MorChana to have face recognition integrated, warn officials of foreigners outside designated Sandbox zones

[webfact]

MDES Minister Chaiwut Thanakamanusorn at the meeting at Phuket Provincial Hall on Friday (Oct 8). Photo: PR Phuket

 

PHUKET: The MorChana app has been expanded to inform officials within 30 minutes if any tourists are not in designated zones where they are supposed to remain while observing their Sandbox quarantine period, and is now integrated where possible to use face recognition software, the Minister for Digital Economy and Society (MDES) has revealed.

 

In addition to leading a meeting at Phuket Provincial Hall to update Phuket officials about the expansion of the MorChana app, Mr Chaiwut during his visit inspected operations at the ’Phuket Sandbox Operation Center’ in Phuket Town and the Command Control Center operated by Patong Municipality.

 

The expansion of the MorChana app’s capabilities by integrating it with the command control centres was part of the move “to support the plan to open the country to receive tourists in the next phase,” Mr Chaiwut said.

 

Planning to visit Phuket? Book your Sandbox hotel here

 

Full story: https://www.thephuketnews.com/morchana-to-have-face-recognition-integrated-warn-officials-of-foreigners-outside-designated-sandbox-zones-81660.php

 

 

-- © Copyright Phuket News 2021-10-11

 

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[Geoffggi]

Welcome to "STALAG PHUKET" where we will try to make your stay as uncomfortable  comfortable as restrictions allow ...............LOL

 

[gk10012001]

I don't yet have a so called smart phone, and don't need one. Some places seem to be requiring them, i.e. Phuket, but unless I need to go to Phuket, which I don't, then I don't need one.  My home and PCs at work so far give me everything I need.   Even when I do get a smart phone activated next year when my 3g phone service ends, what will prevent a person from just leaving the phone in their hotel while they go some place else?

 

  While I can understand a country wanting to have some idea where visitors on visas are while in their country, a  yearly check up should be all that is required.  The 90 day is nutty but not new.  As for things and policies coming about due to COVID or some other event or emergency, such things tend to not end after the events end.

 

  If they have some criminal reason to track or monitor a foreigner, fine, get a warrant, check the tower pings, the transmissions, the TM 30s, etc.  Gosh with 5G and beam forming, they will know the location of a particular 5G phone to a few meters.

[Destiny1990]

Great place for a wonderful holiday. ???????????? Who doesn’t like to be watched 24/7

[Bkk Brian]

4 hours ago, webfact said:

inform officials within 30 minutes if any tourists are not in designated zones where they are supposed to remain while observing their Sandbox quarantine period

Sandbox = quarantine. Until a tourist and families can enter Thailand without need to book into an SHA and stay in the same zone then real tourism is dead and the country will continue to suffer the effects. This is now getting beyond ridiculous with face recognition for the app and integration into a command center.

[Caldera]

How many tourists are they hoping to attract again? None of this nonsense in many other countries that are wide open!

[phetphet]

1 hour ago, Geoffggi said:

Welcome to "STALAG PHUKET" where we will try to make your stay as uncomfortable  comfortable as restrictions allow ...............LOL

 

Next thing is it will be a requirement for all foreigners so they can track us at all times.

[MRToMRT]

5 hours ago, webfact said:

MorChana app has been expanded to inform officials within 30 minutes if any tourists are not in designated zones

Presumably this means they can therefore track anyone , anywhere with the app on their phone? 

Edited October 11, 2021 by MRToMRT

[internationalism]

but tourists are told to download thailand plus, not morchana.

Downloading thailand plus is not strictly enforced. And only minority use it. 

BTW morchana is inferior to thaichana, eats your bandwidth - for that I have never downloaded it.

 

the idea of phuket sandbox is no designated zones, tourists can travel anywhere within island. They suppose to come back to hotel and sleep there (the original plan from June was to allow them to stay at their own home, if they wished).

 

With this new development looks like they are going just to try on Phuket, but really to be used in new sandboxes on land, where tourists zoning will be introduced. Phuket, as an island, is completely sealed.

 

Judging by how thailand plus app is ignored, I don't think morchana will have any success

 

 

[tonray]

Jurassic World (Farang Island Edition)

 

Let's hunt the ones that make it outside the fence

[johng]

32 minutes ago, MRToMRT said:

Presumably this means they can therefore track anyone , anywhere with the app on their phone? 

