What can we say online? A report on Thailand's internet freedom

[Lite Beer]

What can we say online? A report on Thailand's internet freedom
By Praj KiatpongsanAugust

Recent increases in online surveillance by police have reignited Thailand's ongoing national conversation about internet privacy and freedom of speech. There's one main question that everyone is asking: “What can we say online?”

BANGKOK: -- Sitthiwa, a 19-year-old university student whose name we've withheld, is a typical Thai social media user and has connected with her friends and family through various online platforms over the past five years.

“It’s free and unlimited as long as I have an internet connection, unlike phone calls and text messages,” said Sitthiwa, who listed herself as a heavy user of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+, Kakao, Whatsapp and LINE.

But Sitthiwa has become less active on social networks since Thai police publicly declared that they would closely monitor all online activities to maintain law and order, and would jail anyone who violates the Computer Crimes Act B.E. 2550 (CCA).

The announcement came as political tensions were running high in Bangkok.

Earlier this month, the government invoked the Internal Security Act from August 1-8 in Bangkok's Phra Nakhon, Dusit and Pomprab Sattrupai districts in order to prevent violence and handle anti-government protests during the parliamentary debate of the controversial amnesty bill.


Protesters wanted to annul the bill, which they believed could pave the way for the comeback of fugitive former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, the older brother of current Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra. Thaksin was toppled by the military in 2006 and found guilty of corruption charges.

Two days before the debate, the Technology Crime Suppression Division (TCSD) of the Royal Thai Police summoned four people for questioning for allegedly causing a public panic by spreading military coup rumors on Facebook.

“The words aren’t true, and if they kept circulating online, it could damage the country,” TCSD chief Pol Maj Gen Pisit Paoin reasoned.

Amongst the accused was the journalist Sermsuk Kasitipradit, politics and security editor at the public TV station Thai Public Broadcasting Service (Thai PBS), the first media outlet to report on the investigation.

In a status update on his personal Facebook account, Sermsuk shared an unedited, original copy of the rumor and his own view, which was that it wasn't that serious.

It seemed, however, that the authorities ignored his analysis. Sermsuk was interrogated on Aug. 9 about the motive behind the posting, despite the original text obviously being written by someone else and only serving as an introduction to his analysis.

The veteran journalist would have been subject to a five-year prison sentence and/or a THB100,000 fine if he had been found guilty of the CCA’s Article 14(2) that prohibits circulating any “false computer data” that could “damage the country’s security or cause a public panic.”

But police eventually let Sermsuk go.

Sitthiwa admitted to stumbling upon and sharing that same false information with her online acquaintances as well.

“My high school friend sent it over a chat group where I am a member of,” said Sitthiwa. “So, I just copied and pasted it to other chat circles. It is just a rumor and we know that it is just a rumor.”

Unlike Sermsuk, Sitthiwa and other ordinary netizens who received and dispersed the same message might not be in the same position to justify and defend themselves of the charges if they were caught.

“It stoked a climate of fear, which is detrimental to the country’s democratic development process,” said Assist Prof Pirongrong Ramasoota, a journalism educator at Chulalongkorn University and director of the Thai Media Policy Center.

According to Pirongrong, the TCSD’s response was probably an overreaction, reflecting the authorities’ lack of understanding about the publish-then-filter nature of Facebook. One post was unlikely to cause total public chaos, as collective interactions among users would help determine the reliability of a post, she emphasized.

After the incident the TCSD pledged to press charges against users who simply "liked" or "shared" political rumors and attempted to monitor personal chat conversations on LINE, the super-trendy instant messaging application developed by Naver Japan.

The TCSD has promised to use LINE chat records to tackle only suspects involved in four major crimes – drug smuggling, arms trading, prostitution and counterfeit product selling. The division vowed to pursue their operation in a legal manner and on a case-by-case basis.

Despite those promises, most netizens still don't trust the TCSD.

On Twitter, the hashtag #SpyLINE was used share opposition against the policies. A myriad of satirical memes have also surfaced online criticizing the TCSD's policies.

