Thailand's Ministry of Information and Communication Technology (MICT) officials called for greater support in their efforts to censor supposedly inappropriate online content. Piyakhun Nopphakhun, of the Crime Suppression Division of MICT
claimed that:
Even though the military has taken over, they have not commanded us about what to do.
This rather begs the question as to why then is the group looking to ratchet up internet
censorship.
Since the coup began, the Royal Thai Army has ordered ISPs to monitor online content that might lead to unrest, asked social media companies to prevent the spread of provocative messages and barred media from presenting news
critical of the junta.
Piyakhun then ludicrously claimed that he believed that recent efforts by the Ministry to curb online content were not political in nature. But then he acknowledged that efforts to curb online content could be seen to
violate rights.
This is not because of the coup, it is very normal practice. But I agree that the coup will have some effect. They (the Royal Thai Army) will put more people into helping fight the websites. Some people
may ask about freedom of expression. I have to say that it will actually affect (this).
Piyakhun is keen to speed up the censorship process. He explained:
It takes about a week to block a website.
One or two days to gather evidence. One or two days to get permission from MICT. One or two days to go to court. One or two days to distribute court orders to ISPs. One week is too slow.
At the moment everything is on paper. You
have to print it out, present the evidence to the Ministers and the courts, and you have to present papers to the ISPs. If documents are not signed, we have to wait even longer. Computer officials have to physically travel to the courts to receive court
orders.
At the moment we are in the process of getting approval to distribute court orders to the ISPs electronically. We are going to appoint one representative ISP to distribute these court orders to the other ISPs, because that
representative would know which ISPs are active.
Technically, it is going to be very easy. But legally, is the only question. Are there any laws, regulations that allow us to do this legally? Do we really need to be present in
court to present evidence?
Update: Attempted block of Facebook
16th June 2014. See
article from bangkokpost.com
The National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) has condemned the Norway-based mobile operator Total Access Communication
(DTAC) and asked it to clarify a company statement regarding an order by the internet censor to block Facebook.
Telenor of Norway, which owns DTAC, this week claimed online that Telenor Group confirmed that on May 28, DTAC received notification
from the NBTC at 3pm that it must temporarily restrict access to Facebook. The restriction, which was implemented at 3.35pm, affected DTAC's 10 million Facebook-using customers. Telenor said it believed in open communication and regretted any
consequences this might have had for the people of Thailand. Access to Facebook was restored at about 4.30pm, according to Telenor's statement.
But the Thai authorities weakly claimed the Facebook blackout was due to technical glitches and not
purposely blocked. Colonel Settapong Malisuwan, chairman of the NBTC's telecom committee flannelled:
DTAC's statement has caused extensive damage to the regulator's image. We want the company to take responsibility by
clarifying exactly who ordered Facebook to be blocked.
