Thai police seeking spyware that will help it monitor chat applications

[webfact]

 

By Cod Satrusayang

 

Thai police are seeking software that would help it monitor chat applications and social media private messages, a police source told Thai Enquirer on Tuesday.

 

The Royal Thai Police have reached out to several companies selling software similar to the Pegasus software developed by an Israeli defense company. Police have approached vendors looking for technology that could be used to monitor messages sent between popular chat applications like LINE, WhatsApp, and Telegram.

 

Police will use the application to monitor and prevent political protest as well as go after members of organized crime and drug smugglers, the source told Thai Enquirer on the condition of anonymity.

 

Full story: https://www.thaienquirer.com/31061/thai-police-seeking-spyware-that-will-help-it-monitor-chat-applications/

 

-- © Copyright Thai Enquirer 2021-08-10

 

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[Somtamnication]

LOL. I think they monitor Line already. Next!

[MaiDong]

You would imagine that a responsible government would be changing policies and helping it's people out, and perhaps enhance their reputation, instead of trying to spy on them when the naughty little person says something bad, then they wouldn't need to spend billions and billions and billions and billions on useless, pointless spy softwa... Aaahhhhhh, silly me, forgot where I was for a minute.

[statman78]

These three words say it all “prevent political protest”.  The government does not want to be challenged or held accountable for their dismal record.

[ThailandRyan]

Big brother is watching.  Men in black and helicopters will be running surveillance, people will dissappear, oh wait that was a movie with Will Smith....sorry false alarm. What are these people doing, shades of the old USSR, and a page from the N. Korean Rocketmans play book.  A new security wing to be formed called the.......well you get the point.

Edited August 10, 2021 by ThailandRyan

[MrJ2U]

So paranoid.

 

 

Edited August 10, 2021 by MrJ2U
Not edited

[RJRS1301]

Welcome to the future folks, nothing will be private soon, will they need a court order to "monitor" the chat services or will the monitoring be done on the whim of the government and go unchallenged?

 

[Bluespunk]

16 minutes ago, webfact said:

Police will use the application to

to hammer the final nail into the coffin of freedom of expression, thought and any remaining liberties. 

[Anythingleft?]

Certainly very keen on diminishing peoples freedoms and rights....keep everybody in check and make sure they have next to nothing in life except for the minority....

[Mavideol]

and then we will say good bye to the little freedom we had..... more and more like China

[Dmaxdan]

Ahh let the the paranoia commence! 

As stated in the article, this is about organized crime, not grumpy old expats bickering on internet forums.

[tomazbodner]

Unfortunately this is what the whole World seems to be moving towards... all in the name of "national security"

[JoePai]

Would have thought their mates in China would have already supplied the necessary

[jollyhangmon]

26 minutes ago, MaiDong said:

You would imagine that a responsible government would be changing policies and helping it's people out, and perhaps enhance their reputation, instead of trying to spy on them when the naughty little person says something bad, then they wouldn't need to spend billions and billions and billions and billions on useless, pointless spy softwa... Aaahhhhhh, silly me, forgot where I was for a minute.

 

... yes, I was a bit surprised you mentioned 'responsible' as well as 'government' in this regard, 555 ...

 

[Pattaya Spotter]

The government really wants that internet freedom score of zero don't they.

[2long]

31 minutes ago, ThailandRyan said:

and helicopters will

Don't forget the submarines!

[Mr Meeseeks]

50 minutes ago, webfact said:

Police will use the application to monitor and prevent political protest

Welcome to the future. No dissent tolerated. Just as in China.

 

36 minutes ago, statman78 said:

These three words say it all “prevent political protest”.  The government does not want to be challenged or held accountable for their dismal record.

That is why coups are bad and almost inevitably end up in authoritarian, unaccountable, incompetent and corrupt regimes.

[Eibot]

54 minutes ago, webfact said:

LINE, WhatsApp, and Telegram.

So you're saying that whole end to end encryption is <deleted> and the Thai government is buying syware from the Mossad to see if anyone stepped on their tiny willy?

[ChaiyaTH]

They already use such software so this is an extension of even more, that is certainly concerning in that case. Happy I paid GoldenFrog VyprVPN premium for 3 years upfront on a black friday deal last year.

