The secretary-general of the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) has escalated his threats to gather a private collection of citizens' fingerprints. Takorn Tantasith began by touting a "touch your smartphone" project for mobile banking, based on fingerprints. That sold poorly, and the NBTC chief then pronounced an effort whereby all mobile phone owners could give their fingerprints voluntarily for vague promises of benefits. Now he says every phone owner must give him their fingerprints, no exceptions.
This time, Mr Takorn is claiming the questionable fingerprint collection is for security purposes. In the past, the government instituted rules that mobile phone buyers must provide their ID. The stated reason was that insurgents in the deep South were using phone signals to set off bombs, and ID checks would aid in tracking down bombers.
Of course, as predicted by communications and terrorist experts, no such advantages have been seen, although the ID-for-phone programme takes thousands of hours of time from citizens and phone vendors.
Last week, Mr Takorn claimed his "mandatory" collection of fingerprints will begin in the deep South. If phone buyers have to submit to collection of their photos and fingerprints, this will somehow combat the violence in the region.
This claim alone is extremely questionable, since the bombers in the South have plenty of ways to detonate devices without phones. But the true devil of Mr Takorn's plan for mobile phone sellers to fingerprint the nation lies in the other details.
The main problem with all three of Mr Takorn's outlandish plans begins with security. His procedure is for phone sellers to collect fingerprints and digital images. The sellers would pass them to the parent phone providers -- AIS, DTAC, True Move, etc.
They would then pass them to the NBTC which supposedly has the world's only uncrackable, unhackable database for storage. Mr Takorn has harped at length on the security, but has flatly refused to show or even give details to experts to judge.
Also, Mr Takorn would send every fingerprint and digital image to the Interior Ministry. This latter step aims to ensure that NBTC's personal data of each phone user matches that of the ministry which has a national ID card system storing every Thai citizen's image and thumb print.
Then there is the extremely interesting question of the computer hardware and software the NBTC chief is using. He openly claims that 30,000 fingerprinting-imaging sets will be sold to mobile network operators. Reports say the cost might be in the neighbourhood of 10,000 baht per installation -- or 300 million baht. But Mr Takorn definitely hasn't told the public who has got the fabulous contract for this sales.
For buying Mr Takorn's equipment, mobile phone providers will be given a reduction in the annual licence fee they pay to NBTC. The lack of accountability is breathtaking. The claim that he can simply mandate the licence fee reduction is, to put it mildly, troubling.
How Mr Takorn has gained authority to threaten phone companies and owners seems unknown. The government has never taken official interest in any of the three schemes. The public, until now, has reacted predictably and in its own interest by shunning both the fingerprint banking plan and the voluntary fingerprinting.
Mr Takorn's threats now require intervention, from the government and the public. The NBTC continues to try to accumulate power, but its record is extremely shaky at accomplishing its core task of allocating the public's airwaves. As it did with 3G and 4G technology, it is delaying action on 5Gtests.
The NBTC should stick to its mandated, constitutional job. Security is the government's job, not that of the telecoms commission. And it is unacceptable the NBTC is demanding vital information from citizens without any demonstrated need.