Eye on Asia - Asia Observer’s blog

All of a sudden the popular video sharing web site YouTube was blocked in Thailand. Bloggers are now speculating about what possibly could be the reason. Was it another example of political censorship?

From Friday until Saturday visitors to YouTube from Thailand were blocked. Instead users were redirected to the web site of the Thai Ministry of Communication and Technology (MICT). The ministry is responsible for regulating the Internet in Thailand.

Some bloggers speculate that YouTube was blocked because of a CNN interview with ousted Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

Thailand is only one of about 40 countries trying to censor Internet in some way or another.
The OpenNet Initiative, which tracks Internet censorship around the world, writes:
Thailand is reportedly set to filter up to 800,000 web sites deemed to be harmful to youth. Reports indicate that several websites reporting on government corruption have also been sporadically blocked.

The government rarely explains why sites are blocked, but the action naturally causes strong comments among bloggers and web users:
Banana republic? Maybe. But at least the crazy, right-wing government is not killing thousands of their own people yet, unlike the previous one. Though how much more people can stand trade off freedom of speech for life remains to be seen. , writes a blogger calling himself “The Media Slut”.

Now, being a famous copy cat, I can bet that Malaysia will follow Thailand’s footstep soon - BAN YOUTUBE!!, guesses Malaysian blogger Assonic Acid.

Technorati Tags: Thailand, YouTube