Thread: Cyber Crime Act becomes effective today

Cyber Crime Act becomes effective today


(BangkokPost.com) - The Cyber Crime Act sponsored by the Information Communications and Technology becomes effective today (Wednesday).

Dr. Jate Chantarung, one of the academics responsible for passing the bill, says the law will not have a dramatic impact on computer users but will affect their future “forwarding mail” habits.

“From now on, any forward mail deemed as propaganda, contains sexual content or is considered defamatory will be dealt with,” Dr. Jate warns.

Service providers will also be required to keep all cyber information for at least 90 days to allow government authorities to retrieve data whenever required.

This is considered a bigger burden for companies as well as internet service providers which have to invest more to keep this data.

from the Nation:

Thai police get tough Net laws
source: The Nation July 18, 2007

Taking effect today, a new law allows police officers or government inspectors to seize computers on private premises suspected of containing pornographic material or evidence in connection with either general criminal activities or cyber crimes.

The 2007 Computer-related Crimes Act also prevents unauthorised applications and access made to other people's computers, as well as alteration, deletion or destruction of the information of others.

Impostors using others' identities to send slanderous messages, or those who flood information on discussion forums are also subject to criminal penalties under the law, proposed and drafted by the National Electronics and Computer Technology Centre (Nectec) and enforced by the Information and Communications Technology Ministry.

The Act also subjects those circulating pornographic material or libellous content through e-mails to heavy fines.

The Act originated from anti-hacking efforts a few years ago when Nectec began its fight against the practice and later studied online intrusions. But other online crimes have also been included in the law.

The Act also requires Internet service providers (ISPs) to keep log files of bandwidth consumption and Internet traffic and records of individual users for 90 days.

Nectec director Pansak Siriruchatapong said the Act, in theory, would provide benefits to the country as a whole. However, he expressed concern about the capability of officials, who are required to have knowledge of computers.

Nectec's legal specialist Surangkana Wayapard said the new Act was expected to set a standard and to give confidence to e-commerce businesses, national security forces, and e-business transactions.

It will also encourage electronic transactions, security on the Internet, and electronic commerce in Thailand while discouraging anti-authoritarian people from carrying out illegal activities on the network.

Pawoot Pongvitayapanu, vice president of the Thai E-Commerce Association, said the Act had both pros and cons.

The disadvantages would immediately subject the business sector to financial burdens with the mandatory storage of log files, new servers and storage units, especially firms with a huge amount of information, Net traffic and transactions.

On the positive side, the Act signified the government's official and serious involvement, and legitimate role, in tackling online crimes with newer technology.

Originally Posted by Spin

a new law allows police officers or government inspectors to seize computers on private premises suspected of containing pornographic material

Thats quite a few computers i would think, do they have a fleet of 1000 10 wheelers to carry them all

I'd better stop Skyping pictures of tottly to LC then...

is this the same law that requires the ICT to apply to the courts before web sites are blocked.....is youtube still censored?

Investors fear harsh Computer Crime Act

COMPUTER LAW SLAMMED FOR COSTING THAILAND BILLIONS
13/01/2013

The Computer Crime Act is impeding free speech and proving a hindrance to business innovation and entrepreneurship, academics and computer experts say.

The application of the act, enacted in 2007 by the Surayud Chulanont government following the 2006 coup, has also scared investors away from Thailand, Ann Lavin, director of public policy and government relations at Google Southeast Asia, said.

"The [act] should deal with direct computer crimes like phishing," she said.

"But the point is that foreign investors will not invest here because the law holds intermediaries [such as webmasters] liable" for crimes committed by others, Ms Lavin told a seminar in Bangkok this week.

"Only 1 per cent of content on the world wide web is in the Thai language. There should definitely be more, but people are afraid of the laws so they don't want to create websites," she said.

She said Section 15 of the Computer Crime Act in particular has cost Thailand a fortune in lost foreign investment.

Section 15 states that any service provider who intentionally supports or consents to breaching Section 14 will be jailed for up to five years or fined up to 100,000 baht or both.

