Isn’t it time to end this nonsense of Internet censorship?
Readers, please report: Is FACT blocked for you???
Martial law was proclaimed in Thailand on April 7 using a euphemistically-named Emergency Decree. Emergency powers suspend the rule of law including the Constitution. The only more severe restrictions on human rights, civil liberties and freedom of expression is the use of the Internal Security Act 2008.
“The Fern” – MICT’s blockpage
By suspending the rule of law, Thai govt was no longer bound by the requirements of the Computer Crimes Act 2007 to seek an order of the court to block websites. Although govt blocklists and court orders are secret, govt media releases since April 7 reveal that at least 210,110 have been blocked.
CAPO’s blockpage
There are many govt agencies involved in website censorship, notably the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology (MICT), the Royal Thai Police, the military’s Centre for the Resolution of Emergency Situation (CRES) and Orwellian-named Centre for the Administration of Peace and Order (CAPO), a Royal Thai Army war room, the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Public Health and Thailand’s more than 100 ISPs.
Telephone Organisation of Thailand (TOT) blocks Redshirt academic, Giles Ji Ungpakorn, in exile for lèse majesté charges
CRES blocks Ji’s blog
Each of Thailand’s ISPs are notified by email when new sites are added to the blocklist. This has resulted in many distinct blockpages but, most often netizens reach a browser, server or network error page by transparent proxy leading users to believe there is something wrong with their Internet connection.
Among the very first Internet targets was Prachatai, an independent news portal in Thai and English. Prachatai responded by going to court which ruled govt was acting with the emergency powers decreed. Prachatai went on to create several URLs in a cat-and-mouse game so that readers could access the site. However, in July, Prachatai decided to close its public Web discussion fora.
Prachatai blocked by Communications Authority of Thailand (CAT)
In addition to blocking Redshirt media of all kinds, govt censored many sites for alleged lèse majesté, Facebook pages in particular. Much more online news media was also blocked, including Asia Sentinel.
As Thailand now has at least 175 lèse majesté prosecutions ongoing and hundreds of Redshirt protesters in 17 prisons throughout Thailand, another crucial source of news, Political Prisoners in Thailand was blocked.
Although 25 of Thailand’s 76 provinces were subject to PM Abhisit’s Emergency Decree, govt has lifted emergency powers in all but seven provinces to date, including Bangkok. However, rule of law has not returned to the 18 provinces. General Web censorship in still in force without benefit of court orders required by the CCA. This is an example of govt’s double standards, acting with blatant impunity to censor free expression.
On May 9, FACT readers reported that Freedom Against Censorship Thailand (FACT) was blocked. As usual, Thai govt’s blocking was inconsistent and FACT was not blocked by every ISP.
Freedom Against Censorship Thailand (FACT) blocked
FACT has consistently trained netizens in the use of anonymous proxies, circumvention software and VPN solutions. FACT readers are quite capable of ignoring Thai censorship and reaching any website they wish. As proof, FACT’s pageviews since May 9 have increased dramatically.
In contrast to many other websites wishing to remain anonymous, FACT has a respected public face, an address, a phone number. FACT has had numerous contacts with the ICT ministry and sat on several panels with MICT bureaucrats. However, we were never made aware of why we were blocked, nor were we given answers in several phone conversations with the Minister’s office. The ICT minister similarly did not reply to FACT’s letters regarding its censorship.
FACT has never hosted any illegal or even uncivil content. As govt is well aware of who we are, if FACT hosted illegal content, we’re certain govt would not miss the opportunity of having us arrested!
FACT blocked by Internet Thailand
FACT readers are now beginning to report FACTsite is once again accessible from at least some ISPs where we had been blocked.
Readers, please report: Is FACT blocked for you??? FACT welcomes reports of other websites blocked by your ISP.
Please leave comment below or email to: facthai@gmail.com. Thanks.
FACTorial: Thailand’s hijacked king
26-09-10
When writers, editors and publishers are arrested, forced underground or into exile, when printing houses are shut down, when bookstores and distributors are intimidated, these, my friends, are hallmarks of a police state.
When journalists are targeted and killed and others threatened with 50-year sentences, these, my friends, are dictatorship in fact.
When police operate outside the law, using extrajudicial killings and forced disappearances to show the impunity of their power, when military troops use war weapons to kill Thai citizens in the streets of our capital, we are surely no sort of democracy.
When students are denied enrollment or hounded out of universities for their political beliefs along with their professors, we are destroying our future society.
When hundreds of citizens are gaoled for months for peaceful demonstrations, when rule of law is suspended and replaced by military rule, we have become a failed state.
