Gay Boy Thailand

CYBER CRIME

Internet data law goes into force Aug 23
KING-OUA LAOHONG
Bangkok Post 13. August 2008

From Aug 23, private firms, organisations and government agencies will be required to store all internet traffic data for 90 days so it is available as digital evidence for police. Pol Col Yannapol Youngyuen, commander of the Bureau of Technology and Cyber Crime at the Department of Special Investigation, said the IT Ministry order has no exceptions and will include banks, hotels, schools and internet cafes.

He said digital evidence gathered from computers is useful in tracking those engaged in cyber crime.

Cyber offences, ranging from email forwarding of pornographic pictures to posting libellous messages on forums, are on the rise, Pol Col Yannapol said, but police agencies find it hard to gather the evidence to bring the perpetrators to justice.

He said internet cafes will also be required to collect information to identify computer users, such as ID cards, time of logging in and sites visited. Shops that fail to heed the rules will face fines up to 500,000 baht, he said.

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I have checked the date. It is not the 1st of April. I also checked which country I am in by looking out the window. I am not in North Korea. I have heard about similar rules in Vietnam, but Vietnam is a communist dictatorship. Thailand is… umm… a democracy.

I have already been in Internet cafe raids where the police come in to see if anything immoral goes on in the bathroom, and to see if anyone under 18 is playing Audition after 10 pm.

This new law opens the possibility of raids to check ID cards for Thais and passports for foreigners, and to see if everything you do online is logged.

Will the police actually do that? They just might. They love raids. And the Internet cafes are cash cows which the police take an interest in. If you know what I mean.