Study finds Computer Crime Act flaws | Bangkok Post: tech

FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION

A recent study has revealed that the Computer Crime Act has affected the freedom of expression in online media over the past four years. The findings show that the authorities have shut down nearly 75,000 sites. Moreover, the study concluded that there is still a lack of understanding in enforcing the law.

Since the Computer Crime Act came into effect four years ago, a total of 74,686 websites have been closed down, with 185 cases going to court, according to the study titled 'The Effects of the Computer Crime Act (BE 2550) and the State's Policy and Right and Liberties on Freedom of Expression' by iLaw, which is a group dedicated to persuading people to participate in changing society though the law.

The new study mainly collected data on law, policy and statistics of blocked websites and cases that are relevant to the freedom of expression in online media. It found that between July 2007 and July 2010 there were 185 cases directly related to the Computer Crime Act. Among these there were 54 cases of insulting people, 38 cases of fraud, 31 cases of lese majeste, 12 cases involving pornography, 10 cases of selling illegal software programs, eight cases of violating computer systems and six cases breaching national security as well as 26 unidentified cases.

The research team found that there were a number of insult cases, but according to article 14 (1) of the Computer Crime Act these did not relate to insulting. And there is also a clause pertaining to insults under the Civil and Commercial Code's article 423 and the Criminal Code's article 328. This shows a lack of understanding of enforcing this law and its impact on online communication.

The pornography cases violated both the Computer Crime Act's article 14 (4), which is a specific law, and the Criminal Code's article 287, which is a general law. Pornographic content should be prosecuted only under the Computer Crime Act because it is a specific law, but in practice police officers and prosecutors charged offenders under both the Computer Crime Act and the Criminal Code.

Cases of lese majeste are mostly charged under article 14 (2) and (3) of the Computer Crime Act. Out of the 31 lese majeste cases covered by the study, 25 were charged under the Criminal Code's article 112.

In the national security cases defined in article 14 (2) and (3), there are clearly charges linked to the Criminal Code which uses vague wording as a political tool.

Moreover, the study indicated that there were 117 court orders to limit access to websites and which closed down 74,686 URLs. In 2007, two sites were closed and in 2008 the figure was 2,071, while in 2009 the number of URLs shut down jumped to 28,705. Between January and November this year 43,908 URLs were closed.

The number one reason to limit access was lese majeste (57,330 URLs), followed by pornography (16,740 URLs), abortion (357 URLs), gambling (246 URLs) and others such as insulting religion and phishing/pharming.

Moreover, apart from court orders, the research team also found government authorities used other means such as sending cooperation letters to ISPs and used emergency laws to block a specific range of Internet Protocol addresses that affected both legal and illegal websites.

The study team also noted that the courts spent a very short time making decisions to close down websites. They found that 104 decisions to close down websites were made on the day they were submitted for the approval.