New Law Requiring All Businesses In Thailand To Set Their Computers To Precisely The Same Time

[Sunbelt Asia]

Tomorrow sees the implementation of a law requiring all businesses in Thailand to set their computers to precisely the same time - or else.

A nationwide requirement to adhere to Thai Standard Time (TST) will come into effect tomorrow, but rumours of the country's time zone being shunted forwards by a half-hour have been scotched.

Officials at the National Institute of Metrology (NIM) under the Information and Communication Technology Ministry and the navy's Hydrographic Department keep the official time, but are at a loss to explain where the rumour of a shifting time zone came from.

"The rumour of a time adjustment of 30 minutes is untrue. TST remains the same, at seven hours ahead of the time in UTC (Co-ordinated Universal Time) scale," the institute said in a press release.

But while TST might be unchanged, clocks all around the country may have to be adjusted - if only slightly - tomorrow, as it will become a legal requirement for all businesses to strictly adhere to TST.

Their computer systems will have to match the official national time under a requirement set out in the 2007 Computer Violation Act.

According to the law, any company which provides computer-based commercial and business services must keep records of all internet traffic, including the names of all users, taking in those who sent and received emails, and the times, dates and durations of computer use, for 90 days.

The law is aimed at easing criminal investigations, especially into internet crime and other computer-based offences.

Anybody who downloads, uploads or distributes pornography, writes or posts abusive material, steals personal information, or deliberately spreads computer viruses will be tracked and arrested.

Lt-Cdr Worrakorn Saorieng checks the equipment at the Hydrographic Department in a specially designed room to make sure Thai Standard Time is in sync with international standard.

Internet cafe operators will be obliged to record the names and ID card numbers of anybody who uses their services, as well as the time, date and duration of their visit and addresses of all websites they access.

Those who do not record this information or who do not adhere to TST will be fined between 100,000 and 500,000 baht.

Personal computers are exempt from the law, although internet service providers already retain information about multimedia transfers, such as videos, audio files and pictures. Mobile phone operators similarly log call details and information on MMS (Multimedia Message Service) transmissions.

"Retaining computer traffic information is vital, as cyber crime can affect the economy, national security and the general public," said Hydrographic chief Vice-Adm Kongwat Neelasri.

"This information can be used as legal evidence to charge criminals, so it is very important computers keep the precise time."

The department's move is the first time a universal time has been mandated since the reign of King Chulalongkorn.

Back then, ships had to listen out for gunshots marking the time. Knowing the exact time is especially important for mariners, as they have to know when the tide is low or high to move their vessels.

TST is based on international standard time, supervised by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures headquartered in Paris, and never deviates by more than 10 milliseconds.

Instructions for installing the official time on computers are posted on the Hydrographic Department's website at http://www.navy.mi.th/hydro/time

TST will also be announced by the Hydrographic Department via FM radio.

The NIM will coordinate with clockmakers to develop watches and clocks for sale to the public which will automatically adjust precisely to TST via department servers every hour.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/220808_News/22Aug2008_news96.php

www.sunbeltasiagroup.com

[Moonfruit]

Is it April 1st?

If this was posted by anybody other than sunbelt i wouldnt be taking it seriously.

Come on guys... coments on this madness?

[taxexile]

when you go to the thai hydrographics site , it asks you to download a freeware programme that specifically states that it is only free for private , school and charity use.

it gives full details of how to download , including screenshots , but makes no mention of payments.

it seems as if this government department is asking businesses to break the law by using this programme contrary to the terms of use.

Dimension 4 v5.0 is provided as Freeware for private use (use at home), educational use (by schools and universities), and use by charitable organizations. Commercial users of Dimension 4 v5.0 MUST register by paying US $10 per License. You can also contact our sales department for quantity discounts (>50), or site licensing terms.

[britmaveric]

Hmmmm wonder why such a big deal over time sync? (seems rather strange)

[Tony Clifton]

Hmmmm wonder why such a big deal over time sync? (seems rather strange)

Is it just another scam coming like what Grammy are doing with the raiding of bars and internet cafes, looking for illegal Thai content on pcs and the huge fines they hand out even though these apparently seem to be nothing but hired hugs by Grammy? The clock issue seems to only to widen up the range of excuses for these raids, nothing else.

