Thailand approves plans to track tourists' phones

[bark]

1 hour ago, JImH2O said:

More info is needed, especially on the technical side. Like i said in another thread, i don't believe they can pull it off becaue they are simply too incompetent to achieve anything sophisticated as this.
But the day they force me to put their simcard in my phone so they can track me i will leave this country. I'm very keen on my privacy and don't use any social media etc., not even my big brother homecountry invades my privacy like Thailand is trying to do.
 

They can track you through Thai Visa, if they really wanted to. I guess this will be your last post. Good Luck.

[soalbundy]

1 hour ago, kingstonkid said:

 

How many shops in MBK and other areas will have to close or go out of business because they do not have the cards.

Yes there is probably money to be made but I think some will lose.

 

LAHGON29  You are saying that over stayers are "smart"  Just read all the posts about guys that have friends that have trouble  

 

I wonder how many short timers actually buy a card.

 

The next question though is what do they do about us that already have phones and sim cards.  I have a payment plan already and really would like to know how that will work.

 

Diplomats will be given phones and exemption from this  so they will not really care.

 

 

 

 

 

I read in a British newspaper that expats will be exempt,which one? i forget i read loads. I can't see how this could work, in theory yes it could but only in theory, if someone goes missing, is murdered,you could find the location of the body except that the phone will have been stolen and the sim changed, an over stayer would likely get a sim from a girlfriend if he planned to over stay, a criminal ha!!! they wouldn't even bother inserting the sim, so you are left with the legal harmless tourists, why track them?

[sjholden]

A US Telco tried this by using the SIM card to keep turning GPS on.

It also happened to me with AIS when I left the city.

In other words, it's already happening.

[Whyamiandwhatamidoinghere]

Don't you just love Democracy? How,   you ask,  will they implement this train wreck? Simple. Make it a requirement to enter or stay in Thailand. Arrive from anywhere and be forced to show your number is a registered Track - A - Foreigner Sim. If not purchase an overpriced Sim from your friendly immigration officer. Refusal...  entry denied. If already staying in Thailand via all other visas you must go to immigration and buy this Sim. Oh.. And for all you, smarter than a third grader wannabes, who will leave your phone on in the crapper. Get stopped without this Sim and be subject to fines and or deportation. 90 day reporting is going to be fun! 

Edited August 10, 2016 by Whyamiandwhatamidoinghere
Brain aneurysm

[malt25]

"Thailand approves plans to track tourists' phones"

 

"(BBC) Thailand is considering requiring tourists to use special Sim cards that would allow authorities to track their mobile phones."

 

Somewhat ambiguous ???

[bark]

1 hour ago, Mickmouse1 said:

Huh?what if i don't have a mobile phone,would they implant the sim in my Dick's HEAD?

Will I be given a free handset. ...<deleted>....

How would they do it, upon arrival implant a sim into your passport or will they E.T us upon arrival????

Electronic Tagging round your Dick..imagine queuing up at a Thai Airport waiting your turn to be ET...mudt make sure Dick is awake upon arrival?

You do know that smoking crack is illegal.

[JustNo]

Can anybody enlighten me and show me another country EVER that has done this to foreigners? I mean exactly this with sim-cards. Because we know places such as Nazi Germany have done something similar .. 

[MadMac]

1 hour ago, Kinnock said:

I think we're all missing the point of this proposal.  If you are in the mobile phone industry, then a proposal that could force all tourists to buy a particular SIM card plan is a good money spinner.

 

Nobody buys a SIM, they come for free and are already registered because you need to show some ID for the last 2...3 years. So this is all just for tin hats.

 

BBC picked it up already, so did some other international media in the western hemisphere where people are concerned about such things. Much damage done here as always from autocrats, even though it is not only technically impossible to implement such things properly. 

[KamalaRider]

1 hour ago, Kinnock said:

I think we're all missing the point of this proposal.  If you are in the mobile phone industry, then a proposal that could force all tourists to buy a particular SIM card plan is a good money spinner.

Not to mention the boost in sales for phones without GPS.

[MadMac]

Just now, JustNo said:

Can anybody enlighten me and show me another country EVER that has done this to foreigners? I mean exactly this with sim-cards. Because we know places such as Nazi Germany have done something similar .. 

 

They were ahead of their time probably.....SIM cards in Nazi Germany....what did you smoke?

[williamgeorgeallen]

1 hour ago, Basil B said:

What is the point of it?

