Thailand's Computer Crimes Law is Double-Edged Sword

Under Thailand's Computer-Related Crime law, producing, posting or hosting any content Thai police view as pornographic and for public view is a crime - whether its if free or for sale. 

Additionally, under a separate section of Thailand's Computer-Related Crime Act, or CCA, if complaining witnesses or alleged victims find anything on the internet in written, graphic design, photographic or video form offensive to their reputation, then criminal charges are applicable to whoever is deemed responsible for making the content visible on the internet.  

Under the CCA, criminal charges can be brought against the posting person and, if not removed after due notice, service providers and website and blog owners can also be criminally charged. One Thai blog owner has already been arrested and a Bangkok-based, British blog owner is under investigation for violations of the CAA. 

With the going on-political unrest and the tentative nature of the most valued hierarchal position of all social conformity in Thailand the censors are operating full-time and people and institutions who are being hurt with images or words on the internet are complaining causing further, deeper investigations. 

In short, now is not the time to for anyone to be going negative on the internet in Thailand. Especially against people and institutions of power and with connections. Even poor, uneducated Thai women hired to perform in adult movies who later feel remorse have successfully had foreigners arrested under the CCA and other criminal statutes.

Distributing pornography accessible to the public and writing anything damaging the reputation or causing someone to "lose face" are crimes in Thailand under the Computer-Related Crime Act, punishable by jail time and steep fines. 

Popular English language websites about Thailand like the high Alexa.com-ranked ThaiVisa.com and others have had almost a million hits on recent postings about two American pornographers in Thailand who were charged with making sex movies for public viewing - a crime legal in America and most western countries, but illegal here. 

The law firm who secured the release of the two Americans arrested at different times for different movie-making is PAPPA Co., Ltd.Law Office, owned by American businessman Drew Noyes and his family. Drew Noyes has attended numerous Thai government seminars on the Computer-Related Crime Act, the Foreign Business Act and the Condominium Act  and sits on the Law Committee for the American Chamber of Commerce (AMCHAM) in Bangkok. Drew Noyes is widely considered Thailand's leading foreign authority on laws pertaining to foreigners in Thailand. 

According to Thai legal expert Drew Noyes, Thailand's Computer-Related Crime Act, or CCA, broadly defines three separate types of activity as criminal acts "that every foreigner with a computer, webcam, camera or video camera should know about.  Some provisions are easily violated because these acts are not illegal in America and most other countries. Which, of course, the Thai police say is "no excuse" when caught breaking Thai law."

The first type of criminal act in Thailand as defined in the Computer-Related Crime Act translates to read, “...this includes introducing data of a pornographic nature that is publicly accessible or introducing forged or false data into a computer system that could cause damage to a third party. Includes posting false statements about a person in Thailand [on a blog or website that is open to the public or easily viewed online]." 

"These charges can lead to imprisonment for up to five years or a fine of up to 100,000 Baht or both. Unless you have a really good lawyer,” Drew Noyes of PAPPA Co., Ltd. Law office said.

This is a broad definition and it applies to things like blogs, forums and chat rooms or publishing mobile phone photos or video clips on any publicly accessible websites including Facebook, Hi5, Flickr, and YouTube and even porn sites where anyone can join as a member, Noyes said.

The Telephone Organization of Thailand (TOT) which is one of the Thai government agencies tasked with regulating internet services also offers direct internet access to its customers.  The TOT internet access log-in states, “The Computer Related Crime Act.B.E. 2550, Section 26 forces that service provider shall keep both traffic data and user data as necessary for the purpose of indentifying the user. “

“Section 26 of the Computer Crime Act makes it mandatory for all internet service providers (ISPs) to keep records of their users' email, chat, internet usage and personal identification for a minimum of 90 days,” Noyes explained.

Under Section 3 of the CCA, a 'service provider' is defined broadly as anyone or juristic person (company) who provides internet access or computer communications like messaging, dating sites, blogs, forums or any websites to other people, Noyes noted.

“And as of August 24, 2008, the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Ministry ruled websites and blogs are liable and should police all the content their sites and any postings added by users. Webmaster must act responsibly by removing illegal content of text, graphics, pictures and videos if they can be seen in Thailand," Noyes added.