[lazeeboy]

if i didnt read it here iwouldnt have known,was this in the press ,no email/letter from my accountant or government,i dont believe it...

[GungaDin]

Internet cafe operators will be obliged to record the names and ID card numbers of anybody who uses their services, as well as the time, date and duration of their visit and addresses of all websites they access.

1984!

[cophen]

Some HiSo Thai obviously has shares in a hard drive company. There's going to be lots of them needed to store all that data...

[lamai04]

Hmmmm wonder why such a big deal over time sync? (seems rather strange)

I love this law! It should became universal

And all version of Windows are able to syncro the time automatically every day...

so no need for additional programs.

[kudroz]

According to the law, any company which provides computer-based commercial and business services must keep records of all internet traffic...

What does that mean "all internet traffic". Means what IP addresses my staff accessed and at what time? Or does it mean that I have to keep a copy of all the packets they transmit? There is a difference between log files and actual data transmitted.

[Guest Bellini]

So now Thailand has its own time zone name, Thailand Standard Time, abbreviated TST. Until a few minutes ago I thought the time zone for Thailand was ICT (Indochina Time)

[monty]

if i didnt read it here iwouldnt have known,was this in the press ,no email/letter from my accountant or government,i dont believe it...

Has been in the press several times, both major English language papers, and I would assume Thai papers as well

It has been published in the Royal gazette as well, but this was 1 year ago.

The law provided for a 1 year grace period, which has no (23th) expired, so as of today everybody has to comply.

[singa-traz]

According to the law, any company which provides computer-based commercial and business services must keep records of all internet traffic...

What does that mean "all internet traffic". Means what IP addresses my staff accessed and at what time? Or does it mean that I have to keep a copy of all the packets they transmit? There is a difference between log files and actual data transmitted.

You are not required to store the payload of the traffic, only IP source/destination.

[ace]

This is not only ill-considered but un-enforceable. There is a protocol called NTP (Network Time Protocol) that could be used, do the Thai government run NTP servers, I doubt it. Could the suggested un-licenced (as previousley posted) software's servers handle the requests? If the internet connection drops out must the staff sit and manually monitor the PC clock?

Just another gift to the police force. I have a good friend (Thai) who runs an internet cafe, the current scam is prosecution for un-licenced versions of windows, 30,000 baht fine I think. And there's the illegal downloads scam as previousley mentioned on this forum. They seem intent on hitting internet cafes hard. I can only guess the thinking goes something like:

Farang = Money

Internet cafe = Farang customer

Therfore, Internet cafe = Money.

[Sunbelt Asia]

if i didnt read it here iwouldnt have known,was this in the press ,no email/letter from my accountant or government,i dont believe it...

http://www.bangkokpost.com/220808_News/22Aug2008_news96.php

[glyph]

"Farang = Money

Internet cafe = Farang customer

Therfore, Internet cafe = Money. "

Huh? More Thais use the cafes than farangs, so what's your point? The cafes are owned/operated by Thais, not farangs, so what's your point?

[rak sa_ngop]

Anybody who downloads, uploads or distributes pornography, writes or posts abusive material, steals personal information, or deliberately spreads computer viruses will be tracked and arrested.

This question is not for me but for a friend of course:

Downloading pornography means copying the data to your own computer, so does this mean that it is OK to view pornography on the web as long as you do not copy it?

[Tywais]

There is a protocol called NTP (Network Time Protocol) that could be used, do the Thai government run NTP servers, I doubt it.

They do have one and it is time.navy.mi.th as seen here > http://www.navy.mi.th/hydro/time/

Since they are syncing to an International NTP server (probably a primary) then it would seem that the built in Internet time clock built in to XP/Vista using another primary/secondary NTP server should not be an issue. I also run a secondary NTP server on our university Linux firewall and our internal PCs can sync from it.

"TST is based on international standard time, supervised by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures headquartered in Paris, and never deviates by more than 10 milliseconds."

