The rapid development of information technology (IT) and the Internet over recent years has led to a huge rise in the quantity of information and data available in digital format. This has led to a proliferation of personal information online, creating enormous implications in terms of user privacy and the law.

I hope that this article may raise help to raise awareness and add to the discussion on some of these topical issues, while explaining in greater detail where some of the more significant trends may be leading. Perhaps it may also serve to dispel one or two urban myths along the way.

Words that hurt
As the emergence of the Internet, web forums and, more recently, blogs (‘Web-logs’) have gained greater acceptance, users have increasingly sought to record their criticism anonymously online, typically registering bogus names or using pseudonyms wherever possible in a bid to avoid detection. This has often been abused to cause what the subjects of such criticism may deem offensive, and possibly slanderous from a legal perspective.

On a practical level, a person’s anonymity can only really be protected in such a case, on a practical level, by moving from one Internet café (or secure, private location) to another, according to Manuel Das, a former editor of a specialist IT publication within Southeast Asia.

Das, a Honduran national, says that in most cases, the authorities would likely receive assistance from Internet service providers (ISP), law enforcement bodies and others if seeking to locate an offender or suspect. Das added, however, that for a relatively moderate sum of money, certain firewall products could provide some form of protection for users, which would restrict the authorities’ ability to locate them precisely.

Nevertheless, there are some reasons to be cheerful in terms of law enforcement in this area, such as the recent successful efforts by the Thai police to uproot an international crime syndicate headed by Malaysian drug trafficker Abubaka bin Sulaiman. While this should be lauded, it should be noted that such work requires a good deal of patience and resources, this success coming about following a two-year effort involving over 100 uniformed and plain-clothed officers.

A person considering participating in such ‘risky’ activities online should therefore carefully bear these points in mind and understand that many of these kinds of offenses can be considered to be within the domain of criminal law before posting online something they may later live to regret.

Privacy and other related security issues pertaining to the Internet have generated a good deal of interest among various forums and blogs on issues such as enforcement of various IT-related rules and regulations. There is some concern within the business community that the responsibility concerning enforcement of the ‘Computer Crime Act B.E. 2550’ (2007) will be difficult and costly to prepare, particularly coming amid a challenging time for enterprises.

Perhaps the most objective way of assessing how this could affect your organization, group, or community is to take a closer look at the Act in its entirety here, courtesy of the Danish-Thai Chamber of Commerce (DanCham).

On-line gambling
According to the law, gambling falls into two distinct categories; the first referring to all forms of gambling that are prohibited by law, including, for example, card and dice games.

The second group includes forms of gambling that may be allowed if permission is granted by the country’s national police authorities.

There are numerous online gambling websites based overseas or offshore, many of which can be and have been in many cases successfully disabled by the (Thai) government agencies concerned with such matters. Slot machine and card games appear to be the most popular form of online gambling among the Thai people.

Persons found guilty of participating in such activities can face a prison term of anything from three months to three years. Few prosecutions have been made, however, demonstrating again the effectiveness of firewalls or other methods of evading the authorities.

Downloads
While there are periodic stringent crackdowns on counterfeit software and DVD movies being sold in the kingdom, the latter are still widely available on any given evening along Silom Road and the former in well known IT malls, regular markets and street markets.

Strictly-speaking music should not be downloaded illegally, although the onset of Napster several years ago and the sites that mirrored its services once it became legitimate through its subsequent sale, along with all the Thai-language websites based on the same format, mean that this is widely abused.

Some areas of music downloading, however, have become ‘legitimized’ – at least in the online world as is the case with the ‘pay per track’ iStore portal operated by Apple, for instance. Apple continues to negotiate with major recording artists to try to tie up deals to distribute their music at affordable prices. Up until recently US$0.99 per track was a typical price for a song performed by a reasonably well known pop or rock artist.

YouTube is again widely available in the kingdom following a high-profile row over charges of lese majeste. The company, which was eventually purchased by Google, said it had removed material originally deemed offensive to the Thai people following discussions with the authorities. The website was closed temporarily by the authorities before a compromise was finally reached.