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On 5/18/2012 23:38, Rajnesh D. Singh wrote:
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<div style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:
10pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Colleagues,<br>
<br>
Please join me in welcoming Duangthip Chomprang (Thip for
short) to the Asia-Pacific Bureau, and the ISOC family.<br>
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<br>
Welcome to Duangthip Chomprang to the ISOC Asia-Pacific Bureau and
to the ISOC family,<br>
<br>
these words come as a special greeting from your neighboring country
of Cambodia, where we have observed, over the years, the difficult
situations faced by a number of Internet users, professionals, and
researchers. I mention only some issues here – to share information
with our friends from further away who may not have followed the
situation as much as you who has been in Thailand, involved in the
international development field and related to telecom developments
and privatization of state owned telecom operation which we have
only been able to follow from afar – especially also the selling of
strategic Thai assets to a Singapore company, which contributed to
the critical discussions on the freedom of the expression in the
media and to the end of the power of former prime minister Thaksin
Shinawatra, who is now in self selected exile in Dubai to avoid
arrest for a court conviction for corruption (for our colleagues in
the European and the Latin American regions: he carries now
passports of Montenegro and of Nicaragua!).<br>
<br>
Of course we do not have access to detailed information, but we have
rather been following the legal persecution of some Thai Internet
professionals struggling for the freedom of expression, like Ms.
Supinya Klangnarong and Ms. Chiranuch Premchaiporn. Just some
context information:<br>
<br>
<i><b>Ms. Supinya</b> - Thaksin would set up thought police: Supinya<br>
</i><br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2006/03/18/politics/politics_20003031.php">http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2006/03/18/politics/politics_20003031.php</a><br>
<i><br>
...Speaking at a symposium organized by the Thai Journalists'
Association, Supinya said that though her legal battle had been
about freedom of speech, a lot of obstacles remained that
prevented the media and citizens from expressing themselves
freely. This was because of the government's control of broadcast
media and abuse of libel law, she said... <br>
<br>
<b>Ms. Chiranuch</b> - Internet Freedom on Trial in Thailand:
Prachatai Director in Court<br>
<br>
[By “Center for Democracy and Technology - Keeping the Internet
Innovative - Open - Free”]<br>
</i><br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.cdt.org/blogs/cynthia-wong/internet-freedom-trial-thailand-prachatai-director-court">https://www.cdt.org/blogs/cynthia-wong/internet-freedom-trial-thailand-prachatai-director-court</a><br>
<i><br>
...Last Friday, 4 February 2011, marked the start of court
proceedings against Ms. Chiranuch Premchaiporn (known as Jiew),
director of the popular online newspaper Prachatai. Jiew faces
criminal charges under the Computer Crimes Act (CCA), with a
potential penalty of twenty years in prison. Her alleged crime?
The government has accused her as operator of Prachatai’s web
forum of allowing ten user-generated posts to remain online for
too long, even though the offending posts were removed far before
her arrest.<br>
Even more troubling, this case is merely the first of two: Jiew
was arrested again in September 2010 upon her return from an
Internet freedom conference and faces additional charges with
penalties of up to fifty years...<br>
</i><br>
<b>Reporter without Borders</b> adds: <br>
<br>
<i>“Website hosting companies are under growing pressure to remove
content in response to “notice and take down” process, a procedure
likely to lead to abuses, as UN special rapporteur on freedom of
expression Frank La Rue has stressed. In Thailand, Prachatai news
website editor Chiranuch Premchaiporn is facing a possible 20-year
jail sentence for failing to react with sufficient speed when told
to remove comments posted by site visitors that were critical of
the monarchy...<br>
<br>
If Thailand continues down the slope of content filtering and
jailing netizens on lèse-majesté charges, it could soon join the
club of the world’s most repressive countries as regards the
Internet.“<br>
</i><br>
Knowing that you have observed all this in Thailand, we are hoping
that the ISOC Asia-Pacific Bureau will also pay attention or, in
future, even ask for additional information and make suggestions
related to some of our fears, which I had shared here, since the
government recently ordered that all Internet Cafes and other places
with public access to the Internet or to telephone services - like
guest houses – will have to install surveying video cameras and
write down the names and identities of all users.<br>
<br>
Welcome, Khun Thip, strengthening the Asia-Pacific ISOC family,
especially with such experience in the situation of our region,
because, after all: <b>The Internet is for everyone.<br>
</b><br>
<br>
Norbert<br>
<br>
<div class="moz-signature">-- <br>
<font color="blue">Norbert Klein, President, ISOC Cambodia Chapter</font><br>
<br>
<font color="black">
Website: <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.isoc-kh.org">http://www.isoc-kh.org</a><br>
eMail: <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:president@isoc-kh.org">president@isoc-kh.org</a><br>
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