15 Years In Jail For Clicking 'Like'

patiwat writes "Thailand has warned Facebook users that they could face 3 to 15 years in jail if they press 'share' or 'like' on images or articles considered unflattering to the Thai monarchy. And it doesn't just apply to Thai subjects: a U.S. citizen was arrested and convicted while visiting Thailand for posting a link to an unauthorized biography of King Bhumibol on his blog. Convictions for virtual lese majeste have sky-rocketed in recent years as efforts to defend the widely revered royal family from criticism have ramped up."

Why indulge?

[Gothmolly]

Why do people continue to go to countries that suck?

Re:Why indulge?

[Hazel Bergeron]

I haven't been to the US since they introduced the eye scan for citizens of my home country at entry.

Shame. It was quite a nice place compared to much of the world.

Re:Why indulge?

[Tom]

Why do people continue to go to countries that suck?

That's exactly why I haven't been to the US during the past 20 years, but I have been to Thailand twice in that same time.

Re:democracy

[vadim_t]

I think free speech is a must for a democracy to work. How can you vote for what you want when it's illegal to say it?

Re:democracy

[Chewbacon]

As far as asking us to respect the king they love so much, keep in mind Americans have come to love their freedom of speech. That said: Fuck that king. I'll shit in his shoes. Bet he has a severe case of short dick syndrome. You can tell him I said it.

Re:democracy

[Anonymous Coward]

Democracy is meaningless without absolute protection of individual rights. In a free society, liberty tops all other factors, otherwise you have "tyranny of the majority" [wikipedia.org].

Re:Why indulge?

[Anonymous Coward]

There are no countries that don't suck. There are only countries that suck comparatively less in certain areas.

Re:Revered?

[Martin Blank]

Widely revered does not mean universally revered.

Re:Why indulge?

[MrMista_B]

Yeah, why would anyone visit the US?

Oh, you mean this is Thailand?

Carry on...

Re:democracy

[rev0lt]

So, why the US - that have the 1st amendment, have only 2 major politic forces? Are you saying the majority of the americans agree with the bullshit from either side? Why do you see much more plurality on the governments of european countries? Free speech means nothing if you don't have free press (you don't), when you have censorship (you have, both on books and music), and when the politicians from either side defend corporate interests and not the citizens (you call it a legitimate profession - lobbyist - in EU is almost a criminal activity). So what's left? Either free speech is not required for a democracy, or the USA aren't a democracy. Pick your poison.

Re:Why indulge?

[Tom]

You're an idiot.

Thailand has beautiful islands, nice beaches, very friendly people and a ton of culture sites worth visiting. Yes, it also has sex-tourism. But at least in Bangkok, there are a lot more real massage parlours than sex-related ones. And getting a nice foot-massage halfway into a several hour shopping tour or visit to the night market (a must-see) is something they could well offer in the western world as well.

Snide remarks, dumbo, work a lot better when they're based on facts and not bullshit.

Re:Why indulge?

[MichaelSmith]

Australian here. If I went to the US as a tourist and went around threatening the President I would expect Bad Things to happen to me.

Re:democracy

[Tom]

Now, Plato in his book on The Republic asserts that it is not procedure that fixes the flaws in democracy but a highly educated populace.

It is not a coincidence that the quality of the government correlates strongly with its focus on education. The pisspot incompetent idiots we call politicians these days have no interest in an educated population, which would immediately see them for the parasitic charlatans they are. So they see to it that education remains at a base level useful for the economy, but not more.

Visionary politicians of decades past, who had no fear of their politics being critically examined because they actually had a plan and a clue, always had better education somewhere in their agenda.

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re:Why indulge?

[thegarbz]

We don't. We go to Thailand instead.

A holiday in Thailand is cheap, surrounded by polite Thai people (mainly because people own quite little and are happy to serve tourists with for a few dollars), generally quite safe, and has some beautiful islands.

A holiday in America starts by getting fingered by the TSA and then gets worse.

I know which I'd prefer.

Re:Fuck the king

[Anonymous Coward]

Exactly where in Europe it is illegal to offend the king/queen. At least in Scandinavia the royal families get their fare share shit starting from the press and continuing to social media.

Re:Why indulge?

[CmdrPony]

Well, for example the country were talking about, Thailand, doesn't fingerprint or eye scan people. They do take photo on international flights when going through customs.