Junta leader admitted that one of the prime agendas of the controversial digital economy bills is to catch lese majeste suspects and did not deny the report concerning Thai authorities’ implementation of software for mass surveillance.
At the government house on Thursday morning, Prayut Chan-o-cha, the junta leader, revealed to the press that some of the prime agendas of the controversial digital economy bill and cyber security bill are for cracking down online lese majeste content.
“We will develop the software for goods and services. If there are private [online] contents, no one would mess up with those. But if [some people] commit crimes [under lese majeste], we have to investigate on the matter. The accusation that the government is not taking care of Article 112 [Article 112 of the Criminal Code nicknamed lese majeste] is because those lese majeste websites were produced from overseas. They can’t be removed because other countries don’t have the law like us. They don’t allow us [ to shut down lese majeste contents]. Then why don’t we make our country safer because our house is different from their houses. Thai people are not like westerners. We eat rice and they eat bread which is different. We are truly Thai,” Wassana Nanuam, Bangkok Post's military beat reporter quoted the junta leader as saying.
Prayut also hinted that the bills are for blocking the lese majeste content produced oversea.
Prayut also ambiguously stated about the reported surveillance software. He said the Thai citizen should not be worried if they did not do anything wrong although he ironically said that people do not need to worry about privacy.
"We’ll develop a software. The software for services and commerce. If it’s your personal matter, we won’t mess with it, but if they’re wrong, we have to take a look,” Wassana quoted Prayut as saying.
There is an unconfirmed report since September that the authorities have bought a device or software to conduct mass surveillance in an attempt to read content under secured protocol.
Last week, Six civil organizations, such as Thai Netizen Network, FTA Watch, and Foundation for Community Education Media (FCEM) denounced the ten Digital Economy bills recently approved by the junta, saying they are national security bills in disguise and that the bill will pave the way for a state monopoly of the telecommunication business.
One of the most controversial Digital Economy bills is the Cyber Security Bill, which will give the Thai authority power to conduct mass surveillance on all communication devices in the name of national security.
As contents defaming the Thai monarchy, which violate Article 112 of the Criminal Code or the lèse majesté law, is strongly viewed by the junta and previous governments as threats to national security, the cyber security bill will serve the junta as a tool to intensify the purge on lese majeste further.
The post 2014 coup period marked the highest number of lese majeste arrests in Thai history. Lese majeste suspects are being arrested nearly every week, most of whom have been accused of defaming the monarchy online.
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Thai junta’s Digital Economy bills are national security bills in disguise: rights groups