From WTF to LOL , Internet reacts to plan to track foreign nationals

[mesterm]

19 hours ago, Aachen said:

Well. If your SIM Card is registered (and it has to be), then there is nothing like a "special tracking SIM card". The customer is already marked as falang, cause he did register with his passport and not Thai ID card.

 

Ah but does it cost twice what it is now? We gotta charge you for the "special tracking devices" you see.

[Bangkok Barry]

This topic has gone around the world via the BBC and others, letting foreigners know that if they come as tourists then the government wants them to be fitted with a tracking device. Couple that with the fact the country has an unelected military dictatorship government and secret courts and a ban on group gatherings and a cap on free speech, and I imagine that Thailand might be a little less appealing than, oh, several dozen other countries around the world as a holiday destination. I wonder what TAT thinks of this latest government farce initiative.

[MissAndry]

2 hours ago, gk10002000 said:

Well, so a tourist comes in with their own IPhone, android, blackberry or whatever.  Replace the SIM?  The original SIM has all the original contact info and numbers, so now those would not be available since you put the new SIM in?  Some devices and plans just don't let you replace and use other SIMS.  I still use and plan to keep using my old fashioned flip top phone that does NOT have GPS, does not have wifi or any internet or Bluetooth capability and I don't have any sort of data plan that connects to the internet.  Just what exactly do they think is going to work? 

Google stores all my phone numbers (for past 2-3 years), not the SIM in my phone (past 4-6 years). You seem to be a bit behind with current smart phone tech. As long as I have my google play account name and password, all my data is instantly recoverable in any smart phone. When I buy a new phone, from turning it on to having all my apps, numbers, photos, web links and contacts in it takes about 30 minutes.

Edited August 11, 2016 by MissAndry

[Bangkok Barry]

2 hours ago, gk10002000 said:

Well, so a tourist comes in with their own IPhone, android, blackberry or whatever.  Replace the SIM?  The original SIM has all the original contact info and numbers, so now those would not be available since you put the new SIM in?  Some devices and plans just don't let you replace and use other SIMS.  I still use and plan to keep using my old fashioned flip top phone that does NOT have GPS, does not have wifi or any internet or Bluetooth capability and I don't have any sort of data plan that connects to the internet.  Just what exactly do they think is going to work? 

 

Because this was dreamed up by someone who hasn't got the faintest idea of how phones work. They have no idea about roaming, phones locked into a particular card or phone company, the fact that people can turn off their phone or not take it with them, or sell it on to someone else, or have someone else buy them an alternative card, or or or......

It's really quite pathetic, and just shows the world in this this has been reported how narrow-minded and stupid the country's leaders can be. A travel writer friend of mine, who will no doubt tell his Australian readers of the scheme, calls it idiotic. Sounds right.

[Sydebolle]

Remember the days when the infidels could neither buy a car, a motesai nor register a phone? Well, some of the aliens run around for 25$+ years with a phone number owned by the Missus ;-). 

Makes Pokemon easier too I hear ............

[TheMacMan]

Have I missed something in these posts (and the others threads on the same subject??)

My only concern is whether I have to have a new number.... or can I keep the one I have already got (and have had for the last 3.5 years)..... changing phone numbers will cause a lot of hassle to many, many foreigners living in Thailand.... more then getting a new 'trackable' SIM....

 

I am not a criminal, they can give me a new SIM if they like, I don't care, I abide by the rules, but my Thai number is tied to so many things now.... Thai and foreign banks, friends and family, thai people and businesses that contact ME on my number.....   God knows how much more difficult this will make life for foreigners working here.... their current phone numbers on their business cards, stationary, sides of vans, shopfronts etc.....  

OK... so new SIM... whatever, who cares, but a new number = pain in the backside!

 

Anyone know the answer to that question so far???

[elgordo38]

22 hours ago, seajae said:

definitely shows the lack of intelligence that thai govt officials have when they come up with crap like this, it is totally laughable if they think they will be able to actually use it as intended, clowns at best.

Without sunshine and cheap labor the government would really be in a pickle. 

[Loles]

So my opininon:     <deleted>  &  LOL

[JRinPDX]

There are several GPS Spoofing tools in the Android Play store.  

[The manic]

My Google mapping app seems to track me pretty effectively already.  That's scary!

[JAG]

7 hours ago, Bangkok Barry said:

This topic has gone around the world via the BBC and others, letting foreigners know that if they come as tourists then the government wants them to be fitted with a tracking device. Couple that with the fact the country has an unelected military dictatorship government and secret courts and a ban on group gatherings and a cap on free speech, and I imagine that Thailand might be a little less appealing than, oh, several dozen other countries around the world as a holiday destination. I wonder what TAT thinks of this latest government farce initiative.

 

No doubt they will pop up on the radar soon, predicting a 17.39% increase in tourism from mobile phone geeks!

[Kiwiken]

Will this make the Tourists Poke Mon Gone?

[Johpa]

11 hours ago, TheMacMan said:

Anyone know the answer to that question so far???

 

There are no answers as there are as yet no special SIM cards.  Those SIM cards are what is called, I believe, "vaporware".  The Thais would have to engineer their special SIM card, and then have it mass produced in Chinese SIM card factories.

 

Of course the idea is very tantalizing to those who would pocket the money involved in the sales of the SIM card and the money involved in paying for those special minutes.  But like most ideas coming out of Thai government departments, especially those ideas that are mostly centered on personal profit, the ideas have not been thought out too thoroughly.  Once the full cost of implementing this plan is realized it will be quietly dropped. 

[onetik]

there are crazy , they already have the best intelligence agency , and they don't even know it . lol.

if you sleep with a mute-girl in puket , you wil see the whole chiangmai will know it ....

[Jools]

OMG!!!!  They're spending MONEY here and boosting the economy. This MUST be stopped.

[jcsmith]

Governments without elections, wire taps without warrants, phones without privacy, it sure is bringing happiness to the people. I seriously hope the people who looked the other way as Suthep was doing his maniacal rallies, who applauded as the military seized control are happy with the current situation.

Edited August 11, 2016 by jcsmith

[volka]

According to TAT,there are almost 30 000 000 tourists this year and more to come.

 

did they think the amount of manpower required to monitor 30 000 000 people not to mention technology, computers, man hours , hard drives and everything else 

[halloween]

7 hours ago, volka said:

According to TAT,there are almost 30 000 000 tourists this year and more to come.

 

did they think the amount of manpower required to monitor 30 000 000 people not to mention technology, computers, man hours , hard drives and everything else 

You might even think that wasn't the intention.

[Winniedapu]

8 hours ago, jcsmith said:

Governments without elections, wire taps without warrants, phones without privacy, it sure is bringing happiness to the people. I seriously hope the people who looked the other way as Suthep was doing his maniacal rallies, who applauded as the military seized control are happy with the current situation.

 

Doubtless they are.

 

For the moment...

 

Winnie

 

The fat lady is singing...

[JAG]

8 hours ago, jcsmith said:

Governments without elections, wire taps without warrants, phones without privacy, it sure is bringing happiness to the people. I seriously hope the people who looked the other way as Suthep was doing his maniacal rallies, who applauded as the military seized control are happy with the current situation.

 

 

For some here it is obviously sheer bliss, absolute utopia.

 

Many others here have become somewhat muted - reality has maybe began to dawn.

 

More generally, as lomg as the junta continues to act in the interests of their backers, then the only people who matter will be happy.

 

As for the rest of the population, well the junta has just won an emphatic endorsement. So emphatic that they were able to announce the results from around 100,000 polling stations in less than 4 hours!

 

Now that is emphatic...

Edited August 12, 2016 by JAG