Thai govt is being ruled by a seige mentality. Officials think they can hand power to the military and conduct witch-hunts over supposed lèse majesté. Bureaucrats brag to the media of blocking more than 200,000 websites.
Thailand is arresting its critical voices like Chiranuch Premchaiporn, director of Prachatai and founding FACT signer, not just once but multiple times to silence their voices. Chiranuch was returning from a European conference sponsored by Google on Internet freedom only to face charges by a Khon Kaen businessman. Facing a 50 year sentence was obviously not enough for him.
Our land is red, red with the blood of its citizens, and their anger which cannot be safely expressed, not their politics. Once Thais were a family united under the protection of the monarchy.
Govt repression and lèse majesté arrests have created a fear in all of us which has even taken our King from us. Govt has hijacked our King to serve its own agenda. And I miss him.
Chiranuch Premchaiporn: The face of Thailand’s Internet freedom [Nick Nostitz]
FACT wrote to the new ICT minister, Juti Krairaksh, regarding the actual numbers of websites blocked only from govt press releases with sources. That number is 210,110. Okay, there are three ways of looking at this: these figures may just be bragging rights, perhaps some of the releases duplicate blocked sites, or, most insidious, that Thai govt is, in fact, undervaluing the actual numbers and there are more.
Just for the record, there are some NGOs who have accused FACT of inflating the numbers for their publicity value but, of course, these are all taken from govt media releases. Herdict, an OpenNet Initiative project at Harvard’s Berkman Institute, records that Thailand only blocks 214 websites (though ONI reports only 45) (!) which is obviously not the case. FACT is on Herdict’s alerts list and was one of Herdict’s original testers. The most consistent blocks are Prachatai, Political Prisoners in Thailand, WikiLeaks, Nor Por Chor USA, Facebook and Hotmail. FACT is a partner NGO of ONI-Asia.
Interestingly, Herdict has never mentioned FACT’s block. FACTsite has been blocked across most of Thailand’s 100+ ISPs since May 9. We have been in protracted negotiation with MICT over this as FACT have never hosted any illegal or even uncivil content. They may be blaming CRES/CAPO and there is no way to get a handle on those bastards. It would seem we’ve done our job and that most Thai readers know how to bypass and ignore govt censorship as our readership has never been higher, now approaching a million pageviews.
When hundreds of thousands of websites are blocked, obviously political dissent is the primary target concealed among spurious websites making such analysis difficult. Often such blocks are blamed on lèse majesté content. But Thai govt is well aware of the identities of Facebook pages. If there were actual illegal content, surely Thai police would prosecute.
The latest figures we’ve seen is 175 pending lèse majesté prosecutions, almost all of them secret arrests, in camera trials, guilty pleas for reduced sentences, sentence followed by Royal pardon.
Our personal favourite? Thailand has the highest number of teenage pregnancies in Asia. The Ministry of Public Health has joined the ranks of Thailand’s censors by blocking online pharmacies in Thai language because they offer the morning-after pill. This means the morals police in Thai govt would rather see teenage girls dead from illegal abortions or an enormous number of unwanted children as a burden in Thai society borne by all of us.
It was barely a year before Cambodia reverted to the killing fields of year zero and Burma fell to military dictatorship. If emergency rule, which is really martial law, continues, dissent will mount followed by further repression and censorship and soon we will be Burma.
The real beauty of the Internet is that it offers the possibility of genuine participatory democracy. However, to make effective use of this facility requires citizens to think. To think means one must be full-informed. No country can have a fully-informed, well-educated population if its govt is withholding information. The goal is for people to think for themselves and that’s precisely what all govts are so afraid of. Voting is only a small part of the potential of real democracy where everyone can make informed choices.
We simply don’t see the vocal concerns of Reds, Yellows or govt as very important. None of these interest groups has any forward plan. In other words, after we achieve these limited goals such as “free” elections, then what happens? Meanwhile, all Thai citizens are under assault by govt manipulating public opinion using censorship.
Emergency powers suspend the rule of law. This means that websites are blocked without the court orders required under the Computer Crimes Act. Thai govt is not being honest. In the provinces where the state of emergency has been lifted, there has been no attempt to seek court orders for the hundreds of thousands of blocked websites. These sites are still blocked everywhere in Thailand.
All govts carry out their censorship in secret like thieves in the night. Blocklists and even court orders are never made public even though our tax monies are used for this policing.
Govt demands for immediate moderation and self-censorship on public Web discussion fora which resulted in the arrest of Prachatai director, Chiranuch Premchaiporn, on March 31, resulted in the closure of the last independent public Web board tolled the death knell of a free Internet. Chiranuch is facing 50 years in prison under Thailand’s Computer Crimes Act.
