Volunteer 'Cyber Scouts' Censor Web In Thailand 112
societyofrobots writes "Since the military coup of 2006, Thailand's media freedoms have continually been downgraded. A growing tactic among the ruling elite is to accuse the political opposition of insulting the king, allowing for censorship and political imprisonment of those who dare speak out. In 2010, web censorship began to reach the scales of China and Iran. Now, Thailand has formed a group of volunteers called Cyber-Scouts to patrol the web looking for comments deemed to insult the monarchy. AFP also has a video."
Re:Fuck the monarchy (Score:3, Interesting)
Before we get carried away using it as an excuse to be an a-hole, lets also remember that the King is not the one who complains about the insults, but rather his fervent supporters. He didn't write these laws, he isn't part of the legislative process to approve them, and he is not the one you should hold responsible.
Re:I don't get it (Score:2, Interesting)
Also, he and his family do have a serious personal stake and fortune to protect. In a far-from-rich country, he still manages to be the wealthiest monarch in the world.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhumibol_Adulyadej
People say Thais love their king, and they do, but the story is more complicated than that. Imagine a society where you must always revere both your elders and your 'superiors', to the extent that you must always Wai them (a kind of bow/greeting) and must never contradict them or speak badly about them. Now elevate that to the ultimate superior in the country who is now also very elderly. (Thais even Wai *photos* of the royals!) Add the Lese Mageste laws, so that you have literally never heard or read even a single bad word about him. (Even not standing up at the beginning if a movie at the theatre when the King's Song is played, which HE wrote by the way, will land you in jail for several years -- unless the king oh so graciously pardons you.) And finally add the fact that he's generally a decent guy, renaissance man, who has done a lot of work to help the poor (but how much effort, really, given that he is still THE WORLD'S RICHEST MONARCH in a country where the poor still had no access to freaking health care without mortgaging their and their family's futures!). That's Thailand.
The locals don't know (and are legally prohibited from talking about it if they did, thank you Lese Mageste) the fact that his wife, the queen, supported the Yellow Shirt's successful coup to take over from the Red Shirts, who were the choice of the poor and lower classes in a democratic election. The Red Shirts gave the people affordable health care, for one thing. Do you really think Thais would still love their king if some of these details were allowed out in the open to be discussed over the past 60 years...?! I don't think so.