Read More: http://bangkok.coconuts.co/2013/08/23/online-freedom-checkup-how-much-can-citizens-say-online

-- Coconuts Bangkok 2013-08-24

[tingtongfarang]

Maybe it only stoked a climate of fear in the government and payed supporters, I feel for quite a high% of thais and expats alike it stoked a climate of relief.

[lee b]

You say it best........WHEN YOU SAY NOTHING AT ALL !!

[johnnie20110]

After the incident the TCSD pledged to press charges against users who simply "liked"

[siampolee]

You say it best........WHEN YOU SAY NOTHING AT ALL !!

That is exactly the state of affairs this current government and its puppet master require of the Thai people here in Thailand. to them ( the government) ''silence is indeed golden'' thus the aforementioned can carry out without let or hindrance their master plan to dominate the country and its peoples.

At the same time they will throttle what passes for democracy here and of course the family coffers will indeed be full to overflowing with the '' tithing contributions '' from the Thai people irrespective of whether they want to contribute or not, in truth it is expected nay demanded of them.to pay their dues..

This unique form of tithing is of course known by another name, ''corruption.''

So keep silent folks and all will be well and indeed one family and their brown nosing acolytes will indeed be extremely rich within six months as per our man in Dubai and his utterances in fact promises that were made to a select few and not the masses

So yes it's imperative that comments must be stifled in the social media that mention Thailand.

[jcb2001]

You say it best........WHEN YOU SAY NOTHING AT ALL !!

Just curious. Are you serious?

[Soutpeel]

BTW....<deleted> has the photograph in article got to do with the piece ?

That looks like a deformed bunny rabbit having a pee ?

[GrantSmith]

BTW....<deleted> has the photograph in article got to do with the piece ?

That looks like a deformed bunny rabbit having a pee ?

Get with the times old chap, that retarded rabbit with his back to us is the 'Line' rabbit...

He should be put in gaol too, crimes against something those stupid sticker things... Drive me nuts...

[trainman34014]

You say it best........WHEN YOU SAY NOTHING AT ALL !!

Just curious. Are you serious?

You've never heard the song then ? Or watched the movie 'Notting Hill' ?

[ridkun]

Just praise the government like they are your saviour and you wouldn't get into any trouble. You might get paid too.

[kirk0233]

A history of incidents such as this has led to one of the most prized and misunderstood attributes of the Thai - The Smile: a reflexive fear response to preempt aggression.

[surangw]

you can get in big trouble telling the truth about gov. officials

[Soutpeel]

What an utter piece of sh*t article! It carries the headline "What can we say online? A report on Thailand's internet freedom", but then proceeds with a very carefully and tightly crafted discussion of online freedoms. Let's not kid ourselves. The fact that this article steered clear of obvious "issues" clearly indicates the lack of internet freedom.

"causing a public panic by spreading military coup rumors"

<deleted>! This is treating the people of Thailand like little children. There is no public panic! If you want to avoid public panic, then don't have that sh*thead Science Minister talking about imminent flooding. THAT would cause panic. But saying "there might be a coup" would be like saying "there might be rain". This is Thailand! Two things happen a <deleted> of a lot here: rain and coups!

"the words aren’t true, and if they kept circulating online, it could damage the country"

Again... treating Thais like children that require protection. If it damages the country, so what?! Let the country learn from its mistakes and recover... like every other country.

Or did they mean to say: "the country could lose face"? If that's the biggest concern... well... <deleted> it... go ahead and have public panic. It's still going to hell with blinders on and a smile on its face... while its girls get sold for sex... the rice crop gets sold for pennies... and kids think Hitler is "cool".

Feeling better now...

[klauskunkel]

Right now you can say:

"I love the Royal Thai Police", and "Thaksin please come home, I miss you"

You shouldn't' have any problems with posts like these.

However, I just had an idea:

What if posts come with warning labels and ratings? I mean: "This post is in no way intended...blah, blah, blah", or "Mature Audiences Only", just append some generic lawyerly phrase automatically and unobtrusively at the end of any post (like a "signature"), which puts the blame of breaking the law squarely on the reader not the poster!

