You will say what we tell
you
Since the coup which overthrew premier Thaksin Shinawatra,
Thailand's internet community is coming under increasing pressure to stop
talking about politics.
Blogging had been seen as an alternative to the
corporate dominant and politically biased Thailand print media. However now
it seems that bloggers are being summoned to the Information and Communication
Technology Ministry and ordered to delete comments.
More than 4,800 webpages
have been blocked since March last year apparently because they contain content
deemed insulting to Thailand's royal family. However some of the so called
insulting posts have been comments about the government and not about the King.
Even the UK's The Economist newspaper was pulled from the shelves by the
Thai distributor in an act of self-censorship because they contained articles
which mentioned the Thai royals and lese majeste cases.
Paris-based media
freedom watchdog Reporters Without Borders says Thailand has more than 14
million Internet users and ruled that Thailand was the "new enemy of the
Internet".
The communications ministry, meanwhile, has announced it is
setting up a "war room" to police the Internet, claiming that thousands more web
pages insult the monarchy and therefore threaten national security.