Twitter has adopted Google's tactics for coping with legally binding censorship demands: from now on, when it receives a legal demand to censor a tweet, it will only censor that tweet for users in the country from which the demand emanates. Other countries' users will still see it. Users in the censored country will see a notice that material has been censored. Additionally, all censorship demands will be archived at Chillingeffects.org, a clearinghouse that tracks Internet censorship. (Boing Boing)

For people living in Thailand, the issue of censorship is particularly sensitive because of the country's strict lese majeste laws. Criticism of the monarchy is forbidden by Thai law and can get you into all sorts of bother, as we've seen numerous times in the past few years. Censorship of the Internet by successive Thai governments is an issue that all of us living here have had to content with.

Thailand’s lese majeste law prevents criticism of the country’s king and royal family and it was most famously behind the blockage of YouTube in 2006. Once the offending videos were made unavailable in Thailand, the Google-owned video sharing site was open once again in the country. (The New Web)

Thailand has some of the toughest censorship laws in the world, ranking it 153 out of 178 in Reporters Without Borders' 2011 Press Freedom Index. Thailand's lese-majeste regulations inhibit defamatory, insulting or threatening comments about the royal family, which are punishable by up to 15 years in prison, but under Thailand's 2007 computer crimes act prosecutors have been able to increase sentences. (Guardian)

Without the freedom to speak freely about certain topics, people in Thailand are forever trapped in a society that restricts their ideas and attempts to maintain a balance of power that only benefits a select number of people/groups. This is nothing new.

What is relatively new in the grand scheme of things is how Twitter has evolved into a tool that facilitates the free flow of ideas, discussions and information. We saw this happen in Thailand in 2010 when troops and protesters clashed in the streets of Bangkok.

Given the current state of power plays in the country, it's unsurprising that there are those in power who want to stifle how free online discussions can be. We've already seen this. So when Twitter came out with its new censorship scheme, it raised a lot of eyebrows and of course people reacted angrily. There was a 24-hour Twitter blackout that saw some users abandon their accounts for all of a day in the hope of sending a message to the powers that be that censorship won't be tolerated. Obviously this had no effect on Twitter's policy.

Twitter plans to expand in a big way:

Among other things, Twitter wants to expand its audience from about 100 million active uses to more than 1 billion.

Reaching that goal will require expanding into more countries, which will mean Twitter will be more likely to have to submit to laws that run counter to the free-expression protections guaranteed under the first amendment in the US. (Boing Boing)

It's fair to say that there is no other social media platform that can do what Twitter does with the same kind of reach. Imagine if Twitter were able to expand to a billion users. It would be phenomenal. It will be phenomenal. But in order to expand — to survive, in fact — Twitter needs to play by the rules in certain countries, including Thailand.

Twitter's policy is purposely similar to Google's, but there won't be any boycotts of Google. It would be futile and self-defeating, as is a boycott of Twitter.

The problem is not Twitter. The problem is within the law as it stands in Thailand. For many of us living in the country, we deliberately self-censor what we publish on the Internet. This goes for Twitter, Facebook, blogs, anything. We understand there is a law and we abide by it for fear of being caught out and going to prison. When Mr Marshall writes something that could get people into trouble, he deliberately asks people living in Thailand to think before they click "like" or retweet his words.

We censor ourselves every day because we're afraid of what can happen. This isn't Twitter's fault. We have to continue using Twitter to push boundaries, to push the discussion on. If we all stop using Twitter then the discussion stops altogether. Also, we haven't seen how this is going to affect Twitter users in Thailand. We're really just speculating at this point. But see the "bigger picture".

What a lot of people seem to have missed from the announcement is that what Twitter is doing is completely transparent.

The first thing to keep in mind is that Twitter’s guidelines have long said that, “International users agree to comply with all local laws regarding online conduct and acceptable content.” According to last year’s official blog post on censorship, Twitter did already sometimes take down tweets that were deemed “illegal.”

Most or all of those removed tweets so far have, it seems, been related copyright violation takedown requests under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act in the U.S. The takeaway here, though, is that Twitter’s rules have always allowed them to remove illegal content at the request of governments, and they never said they wouldn’t. So what has changed? Technology and transparency.

The new censorship technology announced by Twitter allows the company to block tweets or users on a country-by-country basis. Previously, blocking tweets had to be done globally, meaning if an oppressive regime asked Twitter to remove a tweet or block a user, it had to be done for everyone in the world. Now, Twitter can remove that tweet in that country, but allow the world to see it.

