Thailand is known for strongly implementing media censorship. The government has selective political filtering, substantial social filtering, and selective Internet tools filtering. Eleven percent of the population uses the Internet, which seems low considering the U.S. and Canada make up 21.1 percent of the world’s Internet population. Half of the Internet users are teenagers and young adults, between the ages of fifteen and twenty-four. There is only a two percent household penetration of broadband Internet access. The biggest reason for the removal of websites is claims posted criticizing the government or the king. “Thailand is one of the few remaining countries in the world to prosecute crimes of lèse majesté, where individuals who insult, defame, or threaten the Thai royal family can be sentenced to from three to fifteen years of imprisonment.” The government also “blocks access to pornography, online gambling sites, and circumvention tools.” One interesting rule in place is that children under the age of eighteen cannot use Internet cafes between 10pm and 2pm.
The webmaster of an independent online journal was arrested for insulting the monarchy and attending the Google Internet at Liberty Conference in Hungary. To me, this seems a bit over the top because it is really limiting freedom. The government is also working hard to stop protests against online censorship. Nearly 65,000 websites have been blocked involving press freedom advocates.
