was advertised to the Internet at large and was picked up by the Hong Kong–based ISP
PCCW, which then broadcast the redirect to ISPs around the world. 112 YouTube staff
worked with PCCW to restore access within two hours. 113 Access to YouTube was
restored in Pakistan after the video listed in the PTA blocking order was removed. Indonesia followed suit, ordering ISPs to block YouTube in April 2008 over the same film
after Google reportedly did not respond to the government’s request to remove the
video from the Web site. 114
Authorities in Bangladesh, a country with an Internet penetration rate of less than
1 percent, 115 nevertheless chose to block YouTube for a few days in March 2009 in
order to protect the ‘‘national interest.’’ The disputed video covered a partial audio
recording of a meeting between the prime minister and military officials, who were
angry at the government’s handling of a mutiny by border guards in Dhaka that left
more than 70 people dead. 116 The Bengali language blogging platform Sachalayatan
was also reported to be inaccessible beginning on July 15, 2008, and was forced to
migrate to a new IP address. 117 Although its blocking was not officially confirmed,
Sachalayatan was likely Bangladesh’s inaugural filtering event.
Even China, which has developed domestic content-control mechanisms for its
Internet market that help to shield it from the difficult choices facing other countries,
can be vulnerable to the reverberations of social media. Google confirmed that
YouTube was blocked in China beginning on March 23, 2009, 118 which media
reported could have been prompted by a graphic video released by Tibetan exiles in
which Chinese troops beat a group of Tibetans. 119 Multiple users also reported that
YouTube was blocked in China around March 4, 2009, coinciding with the one-year
anniversary of the crackdown on protests in Tibetan regions as well as the 50th anniversary of the Tibetan uprising of 1959. 120
As the proliferation of borderless social media reduces the effectiveness of the
blacklist-and-block model, governments are increasingly looking to technology companies to act as gatekeepers for facilitating transnational public-private filtering. 121 In
Asia, Thailand may present an example of an alternative to the approaches taken by
China and Singapore. Thailand also blocked YouTube in April 2007 for hosting a number of videos that insulted King Bhumibol Adulyadej or his family, which constitutes a
crime of le `se majeste ´ under Thai law punishable by up to 15 years imprisonment. 122 By
May 2007, YouTube agreed to remove a number of the specified videos for violating its
terms of service, and the block on the YouTube domain was lifted in August 2007 upon
Google’s creation of a program of geolocational filtering for blocking access to specified
videos for users in Thailand. 123 In 2008, investigations by a project of the MIT Free
Culture group appeared to have uncovered the code for a technical mechanism that
YouTube uses to allow certain videos to be seen everywhere except in those locations
specified in a media restriction tag. 124 Although Thailand’s filtering of the Internet has
been ramped up in recent years, Thai law also requires court authorization to block a
420
Asia Overview
PCCW, which then broadcast the redirect to ISPs around the world. 112 YouTube staff
worked with PCCW to restore access within two hours. 113 Access to YouTube was
restored in Pakistan after the video listed in the PTA blocking order was removed. Indonesia followed suit, ordering ISPs to block YouTube in April 2008 over the same film
after Google reportedly did not respond to the government’s request to remove the
video from the Web site. 114
Authorities in Bangladesh, a country with an Internet penetration rate of less than
1 percent, 115 nevertheless chose to block YouTube for a few days in March 2009 in
order to protect the ‘‘national interest.’’ The disputed video covered a partial audio
recording of a meeting between the prime minister and military officials, who were
angry at the government’s handling of a mutiny by border guards in Dhaka that left
more than 70 people dead. 116 The Bengali language blogging platform Sachalayatan
was also reported to be inaccessible beginning on July 15, 2008, and was forced to
migrate to a new IP address. 117 Although its blocking was not officially confirmed,
Sachalayatan was likely Bangladesh’s inaugural filtering event.
Even China, which has developed domestic content-control mechanisms for its
Internet market that help to shield it from the difficult choices facing other countries,
can be vulnerable to the reverberations of social media. Google confirmed that
YouTube was blocked in China beginning on March 23, 2009, 118 which media
reported could have been prompted by a graphic video released by Tibetan exiles in
which Chinese troops beat a group of Tibetans. 119 Multiple users also reported that
YouTube was blocked in China around March 4, 2009, coinciding with the one-year
anniversary of the crackdown on protests in Tibetan regions as well as the 50th anniversary of the Tibetan uprising of 1959. 120
As the proliferation of borderless social media reduces the effectiveness of the
blacklist-and-block model, governments are increasingly looking to technology companies to act as gatekeepers for facilitating transnational public-private filtering. 121 In
Asia, Thailand may present an example of an alternative to the approaches taken by
China and Singapore. Thailand also blocked YouTube in April 2007 for hosting a number of videos that insulted King Bhumibol Adulyadej or his family, which constitutes a
crime of le `se majeste ´ under Thai law punishable by up to 15 years imprisonment. 122 By
May 2007, YouTube agreed to remove a number of the specified videos for violating its
terms of service, and the block on the YouTube domain was lifted in August 2007 upon
Google’s creation of a program of geolocational filtering for blocking access to specified
videos for users in Thailand. 123 In 2008, investigations by a project of the MIT Free
Culture group appeared to have uncovered the code for a technical mechanism that
YouTube uses to allow certain videos to be seen everywhere except in those locations
specified in a media restriction tag. 124 Although Thailand’s filtering of the Internet has
been ramped up in recent years, Thai law also requires court authorization to block a
420
Asia Overview