A Thai webmaster, Chiranuch Premchaiporn, recently criminally
convicted this week for failing to delete in a timely manner user-posted comments
critical of the Thai royal family. Having lived in Thailand for a period during
college, I have been following the case closely not only because of an interest
in the local politics, but for the broad implications of countries trying to
police the internet.
Thailand’s lèse-majesté law prohibits anyone from defaming, threatening, or insulting, the king, queen, or crown prince. The ruling king Bhumibol Aduladej is incredibly respected; in fact, before any movie plays at a theater in Thailand, a brief film appears of the King performing benevolent acts among the Thai people. The national anthem plays, and all theatergoers (including foreigners) stand up in respect. However, not all royal family members are so popular.
While the lèse-majesté
law in and of itself is not so unusual – it is illegal in multiple
communist countries, such as Vietnam, to criticize the ruling party – what makes
this case alarming is that a webmaster is being held criminally liable for
posts made by other users. It is raising concern in the internet community as a
dangerous precedent for the future of policing the internet.
Google came out with a response against the verdict, highlighting
their own sense of unease regarding liability for users’ posts in internet
forums:
“Today’s guilty verdict for Chiranuch Premchaiporn, for something somebody
else wrote on her website, is a serious threat to the future of the Internet in
Thailand,” Taj Meadows, Asia Pacific spokesman for Internet services giant
Google, said by email.
“Telephone companies are not penalized for things people say on the phone
and responsible website owners should not be punished for comments users post
on their sites,” he wrote. “The precedent set today is bad for Thai businesses,
users and the innovative potential of Thailand’s Internet economy.”
Of course, Google has also been tussling with censorship
issues in China, recently warning users when they are typing search terms that
are censored, to the consternation of the Chinese government.
How responsible should webmasters or portals be held for
user’s content? Are Google and other webmasters condoning censorship by playing
by these countries’ rules?
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