"Police are also tracking some individuals who use Blogger and other free sites to lie about or defame people living in Thailand. It does not matter where the offender is or where the site is hosted on the computer server, if the victim files charges in Thailand or alerts the proper authorities in the Cyber Crimes Division of the Royal Thai Police, then there most likely will be criminal charges filed if the evidence is strong," said Noyes.

Authorities questioned say Thaivisa.com, Pattayaaddicts.com, Teakdoor.com, Pattayasecrets.com and other forums and news-based websites in Thailand, popular in Pattaya are acting in accordance with the law and removing user-generated content as soon as they see a potentially damaging posting which could cause legal problems.

"However, smaller, poorly monitored, one-man blog has had many complaints made by individuals, businesses and agencies affected by negative blog postings of questionable accuracy and these sites are under investigation. Calls for ceasing and desisting have gone unanswered by the blog owners in some cases and those bloggers are subject to arrest under the Computer Crime Act," Noyes added.

"An English language blog operated from Bangkok is now being investigated by Thai police because the purpose is to defame Thailand, its institutions and some prominent foreigners living here, it seems. Yet, ironically, the blog under investigation is operated by a Brit who is an unemployed journalist living in Thailand."

"Numerous complaints have been filed against him and his blog. TAT, the Royal Thai Police, the BOI and the British Embassy in Bangkok are copying his postings to appraise the damage caused to reputations and to take action ," a Thai private investigator working on behalf of a foreigner who was smeared on the blog stated.

It's not just foreigners being monitored. Thai bloggers are under scrutiny, also. Readers may recall the Pattaya Times article in early 2009 reporting the arrest and conviction of a Thai man who owned the domain name of the blog  and a user posted a photo of a nude woman to his site. He was notified by the woman to remove the photo and did not, so he went to jail and paid a fine even though the hosting was in America.

Drew Noyes went on to say, “This category under the CCA is quite important and is most often used by our law firm to protect our clients from public humiliation as in the case of the woman's nude photo posted on the blog and the Thai guy refused to remove it, even after being given 90 days to remove it.”

“This provision of the law translates to read a photo or video posted on the internet, "in a manner that is likely to impair the affected person's reputation or cause him or her to be shunned or embarrassed" is a crime. It is a crime to enter a photo into a computer where another person's picture appears either as it was photographed or after being edited,” Noyes said.

Noyes goes on to explain, “Because of our complete understanding of Thai civil and criminal laws we protect our clients: both against prosecution under the CCA and also as defendants when they have been libeled or defamed on the internet in Thailand." 

"Some Thai women models filed charges against foreign porn makers because they said they "lost face" after seeing themselves (or their Thai boyfriend saw them) on the internet performing in adult movies. We receive and study all recent CCA amendments so our Thai lawyers can be qualified to get our clients out of jail for making adult movies in Thailand. Having lawyers that speak English and who know the loopholes to avoid jail time is essential.The law is a double-edged sword because we use the same law to protect foreign clients when they have been libeled or defamed on the internet in a blog or on a website," Noyes added.

"We handle these internet-related cases, but most of our legal work is getting property back from Thais which foreigners bought and filing divorces or for refunds from property developers. But, we help almost everyone. It's easy to feel isolated and alone with no support in Thailand when you are a foreigner.  Stranger in a stranger land loses its intrigue when a guy is in trouble," Noyes opined.

We are experts in the understanding of the Computer Related Crime Act, Foreign Business Act, Condominium Act  and other laws affecting foreigners. We help our clients avoid legal problems,” said Drew Noyes. 

The second category in the Thailand cyber-crimes act makes it a crime to Intercepting electronic communications (including hacking into or unauthorized use of someone’s WiFi), damaging or changing computer data in whole or in part and crashing a computer system. The penalty is up to 15 years in jail depending on the severity of the crime, he added.

The third category of crimes under the act and as defined in the CCA translates to read, 'illegal access and use of computer systems and computer data', i.e. hacking, spamming, malware and virus attacks. Included in the CAA as now criminal offenses are giving any unauthorized person  passwords and other confidential information that would allow them to gain access a single computer, mobile phone with internet access or pad and accessing information.

http://drewnoyes.blogspot.com/2010/11/web-results-searching-drew-noyes.html