Attacks on the Press in 2011: Regulating the Internet
Legislation for Internet security can quickly turn into a weapon against the free press. Cybercrime laws are intended to extend existing penal codes to the online world, but they can easily be broadened to criminalize standard journalistic practices. By Danny O’Brien
Attacks on the Press in 2011: Thailand
Journalists faced significant restrictions, particularly online, despite democratic elections and a change in government. Outgoing Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva cracked down on partisan media, shutting radio stations and detaining Somyot Preuksakasemsuk, editor of a newsmagazine aligned with the anti-government United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship. New premier Yingluck Shinawatra wielded the country’s strict lèse majesté…
Thailand tries to censor site devoted to flood news
Bangkok, October 25, 2011 – The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by reports that Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra’s government has tried to censor the citizen-journalist website Thaiflood, which has provided crucial news and information about massive flooding that has inundated one-third of the country’s provinces. At least 350 people have been killed and…
Holding intermediaries liable for users’ content
Earlier this month, I spoke as an expert witness in the ongoing trial of Chiranuch Premchaiporn, the editor of Thailand’s Prachatai.com website, who is being criminally prosecuted under that country’s Computer Crime Act and Lesé Majesté laws. The crime involves online posts allegedly disrespectful to Thailand’s monarchy, but Chiranuch herself is not accused of originating…
Thai journalist dies from bomb blast injuries
New York, September 26, 2011–The Thai government must bring to justice the perpetrators of the September 16 bomb attacks that killed a journalist and five other people in the country’s insurgency-plagued southern region, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.
Press freedom heroes in Southeast Asia
Three Southeast Asian journalists–Cambodia’s Hang Chakra, Malaysia’s Zulkiflee Anwar Ul Haque, or Zunar, and Thailand’s Chiranuch Premchaiporn–were among the 48 awardees of the Hellman/Hammett grant, given to writers targeted with political persecution, who were recognized today by Human Rights Watch for their commitment to press freedom.