Computer Act used abusively

If the government’s own version of an alleged Computer Crime Act violation is correct, a great injustice is being done. The Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for activist Veera Somkwamkid. It charges him with spreading false information and causing public confusion. The government must halt this persecution and drop charges that will do much more damage to its reputation than any Facebook post by Mr Veera could accomplish.

Behind this is the Technology Crime Suppression Division (TCSD) of the Royal Thai Police. It has a rather wide and loose mandate, to monitor and deal with criminal acts associated with technology. Its power grew after the ill-considered passage of an “updated”, harsher Computer Crime Act (CCA) three months ago. But the CCA was never obviously intended to deal with individual Facebook posts and conversations like that of Mr Veera and a few friends.

According to the TCSD, Mr Veera maintains two Facebook accounts, in Thai and English, both under his own name. Recently, on the Thai-language page, Mr Veera asked readers to give their opinion of the government’s performance, on a nine-point scale. Exactly 123 people answered predictably, with low ratings. Mr Veera posted the “results of the survey” on his English-language Facebook account, at which point the TCSD swooped in and asked for an arrest warrant, a request quickly approved by the Criminal Court last Thursday.

So, here is how the government describes its case. An unpopular pro-democracy activist illegally called his readers’ questionnaire a “survey”. This is a false description, since Mr Veera had no government licence to conduct a survey. As a result of publishing the results, the Thai public were misled into believing that all Thai citizens were rapidly losing confidence in the regime. That is the government’s case, apparently in full.

The state’s move appears to be ill-thought out. No one reading Mr Veera’s raw questionnaire or tabulation was misled. Certainly the TCSD makes clear that no one in that police department was confused about the Facebook poll or what it meant about the military regime. The accusation boils down to the completely unsubstantiated word of one or several policemen about the state of mind of 65 million citizens.

Experts and civil libertarians warned about the danger of abuse of the amended CCA when the government rammed it through the National Legislative Assembly last Dec 16. Immediately after passage, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-ocha vowed he would implement CCA 2016 with neither fear nor favour. In truth, it has been used more than its controversial predecessor, such as against prominent regime critic Jatupat “Pai Dao Din” Boonpattararaksa. But Mr Veera’s case illustrates vividly how abuse and misuse can occur under this stifling and unneeded law.

This was foreseen by almost everyone paying attention. The NLA last year made a show of inviting public comment on the CCA. Then it ignored every piece of advice, every recommended change, every warning that authorities could easily abuse the law to go after political opponents. Instead of listening to expert advice on civil rights and technology, the NLA waved it all away. Instead of producing a badly needed law on protecting citizens’ online rights, it gave the country the CCA, which hands both police and any government in power massive tools to turn almost any online action into a computer crime.

The irony is obvious. Mr Veera’s obscure and personal survey of his followers affected no one at all. But the police reaction gives it national attention. The prime minister should quickly drop these charges against Mr Veera for such an innocent Facebook post.

Mr Veera’s obscure and personal survey of his followers affected no one at all. But the police reaction gives it national attention.