If a government asks Twitter to remove an offending tweet, the company essentially has two options: Comply and block that single tweet or user in that country (while still allowing the rest of the world to see), or refuse and risk the government itself blocking Twitter for everyone in that country. So which seems better for activists? I’ll pick the former any day — it still allows activists to speak to the world at large and draw attention to their treatment. That’s something Reuters’ Anthony DeRosa posits could be more powerful.

Further, because Twitter has promised to increase their transparency about takedown requests, it should become easier for activists to monitor which countries are censoring their citizens. As NPR’s Andy Carvin noted on Twitter, every social media platform faces these same sorts of requests. Twitter is just being more transparent about how they deal with them. (Mashable)

Twitter has even outlined how to work around the cenrsorship, so again, the problem is not with Twitter. The problem lies elsewhere.

On that note, it was predictable that the Thai government was the first in the world to come out strongly in favour of the new policy.

The Information and Communication Technology Ministry will work with Twitter to ensure that tweets disseminated in Thailand are in compliance with local law.

ICT permanent secretary Jeerawan Boonperm said Twitter's move to censor or block content regarded as offensive in particular countries was a "welcome development".

The ICT Ministry will contact Twitter shortly to discuss ways in which they could collaborate, she said. (Bangkok Post)

So how will this affect people living in Thailand? As I see it, it will help fuel discussions on censorship in the country and lead to more unified, vocal calls for changes to the law. It will see more people added to the discussions and give the public an opportunity to really scrutinise what is being censored and why. It also means that Twitter being blocked altogether in Thailand or anywhere else isn't an issue. It's not an ideal situation, but that's not because of Twitter.

I am not in favour of censorship, but I want to examine this issue from all possible angles rather than jump headfirst into something I don't understand.

What say you?

From the blurb:

@NaviculaMusic dedicated the song to encourage people to do more in orangutan conservation, to protect this endangered species. @RobiNavicula wrote the song "Orangutan" in April 2011 as a track to be included on their Navicula's new album, which will be released sometime next year. The song "Orangutan" is available for free download here.

Shots of the band performing live were edited together with shots from Green the Film are here.

This documentary film by Patrick Rouxel follows the story of Green, a female orangutan who is on the verge of dying. The film needs no narration; it is a montage of both beautiful and heartbreaking footage. Green is a victim of deforestation and exploitation of natural resources.

Are we in danger or not? And what exactly are we in danger from? The vague warning from the US Embassy came out of nowhere and hasn't been followed up with any real clarification of what the heck is going on. The Thai authorities, on the other hand, have been telling people not to panic and that everything is fine. Who are we supposed to believe when it appears nobody is being fully straight and open with us?

Bomb-making materials were found first in one house, and then in another:

Police have found bomb-making materials in another house rented by Swedish-Lebanese terror suspect Hussein Atris in the Mahachai area of Samut Sakhon.

Deputy national police chief Pansiri Prapawat, head of the team of investigators handling the case, said in a press conference that officers searched another house rented by Mr Atris and found bomb-making materials similar to those found in the first shophouse raided on Monday in the same area.

Investigators also found that Mr Atris moved the explosive materials from the first house to the second house, Pol Gen Pansiri said.

He said investigators had questioned several witnesses who confirmed that Mr Atris had entered Thailand several times, that he had bought the materials and knew where he had been during his stay in Thailand. (Bangkok Post)

Hussein Atris claims he was ste up Mossad, the Israeli Institute for Intelligence and Special Operations. Thailand has been saying that the bomb-making materials were to be exported and that Thailand wasn't the target. Meanwhile, tourism operators have threatened to march on the US Embassy if the terror warning isn't revoked.

Surely there will be a movie about this some day, especially with headlines like this: Hizballah planned Mumbai-style attack on Habad Bangkok, Khao San restaurants.

The Thai police's capture of a Lebanese-Swedish Hizballah suspect, who was charged Monday, Jan. 16, thwarted a terrorist attack on Bet Habad in Bangkok, involving the taking of hostages and blowing up the building. It was to have followed the same lines as al Qaeda's 2008 assault on the Mumbai Habad center which killed 8 Israelis and Jews – only more ambitious. The Habad Bangkok is much larger: its hostel has rooms for dozens of lodgers. A second team was to have hit the Khao San Road restaurants popular with Israelis and Americans in a coordinated operation. (debka)

For the US to refuse to revoke its warning despite pressure from the Thai authorities sends a message to the public that something is wrong, but we still don't really know what.

As safe as Bangkok may or may not be right now, we shouldn't forget that in the past five or so years there's been a coup, an airport takeover, numerous protests and clashes between civilians and the army, and several bombs detonated, including on New Year's Eve 2006. It's not totally inconceivable that something terrible could happen in Bangkok. It's not as if Bangkok is immune to bad things, as we've seen many times, most recently with the poorly managed floods.