 

Is Thailand going to have areas off limits to tourists and foreign media like China and Russia?  

it could very well go that way. the army can do anything they want now. they may well take over the banking system as well. we could very well see thailand going toward a type of communist system. seems this whole 250 appointed panel is similar to the system they have in china. 

It will be helpful, if any foreigner comes and commit crimes, because in the past they have been able to flee or it can be difficult to find them . wouldnt any criminal on the run just throw away their sim?

[MadMac]

5 minutes ago, malt25 said:

"Thailand approves plans to track tourists' phones"

 

NBTC does not approve any such thing, they are regulator, not legislator. 

[JustNo]

3 minutes ago, MadMac said:

 

They were ahead of their time probably.....SIM cards in Nazi Germany....what did you smoke?

As I mentioned I did not mean sim cards but something similar as in keeping strict tabs on a certain group of people

[KamalaRider]

1 minute ago, MadMac said:

 

They were ahead of their time probably.....SIM cards in Nazi Germany....what did you smoke?

I'm pretty sure he meant "registering people and pin a star on their clothes" type of thing.

They don't have to pin any signs on us to know we aren't Thai's though, otherwise that would have been another option for the "government".

[FunkyDunky58]

Xenophobia. If this is such a good idea, why not do it for Thais too. After all, the majority of crime committed is by Thai people, not foreigners. The govt gets so obsessed about tracking us but have no way of knowing where their very transient population is. This country will soon be like North Korea.

[bkkcanuck8]

I think it is funny that when I visited Vietnam it became obvious the difference between the two in a surprising way.  Thailand now seems like much more of a police state than Vietnam for the visitor on the ground.  Everywhere you turn you see police, but then most of them are not policing.  You have a government that seems to want to have all information about you, assign you a minder (a digital minder now - SIM -- rather than a person following you around).  In Vietnam it was just your normal SIM - did not even ask for a passport.  Almost every turn there seems to be someone who is suppose to report you - and it does not seem limited to just Hotels and entry/exit immigration.

Edited August 10, 2016 by bkkcanuck8

[sydneyboy]

51 minutes ago, brucegoniners said:

This place has become a full on police state.  Time to find a new place to live.

 

What's next, ankle bracelets for all foreigners?

 

Don't these morons know there is such a thing as a VPN for mobile phones, which changes the IP address to wherever you want to change it to?

 

Criminals will either use their foreign phones or VPN's, thus making this law a complete and utter joke and an inconvenience to law abiding citizens like myself.

 

This is like so many other laws passed by this joke of a government.  Liquor laws, I can go on and on.

 

The longer I'm here, the more I want to leave.

Do you need a lift to the airport?  

[KamalaRider]

BTW, I'm not living in Thailand anymore as I could forsee this type of prosecution and racism. 

Goodluck to all you guys that still believe it's a country for us to spend our hard earn money in.

[Whyamiandwhatamidoinghere]

Yippie! Another reason to move to Cambodia and marry Hun Sen's daughter? Cold beer, cheap forever visas and less regulations. Who would of thunk it that the country that took the lives of so many would reinvent itself and become a paradise. If you have ever been to Koh Rong you know what I'm talking about. 

[Rancid]

Very much doubt implementable short of the country becoming a Soviet style totalitarian state, and if so who would even come here then anyway. No doubt yet another badly thought out idea put forward, expect to see it rejected or some watered down useless version implemented.

 

That aside don't install a sim, just use Line etc with any free wifi connection over a VPN.

[Chicog]

Just make sure you don't update your phone from a Thailand telco.

 

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FinFisher

[DGS1244]

They really do not know what they are talking about, powers that be that is. Just having a SIM number will not help, OK you can see if the phone is turned on but not exact location, could be anywhere in many hundred square kilometers. To track you also need the IMEI number of the phone. The location of this will vary from phone to phone, but the IMEI/MEID number is usually printed on a sticker that is affixed to the phone underneath the battery. If the phone has an IMEI number but you are on a network that uses MEID numbers, ignore the last digit (IMEI is 15 digits, MEID is 14 digits). Without this it is almost impossible to track a location. IMEI stands for   'International Mobile Equipment Identity' number.

[Nepsydaz]

Okay ...... So the people Overstaying will abide by the rules and keep using the "Special Sim" card knowing that they are being Tracked?

Damn... The level of idiocy in this logic.

[JImH2O]

16 minutes ago, sydneyboy said:

You say you don't use social media! !!!

Then why are you on TV. Simple minds do not understand. Back home to were big brother can control and contact you.  

