The Prayut Chan-o-cha cabinet's swift endorsement of eight digital and cyber-related draft laws has raised concerns among netizens and cyber experts over rights violations.
Poramate Minsiri, managing director of Bundit Centre Co and founder of the popular website kapook.com, said the laws passed by the cabinet worried him.
Initially, the Computer Crime Act, which was enacted during the previous coup-installed government led by Gen Surayud Chulanont, already caused unnecessary burdens for service providers. However, the amended version now states that providers who intentionally support or acknowledge the crime according to the Information and Communication Technology Ministry (ICT) announcement would be subject to punishment.
"Instead of stipulating clearly in the law what the offences are, the laws give the ministry the power to declare them as it sees fit," said Mr Poramate. But the biggest concern is the establishment of the National Cyber Security Committee (NCSC) and the National Cyber Security Agency (NCSA) under the new laws, he said. "This will give powers to any officer assigned by the ICT minister. How can business transactions be kept secret among competitors?" said Mr Poramate.
In other countries, security concerns are balanced with human rights groups and authorities who can use the court to issue warrants to seek information, but authorities abroad are not given the blanket powers of this law, he said.
The cabinet on Wednesday approved the eight digital and computer-related draft laws aimed at facilitating the government's digital economy policy. The draft includes laws to regulate and promote electronic transactions, cyber security, the digital economy, and cyber privacy protection.
Isriya Paireepairit, the founder of Siam Intelligence Unit, a private think tank, said the eight laws were passed with different purposes: to create a conducive environment for building the digital economy, to control frequency allocation and to conduct surveillance on people. The new NCSC and NCSA are problematic because they will hurt the confidence of foreign firms in Thailand such as LINE, Google and Facebook, said Mr Isriya.
Prinya Hom-Anek, president of ACIS Professional Centre, an information security business, said the concept of a national agency taking charge of digital security was universal but the structure must be under the direct supervision of the prime minister with a degree of independence and not under the jurisdiction or control by any ministry. "We should have agencies with integrity and professionals like the Securities and Exchange Commission and Bank of Thailand, but the would-be agencies should not run the businesses in parallel with private companies," said Mr Prinya.
Gayathry Venkiteswaran, executive director of the Southeast Asian Press Alliance, said her agency views the proposed bill with concern in an environment where certain political views could be considered threats to national security. "For example, the government has admitted it wants to monitor citizens who comment negatively on the monarchy, and is said to have asked operators of social networking sites to provide access to the content," said Ms Gayathry.