Getting good, reliable information to the public isn't one of the strong points of the Thai government. Who can we trust?

We had tried to get nearer the stage on ground level, only to have my bag slashed by some sneaky pickpockets. They didn't get away with anything, but I couldn't help but feel a little angry with Hanoi, even though I knew the ones to blame didn't represent the entire city and its people.

On that note, we clambered up to one of the restaurants/bars overlooking Times Square. There was a surprising amount of space up there so we got comfy, drank a lot of beer and partied away until 12.30 am, at which point the party ended and everyone went home.

Hanoi is a peculiar place. It's not a warm, inviting metropolis like Bangkok. It felt like the city was indifferent to our being there, which I thought was kinda cool. The traffic was the maddest I've ever seen except for in Bangladesh. The tiny streets were ridiculously full of motorbikes.

There was a real lack of Western influences. The shops were almost all local traders who had likely been there for years. I didn't see McDonalds or KFC or any of the usual Americanisms you find in other parts of Southeast Asia. Hanoi looked the way I had imagined China to be. The cool weather and neverending clouds and fog only cemented this image.

We spent the days wandering around, eating — vietnamese food is excellent — and enjoying the cold. I don't know if I'd recommend Hanoi for an extended stay, but it's worth passing through. We stayed at the Golden Wings hotel, where the staff were bizarrely friendly.

We took two little trips while we were in Vietnam. The first was to Lang Son, in the far north of the country. We went there because it's the town where my girlfriend's mum grew up. There wasn't much to see in Lang Son, but it was great to be somewhere devoid of Western faces.

This temple was pretty cool.

We also came across some of the best suckling pig I've ever had.

Suckling pig in Lang Son, Vietnam.

Our other trip was to Halong Bay. We went for a package tour — one night on a boat, one at a resort — and left on New Year's Day. I'm normally not keen on package tours, especially ones that are as popular as the Halong Bay visit. There were oodles of operators offering pretty much the exact same trip. You get to Halong Bay, you get on one of the many boats with a bunch of random people and then you go off out to sea.

But despite all that, it was still a lot of fun. The trip was broken down into a few main parts: a visit to a floating village where the people living there were like some form of human attraction; a trip to some caves; some kayaking to a little island; and then a stopoff on Cat Ba Island and a trek through the national park up a large hill to a viewpoint. The final part of the trip was a night in either a grotty-looking hotel or a really nice resort. We chose the resort, thankfully.

Here's a pic of the caves:

Halong Bay Caves

And here's a pic from around Halong Bay. The main things to see in the bay were these giant rock formations jutting out of the pea-green sea. They were quite a site. I Photoshopped in a blue sky as everything was rather dull what with all the clouds.

Halong Bay rocks

I hope to get back to Vietnam at some point so I can explore a bit more of the country. I wouldn't say I fell in love with the place, but it did leave an impression.

Have you seen this man? The Bangkok terror suspect.

So basically I ran the pic through my super high-tech facial recognition software and cross-checked the results with my database of known criminals and this is what I came up with:

Ross from Friends? Or sinister plotter?

Andy Garcia? Or evil terrorist?

Isabella Rossellini? Or maniacal mad person?

The general public was left largely confused and in the dark. It was difficult to know who to believe. Was the US overreacting? Were the Thai authorities deliberately playing down the threat? Was this all part of some sinister plot involving US interests? Information trickled into the public domain at an alarmingly slow rate given that an attack was supposedly planned for some time between January 13-15, as we were to learn.

It came to light that a suspected Hezbollah member had been taken in by Thai police on Friday.

A suspected Hezbollah member arrested on Friday by police targetted Jews and Americans in Bangkok, Defence Minister Gen Yutthasak Sasiprapa said today.

The militant group's plan was only to target certain public areas where large groups of Israelis and Americans were known to gather, such as Khao San Road, Gen Yutthasak told a news conference. No other provinces were on its list. (Bangkok Post)

Even so, US Ambassador Kristie Kenney was clear that the threat was still real, regardless of any arrests made. In a most unusual manner, she took to Twitter to urge people to keep a low profile over the weekend.

Yutthasak told reporters that Thailand had known about Hezbollah movements in Thailand since December 18, which is nearly a month ago. Yutthasak said the information had been kept from the public so as not to cause undue panic or impact the country's tourism industry. A lot of us were left wondering why the US made this announcement instead of Thailand. If something blows up in a crowded part of Bangkok, it will clearly not be just US citizens who are affected.

Deputy Prime Minister Chalerm Yubamrung said Thai authorities received a tip-off before New Year’s of a planned attack, which was said to target Israelis. (AP)

A number of people have questioned this. Why would Hezbollah be targeting Israelis in Thailand?

