Beware the cyber warriors

As the government plans to recruit civilian so-called "cyber warriors", it needs to ensure they target the right groups of people.By next month, the Digital Economy and Society Ministry will have spent 350 million baht to hire and train 200 cyber warriors. Its ultimate target is "5,000 warriors by 2023", or within five years.Deputy Prime Minister and Justice Minister ACM Prajin Jantong last week unveiled the plan without providing many specifics.The ministry itself has only revealed the framework for this plan, which covers cybersecurity for six branches of national IT infrastructure -- telecommunications; national security and public services; transportation and logistics; banking and finance; energy and public utilities; and public health.Among other threats such as breaches of personal data and hacking, ACM Prajin insisted that "the negative aspects" of online communication in Thailand also need to be tackled by the cyber warriors.It seems more than likely than not that the ministry will engage the services of the police, security officers and officials from the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission, who have all cooperated with it concerning other similar tasks in the past. This has prompted speculation that the formation of the cyber-warrior squads could pave the way for stepped-up internet surveillance of online political activity.In fact, several lese majeste and sedition charges against political activists have been based on the grounds of them being threats to national security, one of the areas covered by this task force.Without spelling out the specific job description of the cyber warriors, the plan leaves room for worries on whether they will be mainly used as a political tool to suppress freedom of expression and hunt down political dissidents.Political conflicts in the past decade have led to online crusades, carried out by hard-line conservatives, to rid the web of lese majeste offenders, many of whom have been categorised as being on a particular side of the conflict. Meanwhile, policing online political activity seems to have become one of the regime's main "achievements" over the past four years.Since the 2014 coup, the military regime has amended the 2007 Computer Crime Act, introducing a wider range of offences with increased ambiguity, thus opening up enforcement of the statute to abuse by authorities. The military government also tried, but failed, to convince social media giants such as Facebook and Google to block online content deemed as violating the lese majeste law.Meanwhile, a cyber security bill has been drafted pending approval by lawmakers. If enacted into law, it will allow the authorities to take broader control of online activity, including snooping on individuals' personal computers.More alarmingly, many critics of the regime have been rounded up and slapped with criminal charges of either lese majeste, sedition or computer crime act offences.The effort to prevent cyber threats is commendable. But its ultimate goal must be an improvement in Thailand's cyber security standards which remain below internationally acceptable levels.The country does