This also occurred in Thailand a few years ago, and it's a very sad story of (military) politics triumphing over reason.

During the early years of the Thaksin Shinawatra government, Pornthip Rojanasunand, a very high-profile CSI official, claimed that there was corruption in the Thai police. She became something of a media personality, and a National Geographic documentary was even made of her. She became very popular with the Thai military, who are rivals with the police and eventually launched a coup to remove Thaksin from power. After the coup, the military government spent over $20 million on the "bomb detectors" (not including "commissions") for and gave them to patrols in the deep South to deal with Muslim insurgents.

The military junta eventually organized an election, which a Thaksin-friendly government won. During an anti-government protest, a lady died in an explosion, and many protestors lost limbs. There was some suspicion that the protestors were carrying IEDs which exploded prematurely. "Our team has used a GT200 substance detector and found no substance used in making bombs. We've already checked the clash scenes and the bodies and clothing of the injured victims," Pornthip Rojanasunand said. She concluded that police tear-gas grenades used by the police caused the injuries and death. Despite evidence to the contrary. The public trusted her and the forensic powers of the "bomb detectors," the Queen attended the funeral of the dead lady, and a military-appointed court soon replaced the elected government with one that supported the military.

Soon, evidence started accumulating the the "bomb detectors" weren't working in the South and civilians and low-level soldiers were dying as a result. Pornthip lended her public credibility to the devices. "Personally, I have never handled the device myself. But my people have used it and it is accurate every time. Long long time ago, people believed that the Earth is flat and anyone who said otherwise faced execution. Things which are not visible does not necessarily mean they do not exist. The devices are there and no one has the right to ban their use. I will continue to use it."

The basic detector costs about $20,000, but additional "sensor cards" can be bought to "detect" things like dead bodies. The military-leaning government later killed many protestors in a large protest a few years ago. There were rumors that even more were killed and their bodies placed in containers and sunk off the coast. When containers was found sunk off the coast, Pornthip put a dead-body sensor card into her "bomb detector" and concluded that the containers didn't have dead bodies. Therefore, it wouldn't be cost effective to actually open one of the containers up to check and see.

In conclusion, people like Pornthip support such non-sense "bomb detectors" - not because they personally have to use them - but because they or people they have a vested interest in have supported the frauds in the past, and suddenly recanting and saying that they don't actually work would cause them to lose face.

If Surrey was actually trying to promote UK technology, they'd have used a Raspberry Pi :P

Taking the initiative (i.e., firing the first shot to surprise the enemy) and applying overwhelmingly dominant force have long been core tenets of US and Israeli military doctrine. It's not as if they've any reason to be humble about it.

I'm just surprised that Israel hasn't yet bombed the research facilities and turned Iran into a radioactive wasteland, ala Ian McDonald's "The Dervish House.". Send a loud message to all Muslims that only friends of the West can be trusted with nuclear energy.

> So who are these 20 people that were killed? Well 5 were soldiers that were killed from gunshot wounds by the protesters that you're so quick to label as "protesters".

And 15 were killed by troops that the government originally claimed shot only tear gas and rubber bullets...

> Who are these protesters and what are they doing?

People who'd sincerely like to know and hear it themselves can't - because the government is censoring them.

> It is the protestors that are firing live rounds at the police.

The government has already come out and admitted that troops actually fired live rounds directly at protesters. This contradicts earlier government statements that claim that only rubber bullets and not live rounds were fired at protesters.

The only reason the government was forced to admit the truth is because of video footage shot by the foreign media - all footage that was shown on Thai media was critical of the protesters.

> Can't see that being an issue. there's always encryption too.

This is an issue.

Because the majority of Thai internet users (or internet users anywhere, for that matter) don't use encryption. Encryption and rock-solid privacy add-ons are way to complex for most users.

> I'm not saying I like it, but I'll respect Thailand's right to govern itself.

Respecting the Thai peoples' right to govern and the Thai government's right to govern are two very different things. The Thai government's refusal to call for elections shows that it doesn't think the Thai people will agree with it.

Thaivisa.com is blatantly pro-government and anti-Thaksin. They applauded the censorship news.

> I've seen a number of photos of tourists standing on the sidelines watching the riots, unharmed and uninvolved.

A white tourist of unknown nationality was shot in the chest after he screamed "F*** you!" at shooting soldiers. An Italian journalist was shot in the leg. A Japanese journalist was shot dead in the chest. And all of this occurred on Khao Sarn road, a small street packed with cheap tourist hotels and cafes.

> Unless the Thai government has changed policies recently, they probably have fairly little incentive to go after foreign nationals

The Ahisiti Vejjajiva government has gone after the local head of the BBC, an Australian author, a British-Thai professor... The list goes on and one. Anybody that dares criticize the government is liable.

> 2) The government is currently a democrat government which isn't in anyway related to the yellow shirt's political party

The Abhisit Vejjajiva government is a government that implements rampant censorship and has refused to hold elections. It's led by the Democrat Party, but just naming themselves democrats doesn't mean that they are democratic.

One of the Yellow Shirts' leaders is Foreign Minister. The government has delayed the prosecution of the Yellow Shirt leadership team (including the Foreign Minister) for the takeover of the airports for the past two years. That tells me that the Yellow Shirts and the government is in cahoots.

> There's an obvious reason why they're cracking down - there really is rampant misinformation being spread. The stuff that gets published almost always includes commentary by whoever posted it which blames one side or the other based on what they say is concrete evidence that their photos or video provide.

Except that with the censorship decree, the only misinformation getting out to the public is the government's misinformation blaming the protesters for shooting their own people. There's a reason that the incriminating video of soldiers shooting at protesters all came from the international media.