Internet Politics in Thailand after the 2006 Coup
113
the 2004 establishment of the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC), the country ’ s
fi rst independent regulator of telecommunications. NTC has been issuing licenses for telecommunications services and Internet services since 2005. So far, a total of 130 licenses have been
issued for telecommunications service and 132 for Internet. This description, therefore, refl ects
a two-tiered structure of Internet regulation. On one side, there are the pre-reform semiconcessionaires who are highly liable to CAT Telecom, which answers directly to MICT. On another
side, there are the postreform ISPs that operate under licenses issued by NTC. This structure leads
to somewhat of a double standard in Internet regulation and fi ltering.
41. URL fi ltering is one of the Web-content-fi ltering techniques. Content fi lters act on either the
content or the information contained in the network packet header or body. URL fi ltering focuses
on the URL and is suitable for blocking a Web page or sections of Web sites. There are two
common approaches for URL fi ltering — pass-through fi ltering and pass-by fi ltering. Unlike passthrough fi ltering in which network traffi c (a stream of packets) must pass through the fi ltering
engine (fi rewall, proxy, or application gateway) for content inspection and can cause extra delay,
pass-by fi ltering network packets do not have to “ go through ” the fi ltering engine. The fi ltering
engine normally connects to a mirror port of a switch/gateway and passively monitors packets
that pass through the switch (hence the term pass-by ). Pass-by fi ltering is more fl exible and
therefore chosen for the Thai URL fi ltering system.
42. Robert Faris and Nart Villeneuve, “ Measuring Global Internet Filtering, ” in Access Denied:
The Practice and Policy of Global Internet Filtering , ed. Ronald Deibert, John Palfrey, Rafal
Rohozinski, and Jonathan Zittrain (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2008), 87.
43. Lawrence Lessig describes “ traceability regulation ” as a requirement by the state for service
providers to employ software that facilitates traceability by making access conditional on the
users ’ providing some minimal level of identifi cation. Lessig, Codes and Other Laws of
Cyberspace.
44. Warapong Theprongthong, “ Content Regulation of Political Online Discussion Forums, after
the Enforcement of the Computer-Related Offenses Act 2007, ” unpublished master ’ s thesis,
Chulalongkorn University, 2010, 54.
45. Ethan Zuckerman, “ Intermediary Censorship, ” in Access Controlled: The Shaping of Power,
Rights, and Rule in Cyberspace , ed. Ronald Deibert, John Palfrey, Rafal Rohozinski, and Jonathan
Zittrain (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2010), 71 – 85.
46. Thai Netizen Network (TNN) is an interest group of Internet users who gathered to advocate
on fi ve basic principles — right to access information, freedom of expression, right to privacy,
self-regulation, and creative commons — for online media. The group was founded in 2008 and
comprises mainly people of the Net generation from various occupational backgrounds. See Thai
Netizen Network, http://thainetizen.org .
47. Campaign for Popular Media Reform (CPMR), formerly the Committee to Monitor the
Implementation of Article 40, was founded in 1997 by networks of academics, nongovernment
organizations, mass-media practitioners, and civic media groups. These founders have played an
active role in campaigning and participating in the course of Thai media reform since 1992.
113
the 2004 establishment of the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC), the country ’ s
fi rst independent regulator of telecommunications. NTC has been issuing licenses for telecommunications services and Internet services since 2005. So far, a total of 130 licenses have been
issued for telecommunications service and 132 for Internet. This description, therefore, refl ects
a two-tiered structure of Internet regulation. On one side, there are the pre-reform semiconcessionaires who are highly liable to CAT Telecom, which answers directly to MICT. On another
side, there are the postreform ISPs that operate under licenses issued by NTC. This structure leads
to somewhat of a double standard in Internet regulation and fi ltering.
41. URL fi ltering is one of the Web-content-fi ltering techniques. Content fi lters act on either the
content or the information contained in the network packet header or body. URL fi ltering focuses
on the URL and is suitable for blocking a Web page or sections of Web sites. There are two
common approaches for URL fi ltering — pass-through fi ltering and pass-by fi ltering. Unlike passthrough fi ltering in which network traffi c (a stream of packets) must pass through the fi ltering
engine (fi rewall, proxy, or application gateway) for content inspection and can cause extra delay,
pass-by fi ltering network packets do not have to “ go through ” the fi ltering engine. The fi ltering
engine normally connects to a mirror port of a switch/gateway and passively monitors packets
that pass through the switch (hence the term pass-by ). Pass-by fi ltering is more fl exible and
therefore chosen for the Thai URL fi ltering system.
42. Robert Faris and Nart Villeneuve, “ Measuring Global Internet Filtering, ” in Access Denied:
The Practice and Policy of Global Internet Filtering , ed. Ronald Deibert, John Palfrey, Rafal
Rohozinski, and Jonathan Zittrain (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2008), 87.
43. Lawrence Lessig describes “ traceability regulation ” as a requirement by the state for service
providers to employ software that facilitates traceability by making access conditional on the
users ’ providing some minimal level of identifi cation. Lessig, Codes and Other Laws of
Cyberspace.
44. Warapong Theprongthong, “ Content Regulation of Political Online Discussion Forums, after
the Enforcement of the Computer-Related Offenses Act 2007, ” unpublished master ’ s thesis,
Chulalongkorn University, 2010, 54.
45. Ethan Zuckerman, “ Intermediary Censorship, ” in Access Controlled: The Shaping of Power,
Rights, and Rule in Cyberspace , ed. Ronald Deibert, John Palfrey, Rafal Rohozinski, and Jonathan
Zittrain (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2010), 71 – 85.
46. Thai Netizen Network (TNN) is an interest group of Internet users who gathered to advocate
on fi ve basic principles — right to access information, freedom of expression, right to privacy,
self-regulation, and creative commons — for online media. The group was founded in 2008 and
comprises mainly people of the Net generation from various occupational backgrounds. See Thai
Netizen Network, http://thainetizen.org .
47. Campaign for Popular Media Reform (CPMR), formerly the Committee to Monitor the
Implementation of Article 40, was founded in 1997 by networks of academics, nongovernment
organizations, mass-media practitioners, and civic media groups. These founders have played an
active role in campaigning and participating in the course of Thai media reform since 1992.