Thaivisa is social media in the literal meaning, but it's not privacy invading like facebook, line, whatsapp etc.
I'm ok with forums because there's no requirement to provide any personal information. I always use a dedicated email alias for each forum registration, never to be used for something else and i usually connect through VPN.
I'm sure that statistics and email addresses are shared with the thaivisa affiliates, but since they know nothing about me i'm ok with that.

 

 

[JustNo]

3 minutes ago, KamalaRider said:

BTW, I'm not living in Thailand anymore as I could forsee this type of prosecution and racism. 

Goodluck to all you guys that still believe it's a country for us to spend our hard earn money in.

Yeah as I said yesterday I am thinking of fleeing this sinking ship soon enough, or at least a sinking ship regarding foreigners. I am going to Laos again next month and so will look into living arrangements and all that jazz. For those who say 'good go, stop complaining' etc, sure it is a matter of opinion on where people stay and live, what is good or bad, but you have to admit the Thai government sure as hell give the feeling they don't want us here, and that is not pleasant to live around 

[sydneyboy]

55 minutes ago, ezzra said:

Here's a true story, many months ago, I gave the police full details names, phones

number of a couple of scammers who live in this country and scamming people

left right and center, till now, nothing was done about it, and those lowlife maggots

are still operating with impunity with the same phone numbers and email address,

so how is this new idea going to work when the ' old idea ' didn't work I'd like to know....

Cause you didn't pay more money in the brown bag to the BIB than the scammers.  

[bkkcanuck8]

Just now, DGS1244 said:

They really do not know what they are talking about, powers that be that is. Just having a SIM number will not help, OK you can see if the phone is turned on but not exact location, could be anywhere in many hundred square kilometers. To track you also need the IMEI number of the phone. The location of this will vary from phone to phone, but the IMEI/MEID number is usually printed on a sticker that is affixed to the phone underneath the battery. If the phone has an IMEI number but you are on a network that uses MEID numbers, ignore the last digit (IMEI is 15 digits, MEID is 14 digits). Without this it is almost impossible to track a location. IMEI stands for   'International Mobile Equipment Identity' number.

 

Actually, location can be much more accurate than that - even more if they have all telco's towers to triangulate.  If your phone can calculate your position fairly accurately using cell towers only, and/or cell phones and wifi... they can calculate your position in the same manner through signal strength at several towers to triangulate.  The GPS in the phone often is used for location services - but only in areas where it has clear view of several (i.e. 3 satellites) and that is not always the case.  People assume that they are relying on GPS when often it is not.

[pumpjack]

idiots,     you need a passport to register your sim card nowadays in thailand,  if i was on overstay then how is it possible to register sim as the store check your passport first. 

and what fool on overstay would even have a sim in their name.        also surely immigration know if a foreigner is on overstay by their own entry records !!      so how to hell is listening in on their calls etc going to possibly track them down ?     even if they do get a location of the overstayer then what , send out a swat 

team to nab him .  ff  s  

 

Edited August 10, 2016 by pumpjack

[KamalaRider]

3 minutes ago, DGS1244 said:

They really do not know what they are talking about, powers that be that is. Just having a SIM number will not help, OK you can see if the phone is turned on but not exact location, could be anywhere in many hundred square kilometers. To track you also need the IMEI number of the phone. The location of this will vary from phone to phone, but the IMEI/MEID number is usually printed on a sticker that is affixed to the phone underneath the battery. If the phone has an IMEI number but you are on a network that uses MEID numbers, ignore the last digit (IMEI is 15 digits, MEID is 14 digits). Without this it is almost impossible to track a location. IMEI stands for   'International Mobile Equipment Identity' number.

I think you are missing the point, the SIM is supposed to turn on the GPS and send out SMS or broadcast over the GSM/3G/4G network the position of the phone. 

[CNX66]

5 minutes ago, DGS1244 said:

They really do not know what they are talking about, powers that be that is. Just having a SIM number will not help, OK you can see if the phone is turned on but not exact location, could be anywhere in many hundred square kilometers. To track you also need the IMEI number of the phone. The location of this will vary from phone to phone, but the IMEI/MEID number is usually printed on a sticker that is affixed to the phone underneath the battery. If the phone has an IMEI number but you are on a network that uses MEID numbers, ignore the last digit (IMEI is 15 digits, MEID is 14 digits). Without this it is almost impossible to track a location. IMEI stands for   'International Mobile Equipment Identity' number.

That's not the point. What they check is if your SIM is roaming with the Thai network (national roaming); if yes; you are in Thailand.... That's the information they use I think.