Thailand's Internet Problems Bigger than Vietnam's Facebook

As frustrating as Vietnam’s apparent government-initiated black-out of Facebook has been this month, we can be thankful that Vietnam is not Thailand. It might surprise people to know that Thailand is one of the most repressive countries in Southeast Asia when it comes to internet access. Thanks to a law passed in 2007, all Internet Service Providers in Thailand are required to collect personal information to identify users (name, email address, passport or ID numbers and other information) as well as log ALL activity they engage in on the internet (websites visited, information submitted and communications sent). This of course makes connects insecure and data transmitted is at risk of hijacking by criminals. Much like the internet censorship in China, Thailand’s focus seems to be sexually explicit material, as well as politically sensitive information (information and posts critical of the government). This level of censorship and monitoring of private citizens, expats and tourists does not come cheaply however. The extra software, hardware and management needed have caused internet access in Thailand to skyrocket, making it one of the most expensive countries in the region for internet access. Expect to pay $4-$6US per hour, on top of the cost of your drinks at any café, or your room at a hotel. Wifi is never free in Thailand.

Vietnam's Facebook Block Saga Continues

An article by The Press Association Sheds a little light on the current Facebook black-out in Vietnam:

“Government officials and managers at several of Vietnam's state-controlled internet service providers did not respond to a request for comment.

But technicians at two of Vietnam's largest internet service providers said they had been swamped with calls from customers complaining they could not access Facebook during the last week.

A technician at Vietnam Data Corp. said government officials had ordered his firm to block access to Facebook and that VDC instituted a block on the site on November 11. He declined to give his name because he was not authorised to speak to the media.”

Most of the article merely rehashed current discussion on the internet by users within Vietnam, but the above quote, if it can be believed, suggested something more sinister is going on. Granted, the only difference between journalism and hearsay is whether or not one gets paid to dispense it, but at this point in time, any little bit of information is very illuminating for users in Vietnam now who are largely now cut off.

Quite a few of my own contacts have told me that this move by Vietnam deals a serious blow to the expat community in Saigon and Hanoi, who relied on Facebook heavily for career networking and social activities.

Read the full article HERE.

Vietnam Blocking Facebook?

I've received several complaints from folks in Saigon this week, saying that certain ISPs are now blocking Facebook in Vietnam. There are a few posts from earlier in the year alleging that the government sent out a memo telling service providers to block the social networking site due to subversive content. I originally took these stories for a hoax until complaints of problems accessing the site surfaced this week. Do you live in Vietnam and are you unable to access Facebook this week? I'd like to hear from you--please comment!

Update: You can see a page from the alleged memo requesting ISPs to block facebook by clicking here. I can't say whether this is authentic or not. It's been circulating around the web.

Update: Haven't tried this myself, but below are instructions floating around to get around the problem:

Instructions:
1. Click: Start->Control Panel->Network and Internet Connections->Network Connections.
2. Click Properties of LAN icons.
3. Choose "Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)->Properties.
4. Use the following DNS server addresses: type: 208.67.222.222 in "Preferred DNS server" and “Alternate DNS server”
5. Click Save or OK

Additionally, I'm hearing complaints that some people can not access Twitter. Anyone else in VN having a problem?

Electronic Guidebooks

Below is my response to travel author/tv host Rick Steves, who recently wrote a story for World Humabout the trend toward electronic guidebooks, and asked for input:

"I'm a guidebook writer for SE Asia myself, so very interested in the topic. Those of us in the publishing industry know that it, like similar industries, is in very hard times. As you pointed out, there is a lot of excitement over electronic books, aps and readers, so I think its only natural to go in that direction. I just tested out Lonely Planet's new iPhone city guides. They were fun to use, and features like the maps with GPS, and ability to click on websites and phone numbers and make immediate calls were very helpful. However, there were some notable disadvantages. Tables of Contents, directories and lists tend to be very long and unwieldy. It's impossible to get the overall feel of the city with an eguide like this --it can only be read in bits and pieces--so it only really works if you already know where you want to go but want more information about a sight or venue or how to get there.

