Chiranuch Premchaiporn has informed readers that the Prachatai webboard will be closed on 31 July.  The announcement should have been made a month earlier, but she has been too speechless, she says. She apologizes to readers.

The Prachatai webboard was created when the Prachatai website first began, and was meant to be a space for free discussion.

Back when there was no yellow vs. red scene, it was a small forum for those who either liked or hated Thaksin, or supported the PAD, but not its Section 7 proposal.  As moderator, she also communicated with members in a bid to make the space open for all voices, and received both flowers and brickbats in the process.  The discussions in the forum went on with no hiccups, up until the coup on 19 Sept 2006.

Due to the very limited and restricted space available for those who were against the coup and liked Thaksin, the Prachatai webboard, which holds firm its belief in the freedom of expression, was greatly expanded, to the point that the Prachatai team has had to make this decision.

The Prachatai webboard, whose URL had to be changed from www.prachataiwebboard.com to www.prachataiboard1.info due to government blocking, has been truly shaped by the hands of the posters.

However, during this time when rights and freedoms are under serious threat, legal troubles have arisen which have to be fought through the judicial process.  Posters of comments have been incessantly arrested, some reported and some not.

The media and posters alike face the threat of sweeping accusations that they are a ‘threat to national security’ through the use of the 2007 Computer Crimes Act, the Emergency Decree and Section 112 of the Criminal Code.

The tracking and hunting down of people who post comments in the webboard seems to be no problem at all for the authorities who do not even have to obtain any information from Prachatai.

With limited protection and no guarantee of safety for anyone who uses the webboard, the Prachatai team has to come to this conclusion.