Courts to get authority to ban websites

"On July 18, a [cyber crime] law will come into effect and any banning of websites will be done by a court order," Sitthichai said during last week's talk at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand (FCCT), which dubbed him "The Minister Who Banned YouTube".

Sitthichai, who at one stage during the talk called himself "incompetent", insisted the ministry had, since the coup, blocked only some 200 or so websites, and not 17,000-plus as claimed by the Freedom Against Censorship Thailand (FACT) group.

He added that he knew this was "hard to believe".

"Out of [the 200 websites], 180 are pornographic. Sadly, they shouldnot be closed down!" Sitthichai told the audience at the FCCT.

"I have closed down only 200. As soon as it is possible I [will] open up every one of the websites. I have done so little censorship," he said, adding that some 30 or 40 political sites had been blocked by the ministry.

"It's less than 30 or 40, and these 30 to 40 are the same websites.

"I don't feel good about closing down any websites, but in my job it is necessary."

The minister said at the moment, he alone was the final decision-maker as to what gets blocked or closed down in cyberspace. "The ultimate decision is [with me] alone," Sitthichai said in response

to a female journalist.

She reacted by saying, "That's very shocking to me."

"I know," Sitthichai responded.

The engineer-turned-minister, who was also criticised towards the end of his talk by some for what they claimed were "racist" and "sexist" comments, said 99 per cent of his worries about the Internet pertained to lese-majeste cases.

 "All my worries all the time concern lese-majeste cases," he said, contradicting his earlier remarks that most of the blocked sites are pornographic. "I will do [block] them with no second thoughts."

When asked if any critical but well-intended discussion about the Thai monarchy could be made on the Internet, Sitthichai responded: "De-pending on the mood of the powers that be. Well, that's the way it is, my friend.

"There isn't anything much that we can't talk about. In Thailand, we have only one topic that people with good taste do not talk about," he said, in reference to any critical talk about the institution of monarchy. "We're very free people."

Another young Thai female journalist, apparently very upset about the role of the ICT Ministry in re-cently blocking YouTube, asked Sitthichai, "What right do you have to block the whole [expletive] thing?"

"When you grow up, you'll understand more," he replied.

Supinya Klangnarong, secretary-general of the Campaign for Popular Media Reform (CPMR), which joined the FACT campaign against Internet censorship, was at the FCCT to listen and protest against Sitthichai and the ministry's role in censorship.

Supinya said she was "shocked" by Sitthichai's attitude.

"He tried to make his whole [censorship] job sound funny or as if it's something without significant repercussion. This minister with an engineering background doesn't understand the freedom-of-speech issue. He also came to power as a result of a coup."

The CPMR and FACT group will today protest against various bills and laws being considered in haste by the junta-appointed National Legislative Assembly that would affect freedom of expression in various media, including film, video, television, the Internet - and even the right to assembly.

They plan to gather in front of Government House at 9.30am.

Pravit Rojanaphruk

The Nation