The arrest of Prachatai webmaster and FACT founding co-signer, Chiranuch, on September 24 is the latest assault on a free Internet in Thailand. Ironically, Chiranuch was returning from a Google conference, Internet at Liberty 2010: The Promise and Peril of Free Expression. Thailand’s free expression activists are waiting not only for Google’s statement in support of Chiranuch but their financial sponsorship of her bail monies and legal expences.
Thai govt has declared itself an enemy of the Internet and an enemy of free speech.
CJ Hinke
Freedom Against Censorship Thailand (FACT)
Thailand activist arrested after #IAL2010 needs your support!
Global Voices Advocacy: September 24, 2010
Chiranuch Premchaiporn, Prachatai director was arrested at Bangkok International Suvarnabhumi Airport.
A Journalist and anti-censorship believer (@Jiew on twitter) was returning from the Conference “Internet at Liberty 2010: The Promise and Peril of Free Expression” held in Budapest.
She leads an important news source for Thailand, a country with a growing record on internet censorship, as reported by OpenNet, human rights violations and actions against freedom of expression. Threatened voices has followed and mapped many arrests of Thailand digital activists, including Chiranuch’s previous arrest on 2009-2010.
To learn more about her project visit Digital Democracy. If you want to support her please follow this site and donate to her cause. You can also tweet “Help free @Jiew #freejiew #Thailand”.
Chiranuch Premchaipornwas arrested before, on March 6 under Thailand’s Computer Crimes Act. Her charges resulted from allowing comments posted by readers of Prachatai’s online discussion fora alleged to be lèse majesté. On March 31th, 2010, Chiranuch Premchaiporn was release on bail (300,000 baht bond).
Political website director released on bail
- Bangkok Post: September 26, 2010
- http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/politics/198222/political-website-director-released-on-bail
The director of political news website Prachatai.com has been released on bail as media freedom activists blasted authorities over her arrest on charges of violating the Computer Crime Act and committing lese majeste.
Chiranuch Premchaiporn, 43, who was detained by police at Suvarnabhumi airport on Friday upon her return from a conference in Hungary on media freedom, was granted bail about 1am yesterday.
Bail of 200,000 baht in cash was paid on her behalf and she was released on condition she report to the Khon Kaen Muang district police station – where she was taken for questioning after her arrest – on Oct 24.
She faces charges of lese majeste and violating the Computer Crime Act for allegedly disseminating content deemed insulting to the monarchy through Prachatai.com.
Chatpong Pongsuwan, the Khon Kaen police investigator overseeing the case, said on Friday that an individual whose identity was not disclosed had lodged a complaint against Ms Chiranuch in 2008.
Supinya Klangnarong, coordinator of the Thai Netizen Network, said she believed Ms Chiranuch’s arrest would draw international attention to the deteriorating state of media freedom in Thailand.
Thai Journalists Association president Prasong Lertratanawisute said he was concerned that proper procedure had not been observed in Ms Chiranuch’s case. He said his association has been calling for a review of the Computer Crime Act for the past few years.
Ubonrat Siriyuwasak, a journalism academic, said Ms Chiranuch’s arrest was not conducive to the “government-sponsored media reform atmosphere”, referring to the Abhisit government’s campaign to reform the media as part of national reconciliation efforts.
Ms Ubonrat said the government had exploited media technology for its own political purposes, yet it wanted to prevent Thailand’s online society from becoming vibrant and healthy for fear of a backlash.
There were efforts to curb free speech rather than promote and protect an open atmosphere for political discussions in cyberspace, she said.
Amnesty International yesterday released a statement condemning Ms Chiranuch’s arrest.
“The Thai government has frequently used the 2007 Computer-related Crimes Act to uphold the country’s lese majeste law in a growing trend of censorship to silence peaceful political dissent,” the statement said.
“The lese majeste law goes beyond reasonable restrictions on freedom of expression provided for under international human rights law.”
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) also condemned Ms Chiranuch’s arrest. Shawn Crispin, its senior Southeast Asia representative, said the government should stop using anti-monarchy charges to suppress legitimate criticism.
Ms Chiranuch was arrested on March 6 last year when police raided Prachatai’s Bangkok news office and seized computer equipment.
She was later released on bail, but remains involved in court proceedings over comments allegedly critical of a member of the royal family posted on one of Prachatai’s discussion forums.
The latest charges against Ms Chiranuch come amid an intensifying crackdown on Thai media, according to CPJ research.
Since imposing a state of emergency on April 7, the Abhisit government has closed a satellite television news station, community radio stations, print publications and websites aligned with the anti-government United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship movement, said the CPJ.
