A website containing content critical of the monarchy was shut down on Friday. The site's Web host was threatened with being closed unless it withdrew the site.

Thanapol Eiwsakul, editor of the Fah Diew Kan political magazine website sameskybooks.org, told The Nation yesterday it was no longer accessible.

"It was like shutting down a printing house that prints a magazine. This is the price we're paying," said Thanapol, who insisted he always cooperated with the authorities and deleted material considered offensive to the monarchy.

He believed the posting of critical remarks following the death of Her Royal Highness Princess Galyani Vadhana on Wednesday might have led to the shutting down of the site by the Information and Communications Technology Ministry. Ministry spokespeople were unavailable yesterday.

Some visitors to the site posted critical remarks to the effect that the news media generalised when it said the whole country was in grief following the death of the Princess.

One correspondent expressed refusal to follow the mourning dress code. "I think we're one of the few sites posting remarks against the monarchy," Thanapol explained.

Reaction was quick at another website, prachatai.com, an online alternative newspaper, after it reported the shutdown yesterday. Correspondents both supported and criticised the closing.

Thanapol said he was considering legal action against the ministry and the host company, Internet Service. It sent him an e-mail explaining the site had been shut as a result of offensive content. He added, however, that he had no faith in the judicial system.

"The interpretation of the law will never side with human rights; it will likely endorse unjust use of power, but we insist on the principle of human rights and that we're innocent and open about expressing critical views. We don't see the government as acting in the open when it pressures private companies," he said. Thanapol said he had received no warning from the ministry.

Freedom Against Censorship Thailand, a free Internet campaign group, released a statement yesterday saying it believed the closing to be illegal under the Computer Related Crimes Act. "Such censorship must be by court order only, and no application was made for one. This must be preceded by a letter of inquiry, notimmediate closure. Furthermore, should an entire business be shut down because of private-individual posts to its site? Are the other websites hosted on the same server merely unimportant collateral damage?" the group said.

Taking effect today, a new law allows police officers or government inspectors to seize computers on private premises suspected of containing pornographic material or evidence in connection with either general criminal activities or cyber crimes.

The 2007 Computer-related Crimes Act also prevents unauthorised applications and access made to other people's computers, as well as alteration, deletion or destruction of the information of others.

Impostors using others' identities to send slanderous messages, or those who flood information on discussion forums are also subject to criminal penalties under the law, proposed and drafted by the National Electronics and Computer Technology Centre (Nectec) and enforced by the Information and Communications Technology Ministry.

The Act also subjects those circulating pornographic material or libellous content through e-mails to heavy fines.

The Act originated from anti-hacking efforts a few years ago when Nectec began its fight against the practice and later studied online intrusions. But other online crimes have also been included in the law.

The Act also requires Internet service providers (ISPs) to keep log files of bandwidth consumption and Internet traffic and records of individual users for 90 days.

Nectec director Pansak Siriruchatapong said the Act, in theory, would provide benefits to the country as a whole. However, he expressed concern about the capability of officials, who are required to have knowledge of computers.

Nectec's legal specialist Surangkana Wayapard said the new Act was expected to set a standard and to give confidence to e-commerce businesses, national security forces, and e-business transactions. It will also encourage electronic transactions, security on the Internet, and electronic commerce in Thailand while discouraging anti-authoritarian people from carrying out illegal activities on the network.

Pawoot Pongvitayapanu, vice president of the Thai E-Commerce Association, said the Act had both pros and cons. The disadvantages would immediately subject the business sector to financial burdens with the mandatory storage of log files, new servers and storage units, especially firms with a huge amount of information, Net traffic and transactions.

On the positive side, the Act signified the government's official and serious involvement, and legitimate role, in tackling online crimes with newer technology.

The Culture Ministry is working more closely with police to suppress what it calls the rampant proliferation of pornographic images in the Thai media.

The ministry has received several complaints about near-pornographic photographs appearing in entertainment magazines, permanent secretary Vira Rojpojchanarat said yesterday. "The images could arouse viewers and encourage youths to have sex".

He has asked deputy national police chief General Wongkot Maneerin to use the Printing Act of 1941 to suppress pornography.