[asupeartea]

So much is NOT talked about here in the local press. "They" would probably imprison many contributors to this website if they could understand English.

[HUAHIN62]

While everyone is shouting about government actions let look at the bigger picture. There are according to an article in the nation a specialist military unit that participates in internet propaganda, not on behalf of the government but in relation to the LM laws. This unit monitors websites for people contravening the LM laws but also participates in website discussions, comments and posts. This unit came into existence under the previous government and is very active, they posted 1,68 million comments on the internet in 3 months last year. So how can you have free speech if the military can influence peoples thoughts. How free can you speech be if big brother NSA know what you are saying and think of this if Snowden could access the NSA info without them knowing how safe is your info on their servers? Then there is self imposed censorship by the media. If you try to comment on newspapers like Bangkok post they screen your comment before placing it. When they dont like what your are saying, even if it is within their rules, they dont place your comment. Freedom of speech have reached its peak and from now on in we will see more manipulation of the internet by groups and government and the filtering of info to identify potential security hazards. These security hazards may now be potential terrorist, but the same technology and procedures can be used by governments to silence people that speak to freely. These freedom issues aren't unique to Thailand and will become growing problems in the west as the security complex takes over the role of the military complex.

[tonneke breda]

You say it best........WHEN YOU SAY NOTHING AT ALL !!

What a crap......

Better let yourself be heard for the cause of Democracy..(if that will ever come in Thailand)

[TackyToo]

The TCSD has promised to use LINE chat records to tackle only suspects involved in four major crimes – drug smuggling, arms trading, prostitution and counterfeit product selling.

Do you remember the first time you came to LOS? I do! However, the last impression that came to mind was that prostitution and selling counterfeit products could possibly seen as crimes.

The division vowed to pursue their operation in a legal manner and on a case-by-case basis.

Then why was it that Police Maj Gen Pisit Pao-in pointed out there will be no Thai-Laws broken because the tapping would be done in a foreign country (Japan)? And that would make it legal?

[PoorSucker]

troll posts removed.

[allan michaud]

A history of incidents such as this has led to one of the most prized and misunderstood attributes of the Thai - The Smile: a reflexive fear response to preempt aggression.

Thank you for that clarification, I always assumed it was a "crocodile smile".

[Krataiboy]

Thailand is merely following a frightening trend.

Not just in authoritarian states or dictatorships, but also in allegedly freedom-loving democracies, any reservation about, criticism of or dissent relating to an unpopular administration is viewed as tantamount to treason.

Whether one looks East or West, the threat of global totalitarianism looms ever larger.

The third world war will not, as widely predicted, be about the freedom to access the world's reserves of oil or water.

It will be about preserving freedom itself.

And it has already begun.

[kirk0233]

A history of incidents such as this has led to one of the most prized and misunderstood attributes of the Thai - The Smile: a reflexive fear response to preempt aggression.

Thank you for that clarification, I always assumed it was a "crocodile smile".

Certainly there are instances of smiling to hide an ulterior motive, but I believe the smile for most Thai serves a defensive function. The extent of physical and mental abuse an average Thai experiences is extreme by western standards. One study :

Rural-Urban Migration and Experience of Childhood

Abuse in the Young Thai Population by Dr. Tawanchai Jirapramukpitak, Assistant Professor, Faculty of

Medicine, Thammasat University, Thailand J Fam Violence. 2011 November; 26(8): 607–615

He conducted a population-based, cross-sectional survey in Northern

Bangkok on a representative sample of 1,052 young residents, aged 16-

25 years. There were 10.2% reporting sexual abuse (9% non-penetrative and 5.3%

penetrative). Around 18.9% reported physical abuse and 58.6% emotional

abuse.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3212695/

Of course abuse against women and other mionority members of Thai society is common as well; including foreigners. I believe the Thai live with the potential for violence on a near constant basis and some behaviors have developed such as the smile and customs such as "face" to lessen probable violence.

[marell]

BTW....<deleted> has the photograph in article got to do with the piece ?

That looks like a deformed bunny rabbit having a pee ?

Don't think it's a real photograph. Uh, can I say that?