Thai govt ultimatum has passed

Thai govt ultimatum has passed, but Facebook is reportedly not backing down

 

 

Thailand's Internet Service Provider Association (Tispa), under pressure from the government to block access to Facebook, said the social media giant will not remove illicit content until it receives proper court warrants, local media reported.
The government had given Facebook a Tuesday 10 a.m. local time deadline to remove the content or face legal action, the Bangkok Post reported Tuesday.
The report added that Tispa and internet gateway providers sent an email to the managing director of Facebook Thailand on Friday with the request and reportedly said 131 URLs had been deemed inappropriate have yet to be removed.
After the ultimatum passed, Tispa president Morakot Kulthamyothin told Khaosod English that Facebook stands by its policy.
"They [Facebook] said the request to block 131 URLs lacked court orders in the documents, and they said that if the documents are completed, they will proceed with the requests," she told the Thai media.
A Facebook spokesperson told CNBC that the company will review requests such as that by the Thai government and remove content that violates the law.
"When governments believe that something on the Internet violates their laws, they may contact companies like Facebook and ask us to restrict access to that content. When we receive such a request, we review it to determine if it puts us on notice of unlawful content. If we determine that it does, then we make it unavailable in the relevant country or territory and notify people who try to access it why it is restricted."
Last week, Reuters reported that Thailand's National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission said Facebook had failed to remove 131 of 309 web addresses on the platform that were deemed a threat to national security or violated "lese majeste" laws that make it a crime to defame, insult or threaten the king, queen heir to the throne or regent.

IT Expert who saved the World

IT expert who saved the world from WannaCry cyber attack fears for his safety
The British IT expert who slowed the spread of the WannaCry global cyber attack now fears for his safety.
The security researcher, named in reports as Marcus Hutchins, 22, was hailed an ‘accidental hero’ for his discovery of the virus’s kill switch.
However he has said he is now concerned that ‘terrible things’ may be done in retaliation for his efforts.
An international operation is under way to find the perpetrators behind the unprecedented attack that has infected 200,000 machines in 150 countries since Friday.
Speaking to MailOnline, the cyber specialist, known as MalwareTech, said: ‘In future someone might want to retaliate – they could find my identity within seconds.
‘If they know where I live, they could really do anything.’

The workstation where he is believed to have slowed the spread of WannaCry

He referred to the case of another security blogger who was subject to intimidation, including death threats, after his identity was leaked online.
‘I’ve seen posts about the terrible things people have done to him and for me in future it could be the same things,’ MalwareTech said.
Writing on his Twitter account, he said journalists had already tracked down a friend, whose photograph was published in the press and turned up at her house, saying: ‘Please if you want an interview that badly, DM me.’
The online community pleaded for his identity not to be outed online – a research process known as ‘doxing’ – to protect him.
MalwareTech himself wrote: ‘I always thought I’d be doxed by skids (people in hacking forums), but turns out Journalists are 100x better at doxing.’

(Picture: PA)

Theresa May praises NHS staff in wake of cyber attackLoaded: 0%Progress: 0%
But he added: ‘I guess the upside is now I can be a selfie queen and livestream because I’ve got no opsec (operations security) left.’
The keen surfer, who reportedly lives in Devon, was praised by the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) for his part in tackling the ransomware’s propagation around the world.
He became an international sensation after he prevented hundreds of thousands of computers from being infected by the virus that wreaked havoc across the NHS.
The blogger said he was ‘jumping around a room with the excitement’ after he discovered that activating a specific web domain could disable the worm.
MalwareTech said he had also been providing the NCSC with data to help notify infected companies, warning that computers which had not had their security brought up to date will be vulnerable to further attack.

(Picture: EPA)