The Kaeng Sua Ten Dam protests, for instance, have moved into cyberspace.
The
Seub Nakhasathien Foundation along with the
Mirror Art Group have set up
a site at http://geocities.datacellar.net/CapitolHill/3376/.
The site is currently all in Thai
but an English version is planned.
Forty pages long, the site includes the basic project data as
provided by the Royal Irrigation Department,
which is still pretty sketchy, information
on the dam's projected ecological impacts
and, finally, 10 critical questions that
observers might have, along with detailed
answers. Readers are also welcome to
send in comments and questions.
Another protest being played out on the Net is over the proposal_ discussed
in
the last Net Trek column _ by the Telephone
Organisation of Thailand (TOT) to
start charging local calls by the minute.
Thai cybersurfers, who would pay
through the nose under this plan, are not
at all happy with it.
Their comments, many of them laced with profanities, can be found on a
Siamweb
forum at http://www.siamweb.org/news-culture/my-voice/tot.html.
Also available
there is an attractive ``Say No To Time Zone
Metering' logo.
``The TOT stands for Terrorists of Thailand,' suggests one user.
``I TOTally disagree with this [proposal],' adds another. ``The CAT steals
Thai students'
future and hope... And now TOT is doing the
same,' complains a third.
Sums up a user named Oat: ``Privatisation is the key to better services.
Let
demand and supply dicatate the price. The
government should only make sure that
the market is a fair [one]. Let's get rid
of the monopoly in the telecommunications industry.'
*****************************
On a more personal note, I recently received some e-mail which I would
like to
share with you. I call it, Confessions of
an IRC Addict:
``IRC stands for Internet Relay Chat. I call it Ecstasy. I couldn't live
without it. IRC is that Happyland where I
can be anybody and do anything through
the keyboard. I didn't eat (as often). I
didn't sleep. I didn't even watch TV. I
was addicted.
``The IRC network is a virtual meeting place where people from all over
the world
can meet and talk. Channel Thailand was my
fave hangout place. Noon to evening was
my favourite time well-misspent. Five hours
a day for two months I spent smiling
at the lifeless monitor typing silly chit-chats
and smiley-faces with friends
and total strangers on the other side of
the globe.
``Every gap between classes I'd be scurrying to the computer lab. No doubt,
I
had no social life in the real world. IRC
was my social life and more fun,
anyway. It definitely cured my loneliness.
I made a bunch of new friends, mostly
Thais in the US. You don't see their face
and they didn't see how silly I look
so they'd talk to me, and you really communicate
because body language is
missing.
``I felt WANTED, you know. I don't get to go party at night, so IRC is
my way
of going out to mee people, and do crazy
things. Sometimes I'd just make up
stories, like I'm from Laos, or I have one
leg, or I'm really ugly. But most of
the time, I was honest, even if the truth
hurts.
``At the same time school life was full of falling grades. From carrying
A's, I
was hanging on to C's. Blame it on IRC. I
skipped classes to keep it in my
schedule. My IRC to in-class ration was about
2:1. In the beginning I was lucky
not to have a modem at home. I'd even go
to school during holidays just to IRC.
``When I finally got my own modem, IRC became the first thing I'd do in
the
morning and the last thing before bed. I
had breakfast, lunch and dinner in
front of the monitor. My record was 11pm
to 5am the next day. Every time I
walked past the computer I could hear it
calling. I couldn't resist the urge to
check who's online. I'd convince myself,
`Oh, 20 minutes won't hurt', and then
stay on forever.
``I am over IRC now that I am addicted to something else. You hear people
saying to Internet addicts, `Get a life!'
But HEY, this is the Internet Era, so
GET A CYBERLIFE.'