Thailand Launches Its First Legal Action Against Facebook and Twitter (reuters.com) 19
Reuters reports:
Thailand launched legal action on Thursday against tech giants Facebook and Twitter for ignoring requests to take down content, in its first such move against major internet firms... "Unless the companies send their representatives to negotiate, police can bring criminal cases against them," the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society, Puttipong Punnakanta, told reporters. "But if they do, and acknowledge the wrongdoing, we can settle on fines...."
The complaints were against the U.S. parent companies and not their Thai subsidiaries, Puttipong said. Cybercrime police at a news conference said they would need to look at existing laws to determine whether they had jurisdiction to take up cases against firms based outside of Thailand.
Emilie Pradichit, executive director of Manushya Foundation, a digital freedom advocate, said the complaints were "a tactic to scare these companies...." Thailand has a tough lese majeste law prohibiting insulting the monarchy and a Computer Crime Act that outlaws information that is false or affects national security has also been used to prosecute criticism of the royal family.
The complaints were against the U.S. parent companies and not their Thai subsidiaries, Puttipong said. Cybercrime police at a news conference said they would need to look at existing laws to determine whether they had jurisdiction to take up cases against firms based outside of Thailand.
Emilie Pradichit, executive director of Manushya Foundation, a digital freedom advocate, said the complaints were "a tactic to scare these companies...." Thailand has a tough lese majeste law prohibiting insulting the monarchy and a Computer Crime Act that outlaws information that is false or affects national security has also been used to prosecute criticism of the royal family.
Sure (Score:5, Insightful)
Can't have all those cases of Lèse-Majesté unpunished.
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Re: Sure (Score:5, Insightful)
pele confessed:
I don't understand why you'd want to insult someone and then have some sort of immunity from being punished for it?
Thailand's lese-majeste law doesn't just prohibit insulting their king - it criminalizes criticizing the monarch or his actions or policies. It's straight-up a tool to stifle dissent, by treating it as a crime.
Of course, "insulting" an absolute monarch (yes, Thailand is nominally a constitutional monarchy, but the king can, at whim, dismiss their legislature, overrule its courts, and persecute to his heart's content any Thai to whom he takes a dislike, so the "constitutional" conceit is, at best, a fiction) is a valid reason to imprision and/or execute the perpetrator - in Thailand.
Outside of Thailand? Not so much ...
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1. Believes in lese-majeste laws
2. Criticizes and mocks their own leader daily
3. ???
4. Lost profits
See no evidence
Hear no reason
Speak no logic
Re: Sure (Score:5, Insightful)
I don't understand why you'd want to insult someone and then have some sort of immunity from being punished for it?
Because for some places, "insult" is defined as uploading a video showing a persons actions, and repeating a court sentence imposed on another person.
Also "punishment" is years of prison time.
These companies have local subsidiaries specifically setup to properly respond to legal requests and uphold the law of the country they are in.
Thailand can, and does, enforce their law in their country through them.
The problem is they want to enforce their law on the rest of the world, which is why they are targeting the parent companies directly.
The Thai monarchy is used by the government (Score:4, Insightful)
For many years, the monarchy was considered sacred by many Thais, and that was used by the military governments which the monarchy supported. Hence the strict laws protecting the monarch's reputation.
But the old king died, as old kings are want to do. And the new king is a useless playboy that does not even live in Thailand. Nobody in Thailand respects him, and supporting him tarnishes the reputation of the military.
So recently, there have been large protests against the new king. This was unthinkable a few years ago. It puts the police and government in a difficult position, but to date they have stood aside and let them happen.
I suspect that the days of the king being a crutch for the government are over.
The king had a well respected sister that could have been crowned queen. However, I suspect that that did not happen because she might have turned against the excesses of the military government.
More attempts at Thai censorship. Screw the king. (Score:5, Insightful)
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To be clear, when I say Vajiralongkorn, I don't mean any person named Vajiralongkorn, I mean specifically the Thai monarch Vajiralongkorn, also styled as Rama X. Screw him, and screw anyone who supports these laws.
Well thanks buddy for making that clear.
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But tell us how you really feel
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As far as I can see, there's not enough evidence to suggest that they are exporting their censorship.
What they have as a law is that you do not insult the monarchy. That's their law, their country, their sovereign perogative.
What I've not seen them doing is saying "You are not allowed to display this in America"; what I suspect is going on is that things posted in America are getting broadcast to the Thai people, as there's no explicit filter. The regional office will be saying "We can't take that down,
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The bit that you miss is that the law is odious. It is not about insulting, but about criticizing in any way, And that includes criticism of the government.
Do we have the right to challenge unjust laws in other countries? YES WE DO. Should we be concerned when our companies help enforce those laws? Yes again.
Otherwise there would be no need for the great firewall of China. If China could simply force all foreign sites to not allow Chinese to see criticism. To impose self censorship on us.
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I fully expected to see a response along these lines. It's inevitable, and the Streisand effect means that the Thai Government are going to end up having to block most of the Internet.
Thailand is an industrious place and they certainly try to enjoy life but this is a strangely archaic law and they really shouldn't be trying to impose it on the rest of the world.
Begging For Sanctions (Score:1)
That's just begging for Trump to impose trade sanctions on Thailand. He may not like the social media companies but would have no issue using them as an excuse to enact any protectionist measure he can.
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