Yes they have wanted to do this for a long time... to keep you "safe" of course ????

[ThailandRyan]

Looks like the BMW Technology for tracking foreigners is being utilized for more than is wanted.  Next you will find is that the Cameras in all of Thailand are linked to the Immigration data base and facial recognition is being done as you just casually walk down the street to get your coffee.  Big Brother is watching your every move.  It wont be long until the camera systems at the malls are also able to be linked to their systems to track where and when you go as well as tracking how much money you spend.  Waiting to hear from the punters who visit Soi Nana, Patpong, Soi Cowboy and then Walking Street in Pattaya as well as Bangla in Phuket as having to enter through a walkway that has cameras watching your every move as well.

Edited October 11, 2021 by ThailandRyan

[hotchilli]

6 hours ago, webfact said:

PHUKET: The MorChana app has been expanded to inform officials within 30 minutes if any tourists are not in designated zones where they are supposed to remain while observing their Sandbox quarantine period, and is now integrated where possible to use face recognition software, the Minister for Digital Economy and Society (MDES) has revealed.

Welcome to Thailand... 

[hotchilli]

6 hours ago, webfact said:

The expansion of the MorChana app’s capabilities by integrating it with the command control centres was part of the move “to support the plan to open the country to receive tourists in the next phase,” Mr Chaiwut said.

This expansion is just another nail in tourism.

[smedly]

1 hour ago, Bkk Brian said:

Sandbox = quarantine. Until a tourist and families can enter Thailand without need to book into an SHA and stay in the same zone then real tourism is dead and the country will continue to suffer the effects. This is now getting beyond ridiculous with face recognition for the app and integration into a command center.

couldn't agree more - as I keep saying Thailand needs a "Green" system like the UK and EU but then the money gouging would stop and certain people wouldn't like that. They want foreign tourists but the reality is they can't even open up to domestic tourists with emergency powers still in place and night curfew's everywhere which is draconion and unpresidented in peace time - their taste and hunger for ultimate power and control is now going to their heads - a very dangerous situation for a country as freedoms are diminishing rapidly.

 

Also declaring "we are open" when in fact (Pattaya) 90% of the city is shuttered and deserted is just plain lying, it is the closest thing to martial law I have ever experienced in my lifetime

[smedly]

and apart from needing a smartphone for all this to work - I know many who don't have them - you also need a 24hr data connection - are they paying for that ?

[gk10012001]

1 hour ago, phetphet said:

Next thing is it will be a requirement for all foreigners so they can track us at all times.

I am sure they are monitoring the phone celluar networks more than you might think.  The technolocy and software is readily available.  Most people are literally hand tied to their phones.  Just look at any video and you will see one hand clutching a phone.  And with 5G and beam forming technology, phone locations are known within meters.

[tonray]

3 minutes ago, gk10012001 said:

I am sure they are monitoring the phone celluar networks more than you might think.  The technolocy and software is readily available.  Most people are literally hand tied to their phones.  Just look at any video and you will see one hand clutching a phone.  And with 5G and beam forming technology, phone locations are known within meters.

My porn surfing history must be the subject of some discussion at meetings of the Parliment

[richard_smith237]

Is the headline deliberately inflammatory???

 

[MorChana to have face recognition integrated, warn officials of foreigners outside designated Sandbox zones]
 

Which suggests a targeting of non-Thais…

 

The article highlights ‘tourists’ not foreigners…  the reality is that the Mor Chana App is a requirement for every ‘arrival’ in Phuket whether Thai or foreign & from domestic or international locations.

 

The article highlights the very purpose  of track & trace app which smacks in the face of those used to greater freedoms & personal rights.

 

[richard_smith237]

1 hour ago, ThailandRyan said:

Looks like the BMW Technology for tracking foreigners is being utilized for more than is wanted.  Next you will find is that the Cameras in all of Thailand are linked to the Immigration data base and facial recognition is being done as you just casually walk down the street to get your coffee.  Big Brother is watching your every move.  It wont be long until the camera systems at the malls are also able to be linked to their systems to track where and when you go as well as tracking how much money you spend.  Waiting to hear from the punters who visit Soi Nana, Patpong, Soi Cowboy and then Walking Street in Pattaya as well as Bangla in Phuket as having to enter through a walkway that has cameras watching your every move as well.

