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| Thai government websites in denial-of-service attack | Thai government websites in denial-of-service attack |
| (about 2 hours later) | |
| Several Thai government websites have been hit by a suspected distributed-denial-of-service (DDOS) attack, making them impossible to access. | Several Thai government websites have been hit by a suspected distributed-denial-of-service (DDOS) attack, making them impossible to access. |
| The sites went offline at 22:00 local time (15:00GMT) on Wednesday. Access was restored by Thursday morning. | The sites went offline at 22:00 local time (15:00GMT) on Wednesday. Access was restored by Thursday morning. |
| The attack appeared to be a protest against the government's plan to limit access to sites deemed inappropriate. | The attack appeared to be a protest against the government's plan to limit access to sites deemed inappropriate. |
| Tens of thousands of people have signed a petition against the proposal they call the "Great Firewall of Thailand". | Tens of thousands of people have signed a petition against the proposal they call the "Great Firewall of Thailand". |
| The name is a reference to the so-called "Great Firewall of China" commonly used to refer to the Chinese government's censorship over internet content. | The name is a reference to the so-called "Great Firewall of China" commonly used to refer to the Chinese government's censorship over internet content. |
| The military - which seized power in a coup last year- has increased censorship, blocked websites and criminally charged critics for comments made online. | |
| A denial-of-service attack works by exceeding a website's capacity to handle internet traffic and is usually orchestrated by a program or bot. | |
| 'Inappropriate websites' | 'Inappropriate websites' |
| News of Thailand's plans to limit access by creating a single government-controlled gateway emerged last week. | News of Thailand's plans to limit access by creating a single government-controlled gateway emerged last week. |
| A Thai programmer got hold of a cabinet statement ordering the ministry of information, communications and technology (ICT) to "set up a single gateway in order to use it as a tool to control inappropriate websites and information flows from other countries via the Internet". | |
| Internet gateways are the point at which countries connect to the world wide web. Under the cabinet's orders the Thai government would be able to block any website but also potentially closely monitor email communication. | |
| Calls went out on social media on Wednesday for people to participate in the planned attack, according to the Bangkok Post newspaper. | |
| They encouraged people to hit the F5 key - which refreshes the web page. | |
| It appears the sites were taken down by internet users who answered the call by continuously clicking "refresh" causing the overload, the Post said. | |
| The ICT website was among those targeted on Wednesday, along with the main government website thaigov.go.th. | |
| ICT Deputy Permanent Secretary Somsak Khaosuwan claims the ministry website did not crash because of an attack but because it was overloaded by visitors monitoring the planned attack, the Post said. | |
| 'Open debate' | |
| The attack has renewed the vibrant debate over the single gateway plan on social media with many users declaring the end of privacy. | |
| "Thailand is developing. Thailand is developing into North Korea," one Twitter user said. | |
| "I personally & professionally support free flow of information & fair competition on ICTs," said Supinya Klangnarong from the National Broadcasting and Telecommunication Commissions (NBTC) on Facebook. | |
| "Hope NBTC's website won't be attacked tonight. An open debate is definitely better than a cyber warfare. Voices of reason shall be heard." |