98
Pirongrong Ramasoota
Architecture: From Automatic URL Filtering to an ID-Enabled Cyberspace
Automatic URL Filtering
After the September 2006 coup, the MICT was faced with mounting complaints over
l è se-majest é cases, which were reportedly mushrooming on anticoup and pro-Thaksin
Web sites. The existing IP-based fi ltering at ISP levels, based on block lists circulated
by MICT, was deemed ineffective and was also criticized for overblocking. The interim
minister of ICT thus revisited the idea of an automatic Internet fi ltering system, which
was discussed in the later years of the Thaksin administration but did not materialize.
As a result, a feasibility study was carried out, and a pilot project was commissioned
to local researchers. The new automatic fi ltering system was installed at the level of
international Internet gateway (IIG),
39 which is a higher level of networking than
national Internet exchange (NIX) or ISPs.
40 All IIGs under CAT Telecom Plc were the
fi rst to be installed with the new automatic fi ltering system, since CAT Telecom is a
state enterprise and reports directly to the MICT. The fi ltering technology was developed by a group of computer-engineering researchers at the Bangkok-based Kasetsart
University. The URL fi ltering technique was originally developed to fi lter out unwanted
content such as spam but could also be used to fi lter Web access by blocking at application layers or at URL levels.
41 The system began a trial run in 2008 and has been
fully operational since early 2009.
Essentially, the URL fi ltering technique uses what Robert Faris and Nart Villeneuve
call proxy-based fi ltering strategies.
42 Internet traffi c passing by the fi ltering system
is reassembled, and the specifi c HTTP address being accessed is checked against a list
of blocked URLs or blocked keywords in the URL. When users attempt to access these
URLs, they are subsequently blocked. But instead of showing an MICT block page
indicating that the site has been blocked (as would be the case of IP blocking at
ISP level), the new system has created a block page that looks like the browser ’ s
default error page, possibly to disguise the fact that the government is blocking these
sites.
ID-Enabled Cyberspace
Largely because of enforcement of the computer crime law, online service providers
(OSPs) — those that host social networking services, blogs, and Web sites — have increasingly set up a system that enables “ traceability regulation. ”
43 To access content and
services on these Web sites, users are required to provide some sort of identifi cation
or certifi cation fi rst. Using traceability regulation as a framework, we surveyed popular
local online services like online discussion forums, blogs, social networking services,
portals, and online newspapers. The results are shown in table 5.5 .
Pirongrong Ramasoota
Architecture: From Automatic URL Filtering to an ID-Enabled Cyberspace
Automatic URL Filtering
After the September 2006 coup, the MICT was faced with mounting complaints over
l è se-majest é cases, which were reportedly mushrooming on anticoup and pro-Thaksin
Web sites. The existing IP-based fi ltering at ISP levels, based on block lists circulated
by MICT, was deemed ineffective and was also criticized for overblocking. The interim
minister of ICT thus revisited the idea of an automatic Internet fi ltering system, which
was discussed in the later years of the Thaksin administration but did not materialize.
As a result, a feasibility study was carried out, and a pilot project was commissioned
to local researchers. The new automatic fi ltering system was installed at the level of
international Internet gateway (IIG),
39 which is a higher level of networking than
national Internet exchange (NIX) or ISPs.
40 All IIGs under CAT Telecom Plc were the
fi rst to be installed with the new automatic fi ltering system, since CAT Telecom is a
state enterprise and reports directly to the MICT. The fi ltering technology was developed by a group of computer-engineering researchers at the Bangkok-based Kasetsart
University. The URL fi ltering technique was originally developed to fi lter out unwanted
content such as spam but could also be used to fi lter Web access by blocking at application layers or at URL levels.
41 The system began a trial run in 2008 and has been
fully operational since early 2009.
Essentially, the URL fi ltering technique uses what Robert Faris and Nart Villeneuve
call proxy-based fi ltering strategies.
42 Internet traffi c passing by the fi ltering system
is reassembled, and the specifi c HTTP address being accessed is checked against a list
of blocked URLs or blocked keywords in the URL. When users attempt to access these
URLs, they are subsequently blocked. But instead of showing an MICT block page
indicating that the site has been blocked (as would be the case of IP blocking at
ISP level), the new system has created a block page that looks like the browser ’ s
default error page, possibly to disguise the fact that the government is blocking these
sites.
ID-Enabled Cyberspace
Largely because of enforcement of the computer crime law, online service providers
(OSPs) — those that host social networking services, blogs, and Web sites — have increasingly set up a system that enables “ traceability regulation. ”
43 To access content and
services on these Web sites, users are required to provide some sort of identifi cation
or certifi cation fi rst. Using traceability regulation as a framework, we surveyed popular
local online services like online discussion forums, blogs, social networking services,
portals, and online newspapers. The results are shown in table 5.5 .