Watana Muangsook, Thai minister of social Development and human services, told
reporters that the prime minister had instructed him to find the means to block
access to Internet porn by the end of December.
The minister will hold a meeting Nov 30 with various Internet related
authorities such as the information and communications technology (ICT)
ministry to discuss means of carrying out the prime minister's instructions.
Watana estimated that there are currently 800,000 foreign websites available in
Thailand, of which one third carry pornographic images.
Thailand is mulling a cyber-crime bill that would make posting pornography
illegal.
End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and Trafficking of Children for
Sexual Purposes (ECPAT), a leading child's rights protection group, earlier
this month launched a report on cyber-abuse of children that called on
governments and the e-industry to clean up the three to 20 billion dollar
business in cyberspace child pornography which they call child abuse.
In an ECPAT report launched earlier this month in Bangkok, the child protection
group listed Thailand as one of the countries with the most pornography sites.
"Of this material, 55 percent is reported to be generated from the US and 23
percent from Russia," said the report, titled "Violence Against Children in
Cyberspace.
"Most 'free to view' sites were traced to ISPs in Russia, the US, Spain,
Thailand, Japan and the Republic of Korea," it added.
The group cited Britain as one of the few countries to take a lead in both
legislating against cyberspace child pornography and self-regulating the flow
on ISPs (Internet Service Providers).