 

I guess it will help once I can get the Starlink here, then I do not deal with local providers at all.

Edited August 10, 2021 by ChaiyaTH

[Gottfrid]

Sounds like somebody has been talking to Jinping again.

[SCOTT FITZGERSLD]

oh ho...so now we will be spied on also in private chat rooms?

few journalists got arrested / killed just because things they said on

private chat rooms (not in thailand).

 

What should worry us in thailand is not so much politics but dirty cops who might use

this software to rob and even kidnap. remember the story of the taiwanese businessman

who was kidnapped and tortured with the help of few policeman, with and without uniforms?

later, i must say, they were all arrested by the good cops.

so now with more spying tech they will have more power...the good and the bad !!
 

 

[SCOTT FITZGERSLD]

one application which is hard to track is SIGNAL

than there is TOR for mobile, like free VPN that makes it hard to track your location.

[Karma80]

This, from the country that can't even make a single reliable website or app.

[Bezdomny]

Ask Israel or USA, they are good at.

[tomacht8]

Many countries tap private conversations and read private messages. Always with the justification to ward off the threat of terrorism. In many countries, however, invasion of privacy is clearly regulated by law. Storage duration, data security, necessary judicial resolution, reason, permissible listening time, etc. Unfortunately, I don't see an independent legal branch in Thailand. The risk of misuse, blackmail and use of the data against political opponents is very, very much higher here. The specter of a repressive, police military state is taking on more and more shape. Unfortunately.

[internationalism]

I see it as a way to threaten populace. Thais are now beyond hiding what they think.

Openly on fb under their true names they broadcast openly their views.

In millions.

Everything was already said by Anon Nampa and Penguin, broadcast life. Yesterday they were both arrested (with few others) on lese majeste charges.   

#rumor in May was shared by 5.3mln people on twitter. And around same on fb and other media.

Protest groups on Telegram are in hundreds thousands membership.

 

The second reason, why they are buying these toys is corruption. The more expensive software (and it might be in $mln), the more bmw at general's garage.

 

[thanaka]

So much missinformation here..

 

First off, governments don't get to decide what they want to track. Vulnerabilities do. You can't just decide to 'track whatsapp', or any other messenger application. That's not how it works. They are all peer to peer encrypted. Reference software is called Pegasus because it's a trojan. It has to be installed locally to work. You want to be safe? Get a phone no one uses like Blackberry. No one writes trojans for it because no one uses it. Highly customised android probably will do as well. 

 

There are ways around it. VPN is NOT one of them. These trojans don't get installed 'over IP' lol. 'Just install VPN'. No that's not how any of this works. I'm baffled by some people here recommending their VPN's, what names and talk about discounts as if they are selling them #AD.

 

These trojans use vulnerabilities like webkit or iMessage. Meaning they get installed when your phone either processes (receives) a message or when you visit a certain page. Using a VPN for this situation is like building a wall when the attack is from above. It's a remedy for your feelings but practically absolutely useless

 

I really wish some people would just stay silent when they don't know anything about what they are talking about. You are scaring people with completely wrong information and give wrong solutions that don't work

[spidermike007]

Line is likely a wide open book already. Whats app has some exception, and telegram far more. It would take quite an investment, I would guess, and then it would take some skill to operate it. Let us hope this does not happen. Or let us hope the companies that sell this software have a shred of decency, and know better than to sell it to a desperate, waning, failed, despot regime. 

[MrJ2U]

39 minutes ago, Gottfrid said:

Sounds like somebody has been talking to Jinping again.

Yes, he's a smart guy.

[Sudarut]

38 minutes ago, ChaiyaTH said:

They already use such software so this is an extension of even more, that is certainly concerning in that case. Happy I paid GoldenFrog VyprVPN premium for 3 years upfront on a black friday deal last year.

 

I guess it will help once I can get the Starlink here, then I do not deal with local providers at all.

Most VPN companies are either owned by China or countries with weak or no internet privacy laws.  They don't care if your using it to watch banned streaming sites, porn or buying drugs online just don't organize an anti mask or white lives matter protest.