freedom of speech

I just have read an article on CNN.com minutes ago.  The article hit my heart badly.  This is talking about the Cencorship in Thailand.  Please read it an you will understand.

YouTube offers to 'educate' Thai authorities about site

April 7, 2007 - 2:05PM

YouTube said Saturday it has offered to "educate" Thai authorities about how the popular video-sharing service works in the hope of ending a ban on the site over videos mocking Thailand's revered king.

The company had spoken with Thai communications minister Sitthichai Pookaiyaudoom about the ban, which was imposed Wednesday after a user posted a video deemed here as offensive to King Bhumibol Adulyadej, YouTube spokeswoman Julie Supan said.

"Minister Sitthichai reported that his government is inflexible on the blocking of individual objectionable videos, and that the ministry's technical people have difficulty understanding how to block individual videos," she said in an email to AFP.

"While we will not take down videos that do not violate our policies, and will not assist in implementing censorship, we have offered to educate the Thai ministry about YouTube and how it works," she said.

"It's up to the Thailand government to decide whether to block specific videos, but we would rather that than have them block the entire site," she added.

Four more videos have been posted to the site mocking the king, but also taking aim at Thailand's strict lese majeste law, which is rigorously enforced against anyone deemed to have offended the royal family.

The site, accessed from Bangkok through a foreign server, now has seven clips mocking the monarch.

Although the original clip has been removed by the user who created it, the others are similar, often showing pictures of the king next to images of feet -- seen as deeply offensive in Thailand.

The ban on YouTube has sparked a fierce debate over freedom of speech on the Internet, and on Thailand's effort to enforce a law that dates from the time of absolute monarchy more than 75 years ago in the era of a modern global media.

Thailand's king, almost universally adored by Thais, is the world's longest-reigning monarch, and one of the few who is still protected by tough laws that prohibit any insult against the royal family.

The ban came a week after Thailand jailed a Swiss man for 10 years for insulting the king by vandalising his portraits during a drunken spree.

© 2006 AFP
This story is sourced direct from an overseas news agency as an additional service to readers. Spelling follows North American usage, along with foreign currency and measurement units.

My point of view is that we should

  • protest directly to YouTube with what their believing, just like many Pantip.com members have been doing now.
  • stop using YouTube service (there are many free VDO sharing service in this internet world - like SpyMac.com by Germany.
  • develop VDO to explain why YouTube service should be modified.
  • create VDO to show our feeling how we love our King.
  • ICT should stop using "BLOCKING" as the weapon to get rid of what site they do not like.  They need to learn more and should understand it now.

I do not believe in "truely" freedom of speech at all.  You cannot talk whatever you want in everywhere in the world.  The culture, values, norms stop that freedom (besides the power in whose hands.)