BANGKOK, THAILAND — In an attempt to prevent access to pornography, political criticism and terrorist information, governmental and law enforcement censors are blocking more than 50,000 websites from Thai internet users, a Thai censorship watchdog group claims.Freedom Against Censorship Thailand also is offering to help Thai citizens find ways around official internet filters.

“FACT is pleased to provide links to two new, easy tools for private citizens to legally ignore Thailand’s internet censorship,” the group’s bilingual blog (Facthai.Wordpress.com) proclaims.

In addition, the blog provides links to anti-censorship tips, tricks and software as well as to websites that claim to contain the government’s secret website blacklist.

FACT claims the Ministry of Information and Technology currently blocks 17,775 websites, and “along with blocking by the Royal Thai Police, [this results] in more than 50,000 websites blocked in Thailand.”

Thai law was modified in 2008 to require police to obtain a court order before blocking a website. However, ICT Minister Ranongruk Suwunchwee admitted last week that the government continues to block sites at will because obtaining court orders can be a lengthy process.

According to FACT, Thai officials are working to install a national firewall at a cost of 100 million to 500 million baht ($2.9 to $14.6 million U.S.) in order to prevent citizens from getting around the blacklist that is enforced by Thai internet service providers under government order.

“Would this money not be better spent on Thailand’s amazing social crises, such as peace, justice and reconciliation in the South, or even Internet education?” FACT asked on its blog.

“There are now wholesale accusations of lese majeste in Thailand, with each faction claiming to act for the protection of the monarchy,” the blog post continued. “Two webboard forum posters were arrested under the cybercrime law for their comments about the monarchy after being tracked by their IP address.”

On Tuesday, Thailand was named among the world’s worst censorship offenders by the International Press Institute (FreeMedia.at).

“In Thailand, laws protecting the reputation of the monarch prompted judicial proceedings and led to the shutdown of more than 2 000 websites,” according to the IPI, which listed Thailand as the most egregious offender among nations that use “censorship in the name of tradition, religion, culture and national reputation.”