Offences under Section 14 include importing false data that is likely to undermine national security or cause a public panic; holding data related to an offence against national security; and publishing pornographic material.

In effect, Section 15 means that website operators are held accountable if illegal content is posted on their sites, even if the content was posted by third parties, such as on a forum.

Businesses based on innovation, Ms Lavin said, need constant online communication.

"They need to connect and liaise with users of their products at all times, but [in Thailand] you have a system that needs to check everything, every time," she said.

"It's pretty obscure and could land you in jail ... putting innovators at unnecessary risk, financially and legally."

Thailand ranked 57th in the world in a recent survey to measure innovation.

A poll conducted recently by the Thai Commerce Ministry also showed that most webmasters did not understand the Computer Crime Act, while many innovators found the law cumbersome and were choosing to settle elsewhere, Ms Lavin said.

Elsewhere, she said, people could make a profit from creating popular online content. But here, she said, people were not willing to take the risk.

"We need to fix [the act], because it is unhealthy for Thailand. Google has been deterred from launching a number of Thai products because of the law too."

Google's Transparency Report shows that the company received two requests in the first half of 2012 from the of Information and Communications Technology Ministry to remove 14 YouTube videos which it deemed insulting to the monarchy.

Google decided to restrict three of the videos so that they could not be viewed in Thailand.

A 712-page report released by the Freedom of Expression Documentation Centre, a civil group monitoring internet freedom in Thailand, showed that from July 2007 to December 2012, 317 court orders were given to suspend 102,191 web addresses.

Of these, 77,491 were deemed to defame the monarchy while 23,456 were considered obscene.

Sawatree Suksri, a Thammasat University law lecturer, said an amendment to the Computer Crime Act was needed to free internet service providers from obscure legal responsibility.

"We might have to challenge court orders to block websites as being against the constitution's prescribed principles of freedom of expression," Ms Sawatree said.

She noted that the number of websites being blocked spiked in the wake of political turmoil, including the 2006 coup and the April-May 2010 crackdown.

bangkokpost.com

Originally Posted by William

deemed as propaganda

Does that mean it's still ok to send trojans embedded in image files and documents from internet cafes in order to hack into systems and torrent microdeposits of money all over the place?

The application of the act, enacted in 2007 by the Surayud Chulanont government following the 2006 coup..

Whaddya expect from a guy who consistently wore gilded Nehru-collared tunics ?

New internet bill should be dropped
Monday 28 October 2013

Reporters Without Borders has asked the Ministry of Communications and Internet Technology to change its approach to updating the Computer Crime Act of 2007.

The law already authorizes the government to arrest journalists and bloggers for political reasons. If a newly proposed amendment were adopted, the government would have even more latitude to muzzle the independent and opposition media.

“We support the five journalists association which have protested the bill,” Reporters Without Borders said. “The bill – in addition to eliminating a requirement for a judicial warrant to block a website – would allow that action without approval from the Ministry of Communications and Internet Technology, thereby distancing the law even more from international standards.”

The press freedom organization added, “We request that the legislation be withdrawn in its entirety.”

Any official attempt to amend the Computer Crime Act should be undertaken after consulting with representatives of the media and information sectors – a move not made in this case - RWB said. A cooperative effort would ensure that the crime of lèse-majesté could not be charged for political purposes. And expression of opinion and offenses arising from online publication would be decriminalized, the organization said.

In a joint press release on 24 October, the Thai Journalists Association, the Thai Broadcasting Journalists Association, Online News Providers Association, Information Technology Reporters and Academic Specialists on Computer Law Group declared that the bill would threaten the very infrastructure of the internet and would make website operators, internet service providers and users responsible for content.

The government has defended itself by citing a referendum held before the bill was introduced. But the media associations said that neither they, nor any online businesses, were given any participation in drafting the proposed amendment.

The 2007 law requires service providers to store individual data on web users for 90 days. Authorities may examine this information with no judicial oversight. The law also decrees prison terms for lèse-majesté, although this offense was not included in the first version of the law, in 2006.

Thailand is ranked 135 of 179 countries in the 2013 World Press Freedom Index compiled by Reporters Without Borders.

en.rsf.org