third world country. Utapao was in the southern part of the country, and there was no electricity nor running water nor natural gas in homes. The roads were unpaved. The business districts of Saddaheep and Bong Chong to the south of Utapao had electricity, but not the houses.
We had a Thai intern at work a few years ago, and from her account Thailand has industrialized and is no longer a third world country.
Once while riding a bhat bus (so called because it cost one bhat to ride; a bhat equaled five American pennies. The "bus" was a Japanese pickup truck with benches in the bed) flashing lights came up behind us, the driver skidded to a halt and took off running. I cursed and started to get out. "No!" a fellow passenger insisted, "Day keel you!" She was right; I watched in horror as Thai police shot the driver as he ran across the field.
I attributed it to the fact that Thaland was closer to Vietnam than St Louis is to Chicago, and the war was going on, but it appears that even though they may no longer be a third world country, their government is still authoritarian.
What's troublesome is my government, USA, seems to have been headed more and more towards authoritarianism and less free as time has gone on. So I fear that the answer to the question posed in TFS is "yes".
I wrote two K5 diaries about my Thailand experiences a few years ago, Gecko Poker [kuro5hin.org] and War and Sex [kuro5hin.org] if anyone is interested in hearing about the place.
While I was there I thought that a visit to Mars couldn't be stranger. Nothing was the same as here, even the dirt was a different color, the hills were a different shape, the vegetation was completely different. But the world seems to becoming more homogenous as time goes on.
Re:In the U.S., expect it on behalf of the MPAA/RI (Score:3, Interesting)
You can thank the Noerr Pennington doctrine for that. I'd love to see it challenged but I don't know how we can do so.
Get rid of that, and you won't see corporations with lobbyists. Would fix a TON of shit in the US.
Re:Fairness Doctrine (Score:1, Interesting)
Re:Roots of the Issue (Score:5, Interesting)
Uh this is Thailand we're talking about. Far far less than 1% will revolt against the King.
Unless the Thais have changed drastically since 1974 (and as they have a 5,000 year history I sincerely doubt it), you are correct. I was there from August 1973 to August 1974 and I never once met a Thai would wouldn't lay his or her life down for the king. Most people had his portrait/photograph displayed in their homes.
The EU has investigated the possibility of this. (Score:3, Interesting)
See here [telegraph.co.uk] (Torygraph via Guido, with relevant thanks). Essentially the issue is that there aren't many pro-EU establishment blogs (because even an ardent Europhile like myself finds it impossible to justify things like the CAP or the fact that the Eurocracy hasn't had its accounts signed off [blogs.com], via the Adam Smith Institute).
The European Union has already taken corrupt and borderline illegal action to suppress an anti-fraud journalist, Hans-Martin Tillack [wikipedia.org], working for Der Stern, because he had the audacity to protect whistle blowers on the Eurostat scandal [wikipedia.org].
Re:Lemme think... (Score:3, Interesting)
Well, you sure are pleasant.
I was referring to the exact same thing as you. While I don't support raids without warrants, I also don't support blocking of roads to make a deranged point.
You think I've been brainwashed by the statist media, and I think you've been brainwashed by crazy people on the internet.
A matter for the courts VIA the presidency (Score:2, Interesting)
>>Whether you are pro-life or pro-choice really shouldn't HAVE anything to do with what president you vote for, that's a matter for the courts.
The Supreme Court is populated by judges nominated by the President and approved by congress. We currently have a left-wing of the Court that is eager to use foreign laws as a lens by which to view our constitution and views it as a "living, breathing document" which changes in its meaning according to the times we live in. By contrast, the Court has a right-wing population that interprets the document in terms of the Original Intent of its authors and sees the meanings within as rigid. The result is either document which can mean anything the reader wishes (a legal Rorschach inkblot test?) or it has specific meanings that cannot vary. I find the former alarming since our rights and the very nature of our government would then depend highly on who is currently in power and could change like the weather.
Rights are inalienable and God given, not granted by man, and the Constitution is a document designed to limit Government, not grant it unyielding power. But so long as there is a risk of judges willing to "read between the lines" and ignore fundamental measures (such as the 2nd and 10th Amendments), I would argue the election of the President is tremendously important to the state of law in America.
anti-democratic protests (Score:3, Interesting)
An important thing to keep in mind is that these latest protests are pro-military, pro-monarchy and anti-democratic. And they actually do threaten the stability of the country and its lawfully elected government.
Basically the protesters don't like how the election turned out.
Not saying censorship is the solution, but its kind of hard to judge them as an outsider.
Re:When will the US do this? (Score:3, Interesting)
you are 100% spot-on.
all that will happen - given its the USA - will be as you say. 'yelling and complaining' but no 'teeth' behind it.
americans (today) won't risk their status quo, such that it is. as long as the TV flows, as long as basic food and entertainment flows, people will grumble but STILL TAKE IT.
the government knows this and actually counts on it.
we are screwed. its only a matter of time before we turn into the UK with cameras on every lamp post and 'cso' fake-police running around checking on the citizens. if it can happen to a 'free' country like the UK, it most certainly is being planned for the US, too.
Non-teen angst ridden answer.... (Score:3, Interesting)
"With web crackdowns like this becoming more and more frequent, do you think we will start to see similar (overt) activities from US and European governments?"
No.
Despite the cries from people who read 1984 too many times, we very far from living in a totalitarian state. Bush at his worst doesn't have the kind of power to make this sort of stuff happen. All of our checks and balances and the antagonistic relationships of all the actors between the gov't and commercial enterprise would make such an effort futile, followed by becoming a meme on YouTube or an SNL sketch. Many people seem to think our gov't is something monolithic and centrally controlled. It just isn't. The vast majority of gov't positions are just jobs, not elected or appointed. Most of those jobs are filled by relatively normal people. Not square jawed conspirators. Real life just isn't that interesting.
If Obama is elected *crosses fingers* the "Patriot Act" will probably go away and many of W's abuses will be uncovered, or at least won't go on. Unless of course the tin foil hat crew is right and both parties work for the Colonel, the Gettys, the Rothschilds etc.
Or maybe i haven't smoked enough pot/watched enough X-Files.
Also, the gov't doesn't give a shit about you downloading the anarchist cookbook. You're not that interesting or important. i seriously hope that Obama's election will put and end to the ego-centrism and paranoia of the last 8 years. It's hilarious, but tiresome.