Millions of people have learned to rely on the internet to search for information, send and receive emails, sell products online or even apply for a payday loan. What if thousands of websites are banned in a certain country because they are deemed as “offensive” by that country’s government? Will the ban constitute suppression of free speech? That is what nearly 3,000 website owners are saying.

The crackdown

The move to combat the proliferation of online pornography is in full swing. China has joined the fray and launched a similar move to nuke internet smut. Not long after that, Thailand made an announcement that they are launching a crackdown on offensive websites and has, in fact, already banned 2,300 websites. 400 more websites are awaiting shutdown following a court order.

What are these websites accused of? Were they illegal payday loan sites that charge ridiculously high interest rates? Did they display lewd pictures of scantily-dressed promiscuous teens, the kind of which can be seen nightly in Bangkok’s numerous and ever-present red light districts? Guess again. These websites were blocked in Thailand because of content that was viewed as offensive and defamatory to the country’s beloved monarch, 81-year-old King Bhumibol Adulyadej.

Lese-majeste laws

Lese-majeste is defined as a crime, i.e. treason, committed against a sovereign ruler. Of the few countries that still practice it today, Thailand has the most stringent lese-majeste laws. An offender can be sentenced up to a maximum of 15 years for offending the monarch. During his 60 years as head of state, King Bhumibol Adulyadej has attained near-deity status. As stated in Thailand’s constitution, the king is to be held in a position of profound worship and should not be violated.

Several Thai personalities are presently under investigation for alleged violation of lese-majeste laws. One of the accused is self-exiled former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra who was thrown out of power in a 2006 military coup. He was accused of allegedly disrespecting the monarchy. He denied the charges. A cabinet minister was charged with lese-majeste and was forced to resign last May.

The war against cyberspace offenders

Ranongrak Suwanchawee of the Information and Communication Ministry told the press that her primary responsibility is to pluck out seditious web sites from Thailand’s cyberspace. She also announced the creation of a $45 million baht 24-hour “war room” to uncover and eradicate offensive websites. Ranongrak said that 400 more undesirable websites are targeted for closure once a court approval is issued.

The Ministry has further plans to impose stiffer fines and imprisonment for persons who violate the king’s person and royal family online, Ranongrak told the reporters. Plans are also under way to closely monitor “inappropriate” online gaming and gambling sites.

Thailand is not new to policing cyberspace for anti-government content. In 2007, the Thai government banned YouTube for videos believed to poke fun at their beloved monarch. The ban was lifted only when YouTube deleted the offending files from their system.

If all other countries follow suit and ban websites they deem as inappropriate and offensive, then thousands of webmasters will soon be waiting in line to apply for a payday loan.

Those who are steadily employed today might find themselves without a job tomorrow due to the continuous rise in lay-offs and downsizing. And the unemployed have a hard time getting health insurance, payday loan and other financial benefits.

Payday loan companies will have to give the thumbs down to 4.5 million potential borrowers in the coming days. These are the jobless and recently unemployed and their numbers are still growing by the day. Unemployed people cannot apply for paycheck loans since they have no regular paycheck to look forward to. Their only option to claim some benefit is to file for unemployment.

Unemployed Americans breaking records

And that’s just what they are doing. Around 4.5 million jobless Americans are collecting unemployment benefits, the highest recorded in 26 years. The huge volume of calls caused multiple crashes in websites and telephone systems used for filing unemployment benefits.

Unemployed Americans crashing websites and phone systems

The sudden upsurge of callers and claimants came in the wake of the continuing rise of unemployment all over the state. The sad part is that claimants of unemployment compensation have to call again to file for extended benefits.

The statewide unemployment rate rose to 5.9% last November, up from 4.4% in 2007. The recent figure represents 6.5% of the national work force compared to 4.5% in the past year.

Internet and phone claims systems in North Carolina, New York and Ohio completely buckled down under the weight of heavy call volume and computer software glitches. State labor officials in other parts of the country also reported unusually heavy volume of callers that caused system slowdowns.

North Carolina

North Carolina’s skyrocketing unemployment rate and the rush of claims overwhelmed the state’s benefits website, causing it to break down twice this week. The incident has set two records for the state – the amount of paid benefits and total transactions made all in one day.

Last Monday, the sheer volume of people trying to claim benefits online was thrice that before the economic crunch began. The bulk of callers, coupled with phone line problems, flooded out the agency’s computers and kept some claimants from calling in.

The lines were fixed and were working again by afternoon of the same day after the agency installed an additional server, agency insiders said.

New York

New York’s online and phone claims system began to bog down last Monday and was completely inaccessible from morning until afternoon Tuesday when about 10,000 callers per hour sought to get in, said Labor Department spokesman Leo Rosales.

He said that it was not the huge volume of calls that caused the system to break down. It was caused by a bug in the software used for filer identity verification. This software is similar to those used by secure online payment systems, payday loan websites and paid membership sites to verify a visitor’s identity before allowing them access.

There are around 256,000 people in New York today who are collecting unemployment benefit claims, up from last year’s 184,000.

Ohio

In Ohio, the state’s unemployment benefits hotline was also overwhelmed by calls last Tuesday, causing system bottlenecks which left thousands of callers unable to get in. State Department spokesman Brian Harter said the benefits hotline normally receives around 7,500 calls per day. Calls recorded this week reached 80,000 a day.

Harter also added that claimants who tried to go online as an alternative failed because the website for filing claims also went down. It was not mentioned, however, if payday loan, credit reduction and debt consolidation websites were affected.