NET CENSORSHIP

YouTube to help block web access to pages insulting King

BANGKOK POST/REUTERS

Video-sharing website YouTube will help Thailand block access to pages that contain clips offensive to His Majesty the King, Information and Communications Technology Minister Sitthichai Pookaiyaudom said yesterday.

The idea came in a phone call with a California-based liaison officer for Google Inc, which owns YouTube.

The website had refused to pull a clip insulting His Majesty the King, which led the government on Thursday to block access to YouTube entirely.

''He said pulling out those clips would not be an effective way to stop the damage, since users could re-post them again,'' said Mr Sitthichai, referring to Google officer Andrew McLaughlin.

''He said a more effective way would be to block certain pages, so they cannot be seen in Thailand,'' he said.

''It will be a few days before we lift the ban on the entire site.''

On Thursday, a 44-second video clip, which showed doctored, abhorrent and grainy pictures of the King, was removed from YouTube by its creator, ''paddidda'', after the government imposed the ban.

Before the clip was removed, Mr Sitthichai accused YouTube of being heartless and culturally insensitive.

Despite the removal of the clip, which has outraged the public and created a lively debate on freedom of speech versus respect for cultural sensitivity, two more clips mocking the monarch appeared on YouTube yesterday. One was posted by ''thaifreespeech''. Within a few hours, the clip had been viewed 13,660 times and attracted more than 200 comments.

Posters urged YouTube to withdraw it from the site, www.youtube.com.

Criticising or offending royalty is a serious crime. Last week, 57-year-old Swiss national Oliver Jufer was sentenced to 10 years in jail for spraying graffiti on pictures of His Majesty the King, a rare prison term for a foreigner.

But the generals who ousted Thaksin Shinawatra in last year's coup have also been accused of using the lese majeste laws to stifle criticism of themselves or their actions. Several websites calling into question the merits of the September 19 coup have been shut down by the government.

Bangkok Post

Saturday April 07, 2007