Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Article 1 : Internet in Thailand



 
Thai Message Board Manager Is Given Suspended Prison Sentence.


        The manager of the site, Prachatai, a popular forum for discussions about politics and culture, was convicted of lèse-majesté. Lot of people in Thailand go to jail because of lèse-majesté. This phenomenon increase every years, but the verdict on Wednesday was unusual in that the defendant, Chiranuch Premchaiporn, was not the author of the offending comments; she was just the Web master of the site that hosted them.Taj Meadows, a spokesman for Google, said “a serious threat to the future of the Internet in Thailand.”, “Telephone companies are not penalized for things people say on the phone, and responsible web site owners should not be punished for comments users post on their sites".The Computer Crimes Act is controversial because it was enacted by an unelected government installed after the military coup in 2006. This law is not just for people who live in Thailand because an American person was sentenced to two and a half years in prison last year for uploading from his computer in the United States a translation of a book banned in Thailand. He was arrested during a visit to Thailand.

        In my opinion I find it really amazing because it is simply not the respect for human rights. I think this law will have to evolve because if it stays like that many people will be imprisoned for offenses "minor". Also I think the international authorities should act so that things like this that does not reproduce. And especially the governments of foreign citizens should act to avoid that this remain locked in a prison far from their home country. As the person said that Google is a real threat to internet in thailand and especially freedom of expression of citizens.
To finish this article shocked me because I thought it was still possible these days!

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