An iphone ap or electronic book does present the opportunity for a publisher to update the content more often (after all they don't have to pay to re-publish a paper book if a few phone numbers change--they simply issue an electronic update), however with the low budgets and stone-age business models guidebook publishers still use these days, I don't see this happening. And this is the problem... technology and platform can never replace good content... but the outcome I propose may not be what you expect. The interesting thing in all this is that the advantages of publishing with new electronic platforms, specifically things like iPhone aps, are geared more toward small publishers and individual developers--rather than the large book publishers. In this game, anyone with time, skill and expertise has the capability of producing a competing guide--with much more up-to-date content than a big publisher can manage. Inevitably everything will probably move to electronic format of some kind, but in the end, I think the big publishers will still be the big losers down the line--unless they revolutionize their processes behind the scenes.

Still for now, I know I appreciate putting my reference books all on one device if I can. As a guidebook writer that likes to work on my books while on the road, I otherwise tend to have to carry a whole heavy reference library on my back, which is not very nice!"

IMAX Paragon Spills the Beans on Hollywood

I passed through the Siam Paragon Shopping Center in Bangkok today and noted that the Krungsri IMAX Theatre was distributing fliers of their upcoming movies. What surprised me was how far in advanced some of the films were listed, with screening dates that I don't think Hollywood has officially announced yet. In case you expats are curious so you can plan your future Bangkok runs for good cinema opportunities, films will be screened as follows:

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1
November 19, 2010

Kung Fu Panda: The Kaboom of Doom
June 3, 2011

Transformers 3
July 1, 2011

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
July 19, 2011

Happy Feet 2
November 18

Puss in Boots (Shrek Spin-off)
March 3, 2012

Madagascar 3
May 25, 2012

On a related subject, it turns out Jackie Chan made a quick jump from Hanoi to bangkok today and will be speaking at the Foreign Correspondents Club. Unfortunately seats are already sold out.

Big Trouble in Thailand

Big Trouble in Thailand

I was very interested to hear about the new show on Bravo, "Big Trouble in Thailand," focusing on the troubles tourist face with scams, violence and crime in Thailand. It's about time. Unfortunately I don't have access to actually see the program myself. Take note Vietnam and Cambodia. You may come up next on the radar...

What is encouraging about the premise is that apparently the Thai Tourist Police, at least in the context of the show, have recruited foreign expats to assist them. Brilliant. I've been screaming this idea for a few years now. If only the police in Saigon were interested. We could actually begin to clean up the mess of crime thats piling up in District 1.

Losing Our Family Atmosphere

Several videos have surfaced on Youtube of very lude dance shows in Phan Thiet/Mui Ne for Halloween. I'll just say the videos include nudity as well as trans genders. It is unclear which venue(s) hosted this (I wasn't in Mui Ne for the holiday and have heard nothing about this otherwise, so I have no idea), but the nature of the videos are very disturbing. I'm not going to post the videos here for fear of promoting the activity rather than discouraging it.

Folks, we do not need this kind of thing in Mui Ne. This stuff is not what Mui Ne is all about. We are not Saigon. We are not Phnom Penh. We are not Bangkok. Anyone who thinks this stuff is good for the city doesn't belong here, be they Vietnamese or foreigner. I'm all for having a good time and enjoying the nightlife in a safe and wholesome environment, but we must have some sense of standards, class and morality.

Mui Ne is in danger of losing its uniqueness, what makes it special and wholesome as a family destination. I can not and will not condone this kind of thing. The tourism industry has already collapsed in Saigon and Hanoi. I'm not going to prop up Phan Thiet and Mui Ne just so it can pull this kind of garbage.

Phan Thiet Celebrates Status as Second Rate City

Vietnam Net Article

I had a good laugh at the title of the article linked to above. They obviously have no idea that it suggests Phan Thiet is something less than a nice city.

The article discusses the annual "Tourism Festival" in late October in Phan Thiet. The "festival" is largely a naval-gazing event that is never even advertised to the very audience it is allegedly intended to serve--foreign tourists.

Dinh Thai Thim is indeed a very interesting festival, but it has nothing to do with what the government is putting on in Phan Thiet, and it is more than an hour away.

They go on to mention that the event is a chance to honor tourism companies in the area... of course those tourist companies are only the ones that are Vietnamese-owned and in close partnership with, if not owned outright by, the powers that be...