Rights groups, free speech advocates decry arrest of webmaster of popular Thai news website
Thanyarat Doksone
Associated Press: September 24, 2010
http://www.latimes.com/technology/sns-ap-as-thailand-internet-freedom,0,5503217.story
Human rights and free speech groups protested Saturday the arrest of a Thai webmaster as she returned from an Internet freedom conference on charges of insulting the monarchy and violating the Computer Crime Act.
Chiranuch Premchaiporn, who manages the Prachatai news website, was stopped Friday by immigration police at Bangkok’s international airport and shown an arrest warrant issued by police in the northeastern province of Khon Kaen. She had just attended a conference in Hungary dealing with online free expression.
She was released on bail shortly after midnight after being driven by police to Khon Kaen, 275 miles (445 kilometers) away, where the complaint against her was filed.
Chiranuch was arrested last year on similar charges, and both cases involve offending messages posted by readers more than a year ago on her site’s web board, for which she has been held responsible. She has not yet been tried, but faces up to 50 years in prison on the old charges.
“We call for Chiranuch’s immediate release and the withdrawal of the charges against her so that we do not have to witness another attempt to exploit the Computer Crimes Act to silence the regime’s critics,” the Paris-based press freedom group Reporters Without Borders said in an e-mailed statement. “Prachatai is a reliable source of news and information that has managed in recent months to keep the public informed about what is going on in Thailand.”
The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists and human rights group Amnesty International both called for Chiranuch’s immediate and unconditional release.
“The government should stop using anti-crown charges to suppress legitimate criticism,” said Shawn Crispin, CPJ’s representative in Southeast Asia.
Chiranuch said she was still hopeful for freedom of expression on the Internet in Thailand. “The arrest just showed some flaws or weaknesses that existed in the judicial process,” she told The Associated Press.
Thailand’s freedom of speech reputation has taken a battering in recent years, as the government has tried to suppress political opposition that has sometimes turned violent. Its standing in the Press Freedom Index issued by Reporters Without Borders slipped to 130 last year from 65 in 2002, when the ratings were initiated.
The Committee to Protect Journalists said the arrest “comes amid an intensifying crackdown on Thai media.” The government has shut down a satellite television news station, community radio stations, print publications and websites aligned with the anti-government advocates, it said.
Prachatai, which was established by several respected journalists, senators and press freedom activists, describes itself as an independent, nonprofit, daily Web newspaper that provides information “during an era of serious curbs on the freedom and independence of Thai news media.”
Thailand’s lese majeste law mandates a jail term of three to 15 years for “whoever defames, insults or threatens the king, the queen, the heir to the throne or the regent.” The 2007 Computer Crime Act carries a penalty of up to five years’ imprisonment and a fine of 100,000 baht ($3,260).
The act bars the circulation of material deemed detrimental to national security or that causes public panic, and authorities have used it to block thousands of websites deemed insulting to the monarchy.
Prachatai reported Saturday that Chiranuch was freed after posting 200,000 baht ($6,525) bail. She must report back to police in Khon Kaen on Oct. 24.
The complaint against her was filed by Sunimit Jirasuk, a businessman in Khon Kaen, in April 2008.
Chiranuch gets bail
Prachatai: September 25, 2010
http://www.prachatai3.info/english/node/2050
At about 1 am on 25 Sept, Chiranuch Premchaiporn was granted bail after placing 200,000 baht in cash as a guarantee. She denied all charges during police interrogation.
She has to report to the police at Khon Kaen Police Station on 24 Oct.
Over a dozen readers of Prachatai in Khon Kaen gathered at the police station to give her moral support.
Sunimit Jirasuk, a local businessman in Khon Kaen, filed the charges with police against Prachatai and Same Sky websites in April 2008 for readers’ comments posted on both websites about the case of Chotisak Onsung who refused to stand up for the royal anthem in a cinema and faced police charges.
The provincial court issued an arrest warrant for Chiranuch at the request of police on 8 Sept 2009.
http://freejiew.blogspot.com/ has been set up to tweet updates about Chiranuch’s case. Jiew is her nickname.
Source:
RSF demands Chiranuch release-RSF
26-09-10
News website editor arrested on return from international conference
Reporters Without Borders: September 24, 2010
http://en.rsf.org/thailand-news-website-editor-arrested-on-24-09-2010,38440.html
Chiranuch Premchaipoen, the editor of the news website Prachatai, was arrested today at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi airport on her return from a conference on Internet freedom in Budapest. Police showed her a warrant issued by a court in the northwestern province of Khon Kaen accusing her of defaming the royal family and of violating articles 14 and 15 of the Computer Crimes Act and article 112 of the criminal code.