Seems the mongers will be firmly in the ‘wear your face mask camp’ !!! 
 

 

[ifmu]

2 hours ago, MRToMRT said:

Presumably this means they can therefore track anyone , anywhere with the app on their phone? 

dont need the app to follow u   .. just your cell number 

[ThailandRyan]

18 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

Seems the mongers will be firmly in the ‘wear your face mask camp’ !!! 
 

 

Retinal scans will be next....lol

[ignis]

In the old days if you wanted a bit of peace then simple you put your phone in the Fridge.

If someone tried to phone there would be no ring tone + they got a message 'cannot connect try again later' 

 

if you switched the phone off then you got 'the phone maybe switched off'

 

wonder if the same thing happen these days ??

[Tropicalevo]

No real need to worry yet.

I do not know of a single piece of software that is written for the government that has worked first time out.

Wait for version 5.1

[Bangkok Barry]

I've posted this on Facebook. I see it as my public duty to inform potential visitors what they might will face when visiting the Land of Smiles.

 

Welcome, tourists, to military-led government Thailand:

“Tourists travelling to Phuket must download the MorChana app. It can be used as a tracking system that will signal the location where tourists are every half an hour to the centre,” (government minister) Mr Chaiwut said.

“This makes it known where tourists who come to Phuket are at any point, and if tourists leave the area of Phuket, the system will alert the centre,” he added.

 

At the same time as being tracked even more closely than they would be in North Korea, tourists face being arrested for having a beer or glass of wine with their meal, or at any other time, and they will find most restaurants and stores closed.

 

The puritan government, which has forced all entertainment venues to close since April 2020, still looks forward to welcoming millions of tourists in the coming months. I suppose in some areas they could tour the abandoned and derelict buildings and photograph the homeless people living in them, people whose only support comes from mostly foreigner volunteers who provide food parcels for them, in the absence of any help from the government.

 

[DLock]

So, how big is the "designated area"?

 

How far can I wander from the AQ hotel?

 

...and what will they do if I wander too far, or stay out later than I should, or leave my phone in the room "accidentally"?

 

This really is quite farcical and it does give me a chuckle.

 

Just open it up for vaccinated tourists with a 3-day COVID free test and Insurance...anything more is just stupid.

[richard_smith237]

9 minutes ago, DLock said:

So, how big is the "designated area"?

 

How far can I wander from the AQ hotel?

 

...and what will they do if I wander too far, or stay out later than I should, or leave my phone in the room "accidentally"?

 

This really is quite farcical and it does give me a chuckle.

 

Just open it up for vaccinated tourists with a 3-day COVID free test and Insurance...anything more is just stupid.

It's in Phuket. 

 

Any visitor to Phuket, Thai or Foreign, arriving from international or domestic locations needs to have Mor Chana App downloaded on their smartphone.

 

This is simple track and trace - which theoretically tracks people who have come into proximity with someone else who has tested positive for Covid-19. 

 

Additionally, the App also tracks international arrivals (Sandboxers) to ensure they have not departed Phuket (or an area of approved quarantine) for the first 7 days. 

 

 

The reality: not enough people in Thailand care about the rules - this is just hot-air, nothing will change, its too difficulty for the fundamentally apathetic ‘enforcers’ to uniformly and consistently enforce. 

 

[mickyr55]

With the historical "success " of government apps here I guess we have a few more years before we have to worry about this ???? 

[khunPer]

Great move, tourists will just love that...????

[Rhacsyn]

1 hour ago, gk10012001 said:

I am sure they are monitoring the phone celluar networks more than you might think.  The technolocy and software is readily available.  Most people are literally hand tied to their phones.  Just look at any video and you will see one hand clutching a phone.  And with 5G and beam forming technology, phone locations are known within meters.

A very good point. Cellular tracking for all mobile phones is simple and widespread. Those with Android phones may wish to check a Covid tracking app that was loaded quietly on all phones. Go to settings, Google and Google services and there you will find Covid 19 notifications. If you don't want to be tracked make sure it is turned off. Same applies to Google location history under Privacy.