For the US to issue such a "severe" warning, out of the blue, was most peculiar. For the Thai authorities to immediately play down the warning was perhaps expected. But as someone who has tried to make sense of this with limited success, I really don't know what the heck happened here. Was a crisis averted? Was there ever really a threat? Doesn't the public deserve to be kept better informed?

The other thing that confused me was the swiftness with which this thing kept turning on itself. The announcement was made, then there was a manhunt for two Lebanese men, then one had been found and then sinister plot to blow Bangkok was announced as "cancelled", all within a few hours.

In an attempt to straighten out some of the facts, I made this Storify timeline of how the weekend played out.

Also, Bangkok Pundit has a better roundup of all this than I've been able to cobble together here.

This message alerts U.S. citizens in Thailand that foreign terrorists may be currently looking to conduct attacks against tourist areas in Bangkok in the near future. U.S. citizens are urged to exercise caution when visiting public areas where large groups of Western tourists gather in Bangkok.

U.S. citizens are encouraged to maintain a heightened awareness when out in public; be alert for unattended packages/bags in public/crowded places and report any suspicious behavior to the nearest law enforcement personnel. We also encourage you to keep a low profile in public areas, particularly areas frequented by foreign tourists.

This came somewhat out of the blue. Source.

Update: Though vague, the threat is real. US Ambassador Kristie Kenney Tweeted:

Message is for real. Please read it carefully and consider the information as you plan your activities.

And then in reply to someone:

Read our message to US citizens, heed the advice.

Update 2:

The Thai government said it had been informed by the US that a pair of suspected Muslim "terrorists" had entered the kingdom.

"The US contacted us last night about two terrorists who entered Thailand and plan terrorist activities," Thai defence minister General Yutthasak Sasiprapha said.

"Our intelligence officials are working closely with the US and following the terrorists' movements closely.

"I believe we will arrest them tonight.

"For Thai citizens, there is no need to announce any warning because it will cause panic and will affect our tourism." (ABC)

Update 3:

INN: Deputy PM Chalerm and police chief confirm arrest of 2 Lebanese terrorist suspects (TAN).

True Move should never have signed this creative off. It makes them look absolutely ridiculous. At one point they write "iPone" instead of "iPhone".

Enjoy…

Ture Move advertorial in BK

My poor bag in Hanoi

Thankfully they didn't get anything, but the pickpockets were out in force that night and I imagine it's the same at any time things get busy with tourists in Hanoi. I could also feel the cheeky scoundrels going through by pockets, but I knew they were empty bar a few old tissues, so that wasn't too much of a concern. Anyway, just a word of warning if you happen to find yourself in Hanoi some time.

I don't know why it took me this long to visit Chiang Mai, but I'm glad I got there in the end. It was the perfect Christmas getaway, really, especially from the heat and smog of Bangkok. The air feels so much cleaner and fresher up north and the whole area has a kind of earthy glow.

We stayed at the Chiang Mai Plaza Hotel. For the money I thought it was a pretty good 4-star, although the most impressive part was clearly the lobby, as you can see here:

It's easy enough to get around Chiang Mai with lots of tuk-tuks and songtheaw drivers ready to strike a deal. We did most of the tourist things that people do in Chiang Mai, like visiting the zoo where Thailand's favourite panda, Lin Ping, lives. Here she is eating lunch.

We also saw a slow loris. Very weird and cute.

Speaking of food, we had Christmas dinner at the Ratilanna. It was more of a buffet really, with all kinds of awesome meats. We were full for about three days after that one.

On one day we took a tuk-tuk out to the hugely popular Royal Flora Ratchaphruek Fair, which runs until March 14. It's kind of a massive flower/eco festival with lots of exhibits and things to walk around and see. It's worth a visit and we easily spent a day there, but there were some mixed messages being relayed. I didn't quite see how huge displays from Bangkok Air, Air Asia and Toyota were a good fit. But otherwise, it was pretty cool.

We also visited a temple, Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep, which is famed as the site where a baby white elephant came to rest and die while carrying a fragment of Buddha's shoulder bone. It's a long, winding, uphill drive to the temple, so you need to hire a songtheaw really. It's a nice temple, but a bit of a tourist trap and if you go in the middle of the afternoon like we did then you will find yourself forever ducking out of the way of people's camera lines. It's also cold up there, so take a jumper.

Here are a few photos from the trip:

These fireworks displays were the best I've ever seen and the footage I shot can't really do them justice, especially as I could only film half of the display at a time. There were two synchronised sides to each display, but I only shot the right-hand side. Still, you get an idea of how amazing the shows were.

And here's a little e-card thing I made.

A young girl from Aileu smiling