PM stalls computer crime act
By Asina Pornwasin
The Nation 2011-04-20
ICT Ministry draft, criticised by many public groups, to be reviewed further
Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva yesterday put on hold a controversial draft of the new Computer Crime Act amid widespread concerns that the planned legislation could affect the right of communication of millions of Thai Internet users.
The prime minister said the draft would be further reviewed and would not be submitted to the Cabinet today.
The government's acting spokes-man Panitan Wattanayagorn said the draft was not on the Cabinet's agenda today. He said the Information and Communications Technology Ministry still needed to seek opinions from relevant state agencies about the draft.
The ICT Ministry-sponsored draft has drawn criticism from many people, including such groups as the Thai Citizen Network, iLaw, and the Network of Human Rights Law. They are concerned that it could infringe on rights and liberties, especially those of Internet and social-network users.
One of the concerns is about the setting up of a new commission under the proposed new act. Comprising representatives from security-related organisations, its major role would be to prevent and suppress computer crime. This commission would be overseen by officers of the ICT Ministry and the Electronic Transaction Agency (Public Organisation). Some scholars are concerned that the commission would become a "one-stop absolute power" in enforcing the new law.
The Thai Citizen Network, iLaw, and the Network of Human Rights Law yesterday submitted a letter to the prime minister opposing the draft.
They said the draft contained very broad and ambiguous definitions on what practices could be considered computer crime.
For example, Article 16 of the draft says that anyone who inappropriately copies content from the computer of another person, which consequently results in damage to the other person, faces either imprisonment for not more than three years or a fine not exceeding Bt50,000, or both. The groups argued that the term "copy" in this draft is ambiguous.
Another ambiguous use in the draft is about the person who administers the system. The draft does not specify whether it means the system administrator, or any person who authorises another to access the Internet for communication.
ICT Minister Chuti Krairiksh claimed yesterday that the draft opposed by the Thai Citizen Network, iLaw, and the Network of Human Right Law is not the one that is to be submitted to the Cabinet.
He said the current draft is the version that has gone through the process of public hearings and has already been revised by the ministry's committee assigned to draft the law. He said the version being opposed by the three groups was the one that had been written before the public hearings.
Chuti added that the law was unlikely to be passed by the current government.
Sarinee Achavanunkul, committee member of Thai Citizen Network, questioned the claim about public hearings. She said she had learned that the ministry only called in a group of Internet service providers on March 28 to comment on the draft.
There are between 16 million to 17 million Internet users in the country. Currently the 2007 Computer Crime Act is still in effect.
Sarinee said the current act has a problem with enforcement but it is not necessary to have a new law to solve this inadequacy.
She said the solution lay in the ministry increasing the knowledge of relevant state officials, especially technical knowledge in handling cyber-crime.
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