Thailand Ranking for Internet Freedom
 

Thailand ranks among the worst countries for unfettered access to the Internet. Eleven countries were ranked worst including Thailand, but also Bahrain, Belarus, Ethiopia, Saudi Arabia, Vietnam, Tunisia, China, Cuba, Burma and Iran. The winner on the opposite end of the spectrum was Estonia, followed by the USA, Germany, Australia and the U.K.

http://www.xbiz.com/news/133467

Is it really a big deal these days, when every twelve year-old in the country knows how to use a proxy?
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Yes, it's really a big deal! Using a proxy is tiresome and time-consuming, especially with the extremely slow internet in Thailand. And I assume that a large majority of over forty year-olds don't know how to use a proxy. Finally, how can you justify the ridiculous internet censorship in Thailand?

Well said, though I'm pretty sure our fellow member wasn't justifying the censorship. He just didn't seem to give a damn. I've never lived in a land where censorship was the norm, but it certainly isn't something I'd want to experience first hand if I lived some where.

The internet in Thailand is NOT ridiculously slow. Are you still on dial-up, or what? I get 8MB internationally at home, and I don't even have the top package.

I would never justify internet censorship.

I merely point out that it is silly, meaningless and ultimately futile. You cannot successfully access to knowledge in this way.

I have never met a Thai that doesn't know exactly what all those anti-Royalist websites say. Everybody knows!

It has about as much effect as them blurring out cigarettes and guns on TV...as if everyone doesn't know what's there.

The blocking is tedious, but very effective...for the government.

It is just another example of the double standards so happily used here and basically it is a tax by the rich on the poor. The rich can easily bypass the censorship by using proxies and VPNs, they (we) have the money for it.

The poor cannot easily do the same as they access the net mostly from Internet cafes.

There is a real economic cost, so just waving it away as irrelevant is a bit silly. I have to pay for VPN every month. Money that I could have spend for more productive uses. Multiply that by 68 million and just those costs of censorship are huge. That's just the VPN. I wont even start about the countless lost investment opportunities to develop a competitive knowledge based economy.

Further, the blocking slows down the internet tremendously. If you have ever been to a free country you will have experienced that an uncensored slow 2 MB connection is faster than a True Thai 8 MB line. Everything here has to go through government firewalls, so there is a significant slowdown in the overall experience.

I have met plenty of young Thais who are curious about all the naughty information on the ones who lord over them. But most all 20 year old Thais I have met are pretty ignorant about the world and their own country's place in it.

Compared to their brethren I meet abroad even university students often strike me as almost dull. It is because the censoring is so effective as part of the overall goal to keep the people compliant and ignorant.

BS.

There is no cost involved in using a proxy.

Anyone can do it for free from any computer, whether at home or at an internet cafe.

Every teenage Thai kid knows this, and just laughs at the government's feeble attempts to block access to whatever information it is they happen to be after.

No longer being a teenager, I have to admit my ignorance. Is a proxy routing going via Google or another search engine? If not, a brief explanation for us oldies appreciated .

Of course there is a cost. I am talking about an economic and educational impact, not whether some particular proxy service is free or not.

Information is money in a knowledge economy, so lets put it this way. When a poor kid has to use a slow but free proxy service while the rich kid uses a fast VPN, that has an impact on their access to information and the poor kid will be disadvantaged.

I know plenty of people under and over 40 who do not have a clue what a proxy or a VPN is. I cannot count the times I have explained it over the years.

Biggles, here is a good explanation of what a proxy is. A VPN such as Witopia is actually a much easier, safer and faster option. It will cost you a few hundred THB a month to get a decent VPN, something many poor kids cannot afford.

I'd agree that they'd know how to do it, but the way you've worded that, it sounds like every Thai teenager is a revolutionary in waiting and interested in accessing these blocked sites.

I think that's quite far from the truth. From what I've seen so far, most Thai teenagers seem to be quite happy so long as they can watch their soap operas on TV, befriend their superstars on Facebook and download all the movies, songs and porn videos they want to have. Politics is something only a small minority seems to get excited about.

No one pays for VPN -- anyone who wants to look at blocked sites just uses free web proxies.

Obviously, only those who have an interest will look.

Just google "free proxy" to get a fresh list, click until you find one that works, and enter the address of the site you want to look at.

It couldn't be easier (or freer).

It works ! And even I can use it !

One of the reasons I want this is that I have discovered some great interactive, c2c gay websites. Check out - manroulette dot com. You get live cam ineractions with guys from Clapham to China, Chile to Chelsea - some amazing guys happy to show all, chat and play on line. Sure there are trolls lurking, but some HOT guys as well. I've been invited several times to meet them on Skype cam for clearer pics. Well worth trying when out of Thailand and less easy access to attractive twinks.

Oh dear, I've upset the queen.

Well, there's little point to have a conversation with someone who is so sure of himself, the world around him and how it all fits together. I guess me and my friends with paid VPN are all no ones then.

You have Thai friends who pay for VPN? First in my experience, and I can't imagine why they would.
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So, to take it slowly for us computer challenged folks, proxy and VPN are the same thing, is that right?