YouTube today (Friday) agreed to remove all videos that the Thai government regarded as insulting to the country's king, following a month-long stand-off which saw the video website blocked to Thai users. But even as the matter appeared to have been resolved to the satisfaction of the country's military regime, the information and communication technology ministry issued news orders to YouTube late today to turn over the Internet addresses of those who had uploaded the clips, saying that they would be charged with the crime of offending the monarch, punishable by up to 15 years imprisonment. The Bangkok Post reported that as of Friday night, several of the clips had been removed but others remained. Earlier in the day, in a related developoment, it was reported that Google had rejected a proposal by New York's comptroller not to do business in China or other countries where it is forced to censor its search results.
11/05/2007
