MisTek - Technological Misbehaviour

In a cynical bid to “protect the children” Thailand will join such other freedom loving democracies as Saudi Arabia and Kazakhstan in instituting a wide ranging ban of internet sites.

The Thai Prime Minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, has announced that ISPs in the country will be required to maintain a ban on access to a list of up to 800,000 websites to be provided by the government. ISPs who fail to comply with the government directive will face a loss of their licence.

The AFP story emphasises that the ban will come into effect prior to Children’s Day in Thailand which falls in January. In doing so, the obvious emphasis they (or the Thai government) wish to give the story must be child pornography (or pornography in general). What other reason is there for mentioning Children’s Day?

Now Thailand doesn’t exactly have a spotless record on child prostitution and pornography. Considering the extent of child prostitution in the country as well as the well known sex trade in places such as Patpong Road in Bangkok, Thai Government efforts would be much better directed at more effective methods of stopping that trade (arresting the pimps and patrons would be a good start!).

In fact it wouldn’t be too much of a stretch to suggest that the AFP story is designed to throw people off the true intent of the Thai Government’s censorship move.

With the Muslim insurgency in the south of Thailand worsening as well as the well documented propensity for extremist Islamist groups for using the internet as a means to communicate and receive training, the question as to whether this is the real target of the internet crackdown must be raised.

In fact a censorship crackdown on internet sites would have a much greater impact on the insurgency than on Thai child pornography.

But hey, if the AFP wants to eat up the Thai government’s press releases without taking the time to do any pesky research, who are we to complain?