Smaller Isps Fear Higher Running Costs

[george]

Smaller ISPs fear higher running costs

Thailand's web business could be hurt if rules mean costly hardware

BANGKOK: -- Thailand's first Computer Crime Act has won limited support from private operators, but there are concerns about compliance costs and enforcement, which could stifle the growth of Internet-related business, panellists said yesterday during a round-table discussion.

"Compliance costs will rise, and this will be a big burden, particularly on small operators. If the law is loosely enforced, it could place a burden on those who comply with the law strictly, which could limit the growth of Internet businesses," said Bundit Wongwatanasin, president of Internet Solution and Service Provider and a committee member of the Thailand ISP Association.

He made his remarks to a seminar entitled "The impact of the Computer Crime Act", hosted yesterday by Krungthep Turakij newspaper.

The law requires Internet service providers (ISPs) to keep traffic information - log files of what users have downloaded or uploaded - for at least 90 days, which would prompt an additional investment in database systems by many ISPs, especially the smaller, low-profit ones and related Internet businesses.

Bundit said the Information and Communications Tech-nology (ICT) Ministry should provide clear details about the specific information ISPs must keep.

"For large companies, we're not worried so much. They're quite ready to comply with this Act, because they have enough money and resources. What we're concerned about is the effect on small businesses," said Bundit.

Santi Pookaiyaudom, an adviser to the ICT minister, said the ministry would on August 8 announce ministerial regulations specifying what log files the ISPs must keep.

Thai Internet Service Club president Chalermsak Lert-lobhatree said Internet-cafe businesses might experience difficulty recording such information as the identity cards of users in the shops, because they might decline to cooperate. They could use fake IDs or provide false information.

Santi insisted ISPs and owners of Internet cafes did not need to collect all of a user's details, but rather enough to identify them. Unlike Chalermsak, Santi said ISPs and cafes did not have to verify users' identities themselves.

"In the case of an Internet cafe, what needs to be recorded is who the customer is, their times of logging in and out and which computer they used," Santi said.

Chalermsak and Bundit also voiced concern that if such laws were strictly enforced for all, then that would mean Internet businesses that adhered strictly to the law would face compliance costs, while law-dodgers would lose nothing. For example, customers would favour Internet cafes with relaxed rules for recording their identities over stricter ones.

"Customers will use the shops that provide the most convenience," he said.

Wanchat Padungrat, founder of pantip.com, said the law should also focus on the morality of those officials tasked by the ministry with implementing the Act.

The ICT Ministry will appoint a team of officials from different backgrounds for the task of evidence collection with police in cases related to the new law.

All of the panellists did agree that the Kingdom needed such laws in place, in order to ensure order within the computer world, for the benefit of Internet users and Internet businesses alike. But they blamed the relevant state agencies for failing to promote public understanding of the Act.

They also called on the government to come up with measures to help small Internet businesses cope with possible additional costs incurred through compliance with the law.

-- The Nation 2007-07-26

[nikster]

Well. Thailand is basically an internet-wasteland until there's a new government.

Close your eyes and hope for quick elections.

Realistically, the ISPs will not be able to enforce these laws, and will have to arrange themselves with police. Bad law means more money for police and that's exactly what the cyber crime law will achieve.