Reached by mobile phone, Chiranuch said she was being transported in a police car that was heading in the direction of Khon Kaen province. The warrant was issued in response to a complaint filed by Khon Kaen resident Sunimit Chirasuk on 11 August 2008.
“We call for Chiranuch’s immediate release and the withdrawal of the charges against her so that we do not have to witness another attempt to exploit the Computer Crimes Act to silence the regime’s critics,” Reporters Without Borders said. “Prachatai is a reliable source of news and information that has managed in recent months to keep the public informed about what is going on in Thailand.”
The press freedom organisation added: “The authorities should take note of the fact that Prachatai decided to close down its forum because of the difficulty of controlling the comments posted on it. This arrest is all the more inadmissible for being very badly timed. Chiranuch was returning from an international conference on online free expression, to which she had been invited.”
Also known as Jiew, Chiranuch had just attended a conference entitled “Internet at Liberty 2010” which Google and the Central European University organised in Budapest from 20 to 22 September. Hundreds of bloggers of more than 70 nationalities took part.
Chiranuch was briefly detained by immigration officials in Bangkok as she was about to leave for the conference. One of the police officers responsible for arresting her on her return, Chachapong Pongsuwan, said it was normal that she had not been notified in advance because it was “a serious matter.”
Chiranuch was previously arrested on similar charges on 31 March. On that occasion, she was released after three and a half hours when her sister acted as guarantor for the payment of 300,000 bahts (7,000 euros) in bail. She is still facing up to 50 years in prison under the Computer Crimes Act and lèse majesté laws for failing to remove comments from the site with sufficient speed. Posted by visitors in 2008 and removed by Chiranuch after she was alerted, the comments were deemed to have insulted the monarchy.
Thailand was listed as one of the “Countries under Surveillance” in the report on “Enemies of the Internet which Reporters Without Borders released on 11 March.
AI Demands the release of online news editor
Amnesty International: September 25, 2010
http://www.prachatai3.info/english/node/2049
Chiranuch Premchaiporn, an online news editor in Thailand, was arrested on 24 September under the country’s 2007 Computer-related Crimes Act. She is being held in Khon Kaen police station in north-eastern Thailand. Chiranuch Premchaiporn is a prisoner of conscience, detained solely for the peaceful exercise of her right to freedom of expression, and should be immediately and unconditionally released.
Chiranuch Premchaiporn is the Executive Director of Prachatai (Thai People), a Thai online media portal that contains news, opinion, and a forum for discussion about current affairs in the country. Thailand’s Immigration Police (Investigation and Suppression Division) arrested Chiranuch Premchaiporn on 24 September at around 2.30pm (Thailand time) at passport control in Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport. She had just arrived back in Thailand from a brief trip abroad. She was shown an arrest warrant, dated 8 September, relating to material posted on the Prachatai website in April 2008 and that, according to the warrant, endangers Thailand’s national security.
This material was written and posted by an unknown Prachatai reader, not Chiranuch Premchaiporn herself. She cannot stop people from posting to the site, but can remove material once it is posted. Chiranuch Premchaiporn can be held for up to 48 days without trial under the Thai Criminal Code.
Chiranuch Premchaiporn was previously charged on 6 March 2009 with violating Sections 14 and 15 of the 2007 Computer-related Crimes Act, which relates to offences that endanger national security. She was released on bail, and is awaiting trial for those charges, which in total could lead to a 50-year prison sentence.
Chiranuch Premchaiporn’s latest arrest warrant contains charges under the same sections of the Act. However, it is not clear if there are additional charges under other sections of the Act or indeed other laws.
Additional Information
Thailand has seen a backward slide in its respect of freedom of expression in the past 18 months. The Thai government’s increasing misuse of the 2007 Computer-related Crimes Act has led to a sharp increase in monitoring of the internet for lese majeste (insult to the monarchy) content and in blocks of over ten thousand websites. This broad-ranging censorship of websites in itself constitutes a violation of Thailand’s obligations under international human rights law. The Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva acknowledged in December 2009 that there were problems with the Act’s enforcement.
The Thai government has frequently used the 2007 Computer-related Crimes Act to uphold the country’s lese majeste law in a growing trend of censorship to silence peaceful political dissent. The lese majeste law goes beyond reasonable restrictions on freedom of expression provided for under international human rights law.
Amnesty International is concerned with the Thai government’s characterization of the lese majeste law as a matter of national security (and the subsequent decision in June 2009 to hold a trial of alleged lese majeste behind closed doors on that basis). The same argument about protection of national security is now being used to arbitrarily detain Chiranuch Premchaiporn.