[rishi]

This question is not for me but for a friend of course:

Downloading pornography means copying the data to your own computer, so does this mean that it is OK to view pornography on the web as long as you do not copy it?

You can't view anything, from the web, on your monitor until it's actually downloaded to your computer. While you sit there, staring at the cutie - you've got some illegal collection of bytes sitting right there in your very own property for which you are 120% liable and punishable to the strictest extent of the law we're talking about in this thread.

[unomi]

Hmmmm wonder why such a big deal over time sync? (seems rather strange)

Unfortunately perhaps to get to users using 'anonymous proxies', VPN and onion routers like TOR.

Performing statistical analysis on traffic could point to the true source and destinations for this kind of traffic.

[bino]

Instructions for installing the official time on computers are posted on the Hydrographic Department's website at http://www.navy.mi.th/hydro/time

Has anyone successfullt installed this? I tried, and gave up.

The step by step configuration diagrams show the setting for synchronization every 1 second(s)! Do they really expect every business computer in Thailand to be requesting synch time from them every single second??

[Boater]

Instructions for installing the official time on computers are posted on the Hydrographic Department's website at http://www.navy.mi.th/hydro/time

Has anyone successfullt installed this? I tried, and gave up.

The step by step configuration diagrams show the setting for synchronization every 1 second(s)! Do they really expect every business computer in Thailand to be requesting synch time from them every single second??

Would you want to?, i just had a look now and seems very fishy.....

maybe this is a goverment cover up to install programs onto everyones computer, thus they can track exaclty what is happening to that computer ????????.... as i cannot see them doing it any other way?

[Gumballl]

Instructions for installing the official time on computers are posted on the Hydrographic Department's website at http://www.navy.mi.th/hydro/time

Has anyone successfullt installed this? I tried, and gave up.

The step by step configuration diagrams show the setting for synchronization every 1 second(s)! Do they really expect every business computer in Thailand to be requesting synch time from them every single second??

I tried to install it (for grins) on my Fedora 9 (Linux) operating system using 'wine' (windoze emulator). The installation crashed.

[monty]

No problems whatsoever on my Vista and XP boxes.

Instant synchronization, only funny thing is it seems that the Thai time is about 3 minutes ahead if the tim at the Microsoft time servers

[Tywais]

No problems whatsoever on my Vista and XP boxes.

Instant synchronization, only funny thing is it seems that the Thai time is about 3 minutes ahead if the tim at the Microsoft time servers

If that is the case then they are "fudging" the times because they are syncing (supposedly) from the International Standards time servers where everybody else is probably. The US does have it's own atomic clocks and standards bureau, but doubt they will be that far out of sync from the rest of the world. But then, maybe it's Microsoft time that's wrong since they have problems with standards. My NTP server at the lab shows error ticks in the microseconds from the standard time servers. I auto update every hour on the server.

[glyph]

"maybe this is a goverment cover up to install programs onto everyones computer, thus they can track exaclty what is happening to that computer..."

Yeah, maybe. I've read that if you cover your head with aluminum foil, they won't be able to read your mind. Just a suggestion for ya.

[silverhawk_usa]

Hmmmm wonder why such a big deal over time sync? (seems rather strange)

Is it just another scam coming like what Grammy are doing with the raiding of bars and internet cafes, looking for illegal Thai content on pcs and the huge fines they hand out even though these apparently seem to be nothing but hired hugs by Grammy? The clock issue seems to only to widen up the range of excuses for these raids, nothing else.

The only reason I have seen given for the clock issue is so that the National Anthem is played on all media at exactly the same time. I also saw a suggestion a while back from someone in govt. that everyone should stop and exit their vehicles when the anthem is played. Maybe this is so that they don't have people jumping out into traffic at different intervals

[RigPig]

"maybe this is a goverment cover up to install programs onto everyones computer, thus they can track exaclty what is happening to that computer..."

Yeah, maybe. I've read that if you cover your head with aluminum foil, they won't be able to read your mind. Just a suggestion for ya.

Actually I cant see an easier way to install malware on a computer and have it replicate itself than making it law . I believe they convicted John Gotty with the help of a simple key logger..............

[glyph]

Exactly. The only thing this guy should know is "it's later than you think".