We and many other Internet freedom advocates have been closely watching the prosecution of Chiranuch Premchaiporn, the director of a popular alternative Thai news portal. Chiranuch, also known by her online handle Jiew, is being charged for defamation of the Thai royal family, or lèse majesté, under a particularly disquieting set of conditions.
The disturbing part about this case is that Jiew is being prosecuted not because of anything she said, but instead for being the director and webmaster of a news site where pseudonymous visitors submitted comments and posts that the Thai government considered to be inappropriate. Internet freedom advocates have documented how unclear and subjectively interpreted laws, such as those that punish lèse majesté, have been used in recent years to censor political commentary and chill freedom of expression, but what is particularly worrisome in this case is that a mere intermediary could be held liable for lèse majesté thanks to Thailand’s Computer-Related Crime Act.
via Electronic Frontier Foundation – Trial of Independent Media Pioneer Chiranuch Premchaiporn Begins in Thailand. Blame the owner/operator for anonymous comments, sounds like fun.