Last week, I blogged on the Minister for Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Dr. Man Pattanotai's radio interview where, to be frank, he sounded ridiculous. He has since changed his view on banning of websites as Matichon reports:
นายมั่น กล่าวต่อว่า สำหรับนโยบายการปิดกั้นเว็บไซต์ที่หมิ่นพระบรมเดชานุภาพในช่วงที่ผ่านมา ได้มีคำสั่งจากเบื้องสูงออกมาว่าไม่ต้องการให้ปิดกั้นเว็บไซต์และต้องการให้มีการเผย
แพร่ข้อมูลได้อย่างเสรี เพราะชาวต่างชาติยังไม่เข้าใจการปิดกั้นเว็บไซต์ของประเทศไทย และอาจมองในแง่ที่ไม่ดีก็ได้
[My own translation: Mr. Man stated that on the policy of closing websites for lese majeste there has been an order from "high above" that there should not be any banning of any websites and information should be distributed in an open and free manner because foreigners don't understand the closing of websites in Thailand and might look at it negatively].
BP: High above is usually code for the Royal Family.
I don't know why, but for some reason I am reminded of a certain speech.
h/t SameSky.
btw, HM the King gave a speech yesterday to diplomats which touched on the internet. The excerpt I have seen was quite short, but I can't find a transcript of the speech. If anyone has a link to the transcript please post in the comments.
BP, are you sure of the link ?
http://www.matichon.co.th/news_detail.php?id=32062&catid=155&catid=1
The pages looks... empty.
I guess : they removed it quickly ?...
;-)
Anyway, you should have a look on :
http://www.bangkokpost.com/News/28May2008_news06.php
The IT Ministers said something totally different...
ThaiCrisis: It did work last week... A google search of the URL shows it is has been posted a few times.
I think more to do with archiving, ala the Bangkok Post.
Their goal seems to be to get people to remove content and if they don't threaten them with criminal chargers. This seems preferable, albeit far from perfect, to locking people up in secret detention and charging them with criminal offences (think of those two bloggers last year or the website owner). I don't know about you but I would prefer an email than a knock on the door!
The information in the BP article sounds odd. I think something has been lost in translation or a change of mind. There is mention of talking to webmasters asking them to remove material, but if they were to do that trouble why then block the websites.
Well, you certainly have more experience with Matichon than me.
Maybe you could try another -old- link to see if they really have an archive system "a la" Bangkok Post.
I don't want to be paranoid but the article from Matichon is really... disturbing. From a thai politician point of view. ;-)
Who is the "person high above" who can order a Minister what to do... or not ?
Don't you think ? ! ;-)
Could it be that the minister has ordered to remove the article, leo leo due to the current situation ?
And do not forget the timing issue (last week for Matichon and... yesterday for the cabinet meeting).
As for the report of BP, sure they have proven in the past that they can be "creative", but the cabinet meeting is very formal, with ministers talking to journalists at the end. They might even have an official "communique" given to the press.