absolutelyBangkok archive · Gadgets & Technology
Originally published March 24, 2010
We recently spoke about the arbitrariness of Thai censorship in this post. TrueMove now takes the issue to a new height with an in Thailand yet unseen “blanket censorship.” Chances are that if you’re using TrueMove GPRS or 3G with your mobile phone some of your favorite WordPress.com blogs are turned into “The page cannot found/Error 404.” The 404-page has meanwhile been replaced with a referencing “Access Denied (policy_denied)” message. Travel blogs, lonely heart blogs, flower blogs, meditation blogs from all over the world: in Thailand they’re blocked. Nothing to do with content. You could write about the beauty of bananas. And you’re still blocked.
Error messages above are not genuine Apache or other webserver error messages; the actual server response is 200: OK. And note the very Thai syntax. Affected by this arbitrary blocking are all, I repeat, all WordPress.com blogs, not WordPress.org, but — again — only on TrueMove, not True HighSpeed, and I’m not aware of any other ISPs. So don’t try to access ThaiCrisis, Thai Intelligent News, FACT or Political Prisoners with your True iPhone — all you get is “Access Denied” and the disclaimer “Your system policy has denied access to the requested URL. For assistance, contact your network support team.”
Incompetence at True? Yes, in the sense that if you wanted to block a blog like highlyoffensivesite.wordpress.com then to block everything at wordpress.com is either stupidity, laziness or points out some very flawed blocking software or server technique. No, in the sense that the error message has changed once, so it’s not just a simple oversight; it’s obviously deliberate. Let’s not forget the good Doctor Vejjajiva, the father of our dear PM, sits on the board of directors of CP Group, the parent of the the True conglomerate.
The potential for a bit of conspiracy is there. But as Napoleon is credited as saying: “Never ascribe to malice that which can be explained by incompetence.” One really doesn’t know what to make of it, does one. The takeaway of course is that it illustrates that True is not monolithic or fully integrated. Sites that work with DSL but not 3G indicates that the blocking (or, more charitably, misconfiguration) is done somewhere before the network joins to go to the international gateway.
Or you simply get into the tunnel.
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