THAILAND: ICT unblocks Pantip forum site after talks with founder
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- Date: Thu, 26 Apr 2007 07:39:34 +0800
THAILAND: ICT unblocks Pantip forum site after talks with founder
Webmaster removes offensive comments about Royal Family; comments about
government are still allowed
Bankok Post
Thursday, April 12, 2007
The Information and Communications Technology Ministry yesterday backtracked and
lifted its ban on online political forum ''Ratchadamnoen'' after the founder of
Pantip.com agreed to screen out comments offensive to the monarchy. Founder
Wanchat Padungrat cited misunderstandings over Sunday's shutdown after a meeting
with ICT Minister Sitthichai Pookaiyaudom yesterday.
He said the minister told the web board to remove offensive opinions about the
Royal Family.
But any comments about the government and the coup makers could be posted, he
said.
"More webmasters will be employed to check our content around the clock. I'm
sure unseemly messages will be kept under control," he said.
The online chatroom was closed on Sunday after Mr Sitthichai said a number of
opinions posted there represented an obvious threat to national security.
The ministry is empowered by the coup makers' Sept 20 order to censor media
containing material that poses a threat to national security.
Mr Sitthichai said the forum would be allowed to go ahead after Pantip.com
webmasters assured him they could control opinions verging on attacking the
monarchy and Privy Council president Prem Tinsulanonda.
He said the ministry did not close the forum but the action was taken
voluntarily by the webmaster, who feared he could not control the range of
expression.
"It is not the ICT's intention to block websites or other media. Any critical
comments on the government and the Council for National Security are allowed to
the extent that they do not damage or affect national security," he said.
To calm the heat in cyberspace, the ministry on Tuesday ordered CAT Telecom and
TOT Plc to set up two websites to counter what it said were ill-intentioned
people posting views that could cause disunity in the country, and to clarify
the issues promptly.
Mr Sitthichai said the websites would focus on current social and political
issues. The content would be produced by the staff of the two state telecom
enterprises but some might be outsourced.
The websites would not be part of the ICT Ministry's site, which attracts
relatively few visitors, but would be new features and are intended to be
popular forums, he said.
Discussing the continuing dispute over YouTube, he said the ministry would send
a letter to its webmaster to explain that what it posted was not a personal view
criticising politicians because the monarch was above politics.
The ministry, he said, was blocking the website not because it did not want the
Thai people to see it but because the more the people saw the offending content,
the less trusting they would be, and this would only create hatred.
Date Posted: 4/12/2007
http://www.asiamedia.ucla.edu/article-southeastasia.asp?parentid=67513
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