A proposed cybersecurity law in Thailand would give a new government agency sweeping powers to spy on Internet traffic, order the removal of content or even seize computers without judicial oversight, alarming businesses and activists.
Civil liberties advocates, Internet companies and business groups are protesting the planned legislation, saying it sacrifices privacy and the rule of law, according to interviews and documents reviewed by reporters.
The legislation, likely to gain approval by year-end, is the latest in a wave of new laws in major Asian countries that aim to assert government control over the Internet.
It would grant a newly created National Cybersecurity Committee (NCSC) the authority to access the computers of individuals or private companies, make copies of information and enter private property without court orders. Criminal penalties would be imposed for those who do not comply.
The committee could also summon businesses or individuals for interrogation and force them to hand over information belonging to other parties.
“Cybersecurity policy should be respective of privacy and rule of law,” the US-ASEAN Business Council said in letter to the Thai government that was not released publicly, but was obtained by Reuters. “Enforcing cyberspace cannot come at the cost of sacrificing privacy, civil liberties and rule of law.”
The letter also said that requirements such as forcing companies to alert the agency of cyberthreats or even anticipated ones would impose “a very heavy burden” on businesses and should be removed.
Tech giants Google, Apple, Facebook and Amazon are all members of the council.
The Singapore-based industry group Asia Internet Coalition, which represents the four US giants and seven other major Internet companies, also said that the law might drive businesses out of Thailand.
The coalition in a statement cited concerns about government surveillance and criminal liability for defying NCSC orders, among other issues.
Thai Ministry of Digital Economy and Society Deputy Permanent Secretary Somsak Khaosuwan said that the government is discussing revisions of the draft and would take the concerns into account.
“The law will conform to international standards... The team working on the law will certainly listen to the issues that have been raised,” Somsak said. “There is nothing scary about it.”
The draft does not contain specific provisions on hot-button issues such as “fake news” or requirements that international tech and social media firms store data locally.
However, it would grant the new NCSC “sweeping powers, holding a monopoly on all things cyber in the country ... without being subject to check and balance, control or regulation,” said Sutee Tuvirat, a cybersecurity expert with Thailand’s Information Security Association. “If anyone is more powerful than the prime minister, this is it.”
Civil rights advocates worry that Thailand’s military junta would use the law to further codify its censorship regime.
The NCSC would be empowered to order removal of “cyberthreats” and override other laws when they are in conflict.
The latest draft of Thailand’s new Data Protection Law, also expected to be approved this year, correspondingly says it does not apply to “national security agencies,” including the NCSC.
Arthit Suriyawongkul, a civil rights advocate with the Thai Netizen Network, said that the law could readily facilitate censorship.
“The law doesn’t categorize data, which may include online content, and does not include protection measures,” he said.
In a statement, the Telecommunications Association of Thailand and the Thai Internet Service Provider Association also said they were concerned about the government’s efforts to “regulate content.”
Data from Internet companies show that Thai government requests to take down content or turn over information have ramped up in recent years. A law prohibiting criticism of the monarchy has often been the basis for such requests.
Following the death of revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej in 2016, the government threatened to prosecute Facebook in Thailand if it did not comply with content restriction requests.
In the first half of this year, Facebook restricted 285 pieces of content, according to the company’s transparency report released yesterday.
Facebook restricted 365 pieces of content last year, 10 times the amount in 2014. It also handed over user data to the Thai government for the first time last year.
From mid-2014 to the end of last year, the military government has made 386 requests to Google to remove 9,986 items, almost all of which were identified as government criticism, according to Google’s transparency report.
Google agreed to remove content named in 93 percent of the requests last year, up from 57 percent in late 2014.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in