Prachatai called the ICT Ministry through the phone numbers provided on the page telling readers that the web site they were trying to access had been blocked on request of the Communication Authority of Thailand. An ICT official told Prachatai that it was a technical error on the part of the internet service provider, TOT or Telephone Organization of Thailand, but now Prachatai was accessible, probably with the only exception of users in Thonburi area.
Prachatai then queried the customer service of the TOT Ltd Plc and received a reply that TOT had not blocked Prachatai website, and it was probably the ICT who did it. Another TOT official, however, explained that the problem probably resulted from TOT’s error in blocking incorrect IP addresses, or blocking groups of IP addresses that happened to include that of Prachatai.
TOT’s internet customers in certain areas in Thailand could not access Prachatai late in the night of May 14 and around noon on May 15.
Today, TOT customers have also not been able to access www.sameskybooks.org. An employee of TOT later told Prachatai that the Same Sky website had lese majeste contents, but he did not know whether the ICT or the TOT had ordered the blocking.
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