Gay Boy Thailand

Internet censors

I went to an Internet cafe I had not been to in a while. They had expanded and suddenly had three times as many computers.

I congratulated the girl behind the counter with the new facility. She didn’t understand what I said and went to get a woman who spoke English. This was a worn hooker in her 40ies. She didn’t have a card saying “worn hooker” but some of these ladies are obvious.

I explained to the worn (but friendly) hooker what I had said and that no, I wasn’t asking about anything.

They had more than just new computers. They had new software too. They had installed a “family filter” from a US company. When I tried to look up a site that was on the blacklist a page with a picture of a wholesome WASP family walking on a beach came up, telling me that “we protect your family”.

Not too surprisingly this blog was on the blacklist. It has the “gay” word in it. You would not want to expose your perfect WASP family for anything homosexual.

But Google email (gmail) was also on the blacklist. The same wholesome family came up, and I was reminded I how I had been spared content of sexual or otherwise objectional nature. Why did they block gmail? This was strange.

Now I did have question, and the girl fetched the lady with the heavy makeup again.
- Try another computer, she said.
I tried another computer. It was the same.

While I was doing this I noticed three teenage boys who were downloading illegal stuff. They had bypassed the censor software by using a peer-to-peer program.

But I was stuck with my web censors. Having spent a while on my fruitless project I told the girl I could not get any email and that I was giving up.
- 15 baht, said the girl.

I said I didn’t want to pay for something I had no use of. But the girl thought that computer time was computer time and that it should be paid for. I said it should be free when it doesn’t work. She lowered the price to 10 baht. I said no email no money.

I wondered if she would get the bargirl again to translate the finer points of our disagreement. But I decided it wasn’t worth arguing over. I put 20 baht on the counter and left without waiting for change.

To understand why I did this you must consider the local consumer service logic. For example, if a shop has fewer customers they increase the price for those who remain. Or if you are a repeat customer at a place they become rude and ignore you. It then follows that if I am unhappy with a service I should pay extra.

I bet those additional five baht hurt.