On Dec 15, an amendment to Thailand's 2007 Computer Crime Act passed its National Legislative Assembly — a body appointed by the country's military after the 2014 coup — unanimously, and in 180 days, the country will have a new internet law that represents a grab bag of the worst provisions of the worst internet laws in the world, bits of the UK's Snooper's Charter, America's Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, and the dregs of many other failed laws.
Under the new law, sending "false computer data" is a criminal offense, as is transmitting material affecting "the maintenance of national security, public security, national economic security or public infrastructure serving public interest or cause panic in the public" — and ISPs are co-liable with their users if they fail to pre-emptively censor this broadly defined material.
The statue mandates vaguely defined cryptographic back doors, and bans possession of "information that the court has ordered to be destroyed" — while also appointing a committee to order the removal of "dangerous content."
Post-coup Thailand is not a hospitable place for dissent or protest, nevertheless, the law has prompted significant protest from industry, scholars, civil society, and other quarters.
Even though the law is not yet in effect, authorities are already aggressively blocking 'harmful' Internet content, especially those deemed to be disrespectful to the monarchy. Thailand implements a strict lese majeste (anti-royal insult) law which some activists believe is being abused by the junta to harass and detain its critics. According to the government, it shut down 1,370 websites in October for violating the lese majeste law. This is massive compared to the 1,237 websites shut down by the government in the past five years.
Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha defended the law by insisting that it will not violate civil liberties. Some businesses also welcomed the passage of the law which they believe will protect intellectual property rights and spur the development of the digital economy.
Thailand's New Computer Crimes Law Threatens Free Speech and Encryption [Mong Palatino/Global Voices]
(Thumbnail: @stephffart)
