6.10.2007

Censorship circumvention CDs distributed in Thailand

As the leaders of Thailand's coup continue to crack down on free speech -- they've blocked access to YouTube and some blogspot.com sites, have censored one of its great filmmakers and shut down community radio stations -- FACT (Freedom Against Censorship Thailand) has launched a way to address at least one part of the clamp-down. They're distributing free CDs with instructions on how to beat the country's Information and Communications Techonology censors:

FACT is proud to strike a blow for freedom by making available this CD of circumvention software and instructions, plus MICT’s most current and past secret blocklists ('the owner’s manual’–want to see what they don’t want you to see?) and links to FACT’s website and petition. “Put the petty bureaucracy of senseless censors to bed.” “Censorship is a totalitarian system used as a tool of oppression against human rights and civil liberties, freedom of speech, freedom of expression, academic freedom, media freedom, the free exchange of ideas and freedom of thought. Censorship acts against democracy. Censorship suppresses dissent. Censorship is terrorism.”

FACT’s CD is already spreading virally from user to user in Thailand and will also remain available on FACT’s website; dozens of software vendors at computer venues have already begun selling FACT’s copyright-free CD. In addition, FACT’s “Beat the Censors” CD is available internationally on BitTorrent peer-to-peer networks.

FACT calls the CD its first “weapon of mass instruction”. In fact, the disk is applicable for use in any censored country. Unblock the world!

“Beat the Censors–Unblock ICT!” features 41 software applications to circumvent Website-blocking by Thai censors. Tor, Ultrasurf and many browser add-ons from websites and weblinks blocked by Thai Internet censors are made available in a complete, virus-free installer package for the first time.

Read more.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

That's sad for Thailand.