POSTBag

Blocking YouTube a big mistake

136 Na Ranong Road, Klong Toey, Bangkok 10110, Thailand fax:022403666 email:postbag@bangkokpost.co.th

While I agree with his sentiment, the Information and Communication Technology minister's decision to block YouTube shows a short-sighted lack of understanding about the nature of the internet.

"Banning" something on the internet is virtually impossible, and in fact, only draws more attention to the offensive items and encourages copycats.

Firstly, YouTube is still easily accessible from Thailand via proxy servers and anonymisers, so people can still reach it or any other website the government has tried to block. Secondly, there are plenty of other video/photo-sharing websites out there, including: Revver, Google Video, iFilm, Flickr, and MySpace.

Does the minister plan to block access to every website that hosts these offensive videos? If so, then he is essentially ceding authority to misanthropes and juvenile delinquents.

Now these immature people know that they can "control" what Thai people can or cannot see by simply using an offensive video or photo to goad the government into blocking access to that website.

What's next? Will everyone in Thailand suddenly lose access to Google or MySpace just because some lone idiot uses one of those websites to post something offensive?

On the internet, we call this type of person a "troll" because he gets a thrill out of annoying or offending people. The more attention trolls get, the more aggressive and numerous they become. The Thai government has let every troll in the world know that it can be goaded into over-reacting.

What spoiled 14-year-old American brat could resist the "thrill" of getting some far-away government to ban an entire website? It's the ultimate "denial of service" attack (in hacker-speak), and sure enough, several more copycat videos have already appeared on YouTube and more are certain to come.

The people who control the Internet in this country have a lot to learn about it, and the first thing they should learn is that if they have a particular "button" they don't want people to push, the last thing they should do is paint big red arrows around it and put a sign on it saying, "Don't push this button!"

Blocking a very popular website was a big mistake. Unfortunately, we now have CNN reporting on this matter, which is a worse-case scenario, because now every troll in the world knows exactly how to goad the Thai government.

While the offensive video posted on YouTube was certainly very hurtful to Thai people, it was only one video out of millions posted on that site, and probably would have languished in obscurity were it not for Mr Sitthichai's heavy-handed over-reaction.

GEORGE CARROLL

Bangkok

Ignore the clip

There is a story of a devout woman who wanted to show her exemplary devotion to the Buddha. In order to outshine all the others in her village, she would go to the village temple and, rather than placing a candle near the Buddha image as everyone else did, she made a little platform in order to place her candle directly in front of the Buddha image's face. However, by doing so, the soot of her candle blackened the image's nose.

So too the overly protective antics by government censors, in their zeal to show devotion to the monarchy, have instead created a mini maelstrom.

Instead of ignoring the YouTube clip and letting it fade to obscurity, they chose to draw attention to it. By doing so, they've unleashed an uncontrollable backlash, and contributed to many more hits than the video would have ordinarily received.

KEN ALBERTSEN

Chiang Rai

Wrong assumption

This morning's radio business news cites a report from the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) expecting a drop in tourism by 7.3 percent.

The reason given is Thailand's political situation. That's news to me, as well as many other Westerners here. I think TAT has it a bit upside down as always.

Many friends across the world cite the new airport's distance from the city, its inconveniences and hassles, long waits, poor service, etc. as one of the reasons they do not want to come.

Another reason cited by TAT is the expected tightening of alcohol sales within 500 metres of schools and temples. Most people understand these rules as they are in place in most countries, distances from these institutions, of course, varying.

TAT itself, with its over-exaggeration of many mediocre tourist sites, double-pricing, and an increase in airline fares are also part of the reasons. TAT should do its homework before mouthing off and blaming Thailand's political situation.

SCAPEGOAT MANGO

Prachin Buri

Open voting needed

Constitutional Drafting Committee (CDC) chairman Prasong Soonsiri insists that the CDC's meeting on divisive issues be secret, including the voting, saying " trust me" everybody has good intentions.

The last time a public figure said "trust me," he had just been re-elected by a landslide, so we trusted him _ and look where it got us. Not only that, reasonable people can disagree, and we the people have the right to know their individual stands and thus hold them accountable. So no more "trust me," please, Khun Prasong especially since you were appointed by a government that claims to be committed to transparency and accountability.

At the same time, Khun Prasong's point that a closed-door meeting is more likely to foster frank discussions, rather than posturing for the media, is a valid one.

Thus, I recommend that the discussions be closed, but that the voting be open. This way, we can hold each person accountable, and see if anybody might have hidden agendas up his sleeve.

BURIN KANTABUTRA

Bangkok

Abducted children

This morning (April 7), I caught the finish of a programme on TITV detailing the case of two young Thai children that were abducted and forced to beg on footbridges for money. The programme also mentioned children being abducted and forced to work in factories, on fishing boats and in prostitution.

Is the occurrence of such a barbaric act on the increase, or is it just relocating?

I was under the impression that the major source of child "labour" was trafficked out of Cambodia. It would appear that the supply of unfortunate Cambodian children is drying up and, if so, the authorities (both Cambodian and Thai) must be congratulated for their efforts in shutting down one supply channel.

But the job is far from over. I call upon the government to provide the necessary means of support for all agencies involved in the fight to protect the rights of perhaps the most vulnerable members of society _ the children.

MARTIN MCMURRICH

Nonthaburi

Bangkok Post

Last Updated : Tuesday April 10, 2007