A ministry committee recently examined how the law could be applied to seven types of media - print publications, the Internet, radio, television, movies and mobile phones - that could be used to distribute sexually suggestive images. Those who violate the law face up to three years in jail and a Bt6,000 fine.

Internet users reported on Wednesday that Thai authorities had blocked the popular website YouTube, over an insulting video of His Majesty the King. Sitthichai Pookaiyaudom, the minister of information and communication technology, told the Reuters news agency he personally ordered a block of the entire site from Thailand after the ministry's attempts to block the offending page last week failed.

"Since Google (which owns YouTube) has rejected our repeated requests to withdraw the clip, we can't help blocking the entire site in Thailand," said Mr Sitthichai. "When they decide to withdraw the clip, we will withdraw the ban," he said.

The site was unavailable to all customer of Thai Internet providers by Wednesday evening. The ban took several hours to take hold, with many users able to access the site at midday, while others said they could not reach it.

An Internet engineer in Bangkok, who asked to remain anonymous, said that the block appeared to be at the main Thailand gateway maintained by CAT Telecom, which claims to have a monopoly on all international Internet traffic.

"All traffic to the CAT Internet providers seems to be blocked at CAT's router," said the engineer. "It doesn't help that they only have two (customers) to begin with." Thailand has two major high-speed Internet providers.

Most users of one of the two major high-speed Internet services in Thailand were able to reach YouTube as usual as of noon on Wednesday, several hours after other users reported being blocked. By evening, all subscribers of Thai Internet providers were blocked from all of YouTube.

YouTube has many controversial videos concerning Thai politics, but a user uploaded a serious video-slide show satire against His Majesty last Sunday.

The clip, seen more than 16,000 times, was posted by someone using the screen name "paddidda." His post was criticised or attacked by most of the 93 people posting comments up to last night about the video.

Mr Sitthichai said YouTube had told Thai officials it did not find the clip offensive and declined their request to remove it.

The minister had promised early this week to block websites he or his staff considered to be pornographic, offensive to the monarchy or a danger to national security.

Blocking YouTube, which has hundreds of thousands of videos, will be highly controversial, even if offensive clips remain on the site. It already has been criticised as throwing the baby out with the dirty dishwater.

In a similar case last month, many Internet users in Thailand claimed they could not reach YouTube because of a block - but others had no problem reaching the site.

The Information and Communications Technology Ministry has ordered staff to shut down any websites deemed to be violating the orders issued by the leaders of the Sept 19 coup. ICT Minister Sitthichai Pookaiyaudom said the ministry had the authority to block any websites considered to have committed lese majeste or seen as a threat to national security.

That power was vested in the ministry by the Council for Democratic Reform (CDR), he said. The CDR, run by the coup leaders, later metamorphosed into the Council for National Security (CNS).

Mr Sitthichai said his ministry was empowered by the CDR to regulate, block or terminate any information media deemed harmful to democratic reform.

The ministry was not targeting any website in particular, he added.

At the moment there was not much the authorities could do to the owner of a website whose contents were deemed to be lese majeste or in breach of security laws, said Mr Sitthichai.

The ministry was pinning its hope on a law on internet crimes, which has yet to be passed, he added.

One website which is being closely monitored is www.saturdayvoice.com, set up a group of anti-coup activists.

They are collecting signatures in support of a petition to the King for the removal of Gen Prem Tinsulanonda as president of the Privy Council.

Sudchai Boonchai, leader of the Saturday Voice group spearheading the campaign for Gen Prem's removal and co-founder of the website, said the network of anti-coup groups was trying to open a new website to voice their opinions.

''We are planning to register a new website overseas so the ministry cannot block it,'' said Mr Sudchai.

Any forced closure of a website was a violation of the people's right of expression, he said.

CNS spokesman Col Sansern Kaewkamnerd said the CNS viewed the signature campaign against Gen Prem as being ''inappropriate''.

Gen Prem was appointed president of the Privy Council by the King, he said. It was improper to do anything that could be deemed as lese majeste.

Moreover, privy councillors were above politics, the spokesman said.

Col Sansern said the signature campaign was orchestrated by the old power clique.

The CNS had asked the police to look into whether petitioning for the removal of a privy councillor was legal or not under the law, he added.