Information Society Watch

January 6, 2008, Kultida Samabuddhi, Bangkok Post

The radical political website sameskybooks.org has been shut down for lese majeste content, in the form of articles and harsh commentary in forums about the monarchy that has been deemed as insulting to the monarchy. Media freedom advocates are concerned that the closure of sameskybooks.org signals a move towards an increase in Internet censorship in Thailand. Otaro Co., the company that owns the servers contracted to the Internet Service Provider (ISP) hosting the site, has denied that it was forced by Thailand's Ministry of ICT to crack down on the website.Yet media freedom advocates like the Freedom Against Censorship Thailand (FACT) group are claiming that both Otaro and the ISP have violated the terms of their contracts and has called the shut-down both illegal and an act of 'cyber-terrorism'.

Read full text