rickfarang Posted April 4, 2007 Report Share Posted April 4, 2007 Subtitle- Here we go again? Since the Post article hinted at how to find the subject slide show, and I am out of the country for a short visit, I set out find it. It was merely a series of childishly doctored images that were clearly meant to make fun of and show disrespect for the beloved monarch. Nothing heavy, but I would have to agree that such mockery is highly inappropriate and insulting, not only to His Majesty but also to millions of Thais who hold him in such high esteem. If you manage to get onto the site, you will have an opportunity to flag the video as inappropriate if you so wish, and to leave a comment. If the subject was any U.S. President instead, it would have been funny -to me at least. From The Bangkok Post Online version on Wednesday, April 4, 2007: http://www.bangkokpost.net/topstories/topstories.php?id=117871 YouTube disappears from Thai Internet By BangkokPost.com Internet users reported on Wednesday that Thai authorities had blocked the popular website YouTube, over an insulting video of His Majesty the King. Sitthichai Pookaiyaudom, the minister of information and communication technology, told the Reuters news agency he personally ordered a block of the entire site from Thailand after the ministry's attempts to block the offending page last week failed. "Since Google (which owns YouTube) has rejected our repeated requests to withdraw the clip, we can't help blocking the entire site in Thailand," said Mr Sitthichai. "When they decide to withdraw the clip, we will withdraw the ban," he said. The site was unavailable to all customer of Thai Internet providers by Wednesday evening. The ban took several hours to take hold, with many users able to access the site at midday, while others said they could not reach it. An Internet engineer in Bangkok, who asked to remain anonymous, said that the block appeared to be at the main Thailand gateway maintained by CAT Telecom, which claims to have a monopoly on all international Internet traffic. "All traffic to the CAT Internet providers seems to be blocked at CAT's router," said the engineer. "It doesn't help that they only have two (customers) to begin with." Thailand has two major high-speed Internet providers. Most users of one of the two major high-speed Internet services in Thailand were able to reach YouTube as usual as of noon on Wednesday, several hours after other users reported being blocked. By evening, all subscribers of Thai Internet providers were blocked from all of YouTube. YouTube has many controversial videos concerning Thai politics, but a user uploaded a serious video-slide show satire against His Majesty last Sunday. The clip, seen more than 16,000 times, was posted by someone using the screen name "paddidda." His post was criticised or rudely attacked by most of the 532 comments up to last night about the video. Mr Sitthichai said YouTube had told Thai officials it did not find the clip offensive and declined their request to remove it. The minister had promised early this week to block websites he or his staff considered to be pornographic, offensive to the monarchy or a danger to national security. Blocking YouTube, which has hundreds of thousands of videos, will be highly controversial, even if offensive clips remain on the site. It already has been criticised as throwing the baby out with the dirty dishwater. In a similar case last month, many Internet users in Thailand claimed they could not reach YouTube because of a block - but others had no problem reaching the site. As Post Database writer Don Sambandaraksa wrote about the last YouTube partial outage in his column in today's newspaper: NOTE: link is http://www.bangkokpost.com/Database/04Apr2007_data71.php "[W]hen something as blatant as censoring YouTube occurred, nobody seems to be responsible for it, or for finding out who did it. The Ministry of ICT (MICT) said it was not their fault while the TOT and CAT also denied responsibility." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuckwoww Posted April 4, 2007 Report Share Posted April 4, 2007 It wasn't hard to find given the clues. Pretty childish. Mind you isn't trying to block Youtube like herding cats? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trooper Posted April 4, 2007 Report Share Posted April 4, 2007 The video shown really bad taste but still it was funny read thais coomets in it. And those are the thais that are intelligent enough to use english websites. For some reason I started to think Allah Akbar things... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
was_usvirgin Posted April 4, 2007 Report Share Posted April 4, 2007 I watched the video and agree it's not too heavy, except for the scenes of the feet superimposed over HM's head. No surprise that this would cause an uproar in a country where this would be illegal anyway. Obviously, it would make business sense for YouTube to delete the one video rather have the entire site blocked in LOS. Not sure it would be the right thing to do though. YouTube's Terms of Use prohibits "ethnically or racially offensive" and also "hateful" material, but it says nothing about culturally insensitive material (which I think this is). It's up to YouTube, but if they go down that road, they may as well delete material that offends devout supporters of Bush, Bin Laden, Saddam, Jesus, Mohammed, et al. BTW, I think the video is inappropriate and, if Paddidda (the OP) had any cultural sensitivity, he'd delete it himself. But I'll bet he/she's a Thai posting from a country that allows freedom of speech. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bkkbound04 Posted April 4, 2007 Report Share Posted April 4, 2007 Having seen the clip, its poor quality and some pranksters attempt at challenging or exposing the draconian les majeste laws. The thais are gonna have to buy in some expertese to police the web if they really want to clamp down.Closing down google each time there's unacceptable content is'nt doing anybody any good. JP Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bust Posted April 4, 2007 Report Share Posted April 4, 2007 So if they block the site they will deny their people the right to see this little gem http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjYKUafbN68 I couldn't find it chuck...........how about a link. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bkkbound04 Posted April 5, 2007 Report Share Posted April 5, 2007 The offending VDO can be found via his/her user name. JP Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bust Posted April 5, 2007 Report Share Posted April 5, 2007 Thanks guys...........pretty juvenile. And it has a link to their web-site? Wonder if this will have repercussions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
junglesoup Posted April 5, 2007 Report Share Posted April 5, 2007 I ve been reading the comments. Its turned into a bunch of assholes trying to flare up trouble. The comments are much more racits and offensive than the video. I dont think you could post them on here. Lets just say that some is saying that "someone is a pedophile" and Thai people can suck is c%*K. Also comments like "Gooktube" arent nice. I think this sucks and some of these dicks who are in purpose trying to upset people is wrong.I might not agree with some things in Thailand but I think you have to have respect... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
junglesoup Posted April 5, 2007 Report Share Posted April 5, 2007 I mean is this a nice reply to someone who says this Comment1 "I understand why foreigners won't take this seriously and I understand youtube's policy why there is no point to remove this clip. King Bhumibol might be only a guy for you, but he's a heart of all thai people. He's always done so many exellent jobs for Thailand and his people without any concern about himself." And this is the reply: "you are a brainwashed little gook, bluetaiyo... now go cut up your pet dog and eat him for dinner you nasty-ass Thai" To me thats real nasty. This Thai person obviously feels some warmth in his/her heart for the king and thats their choice, but that reply is nasty, vindictive and racist. and from another poster "shut up you little gook-faces... KING BIG EARS is not your biological parent. now get back on the street corner and make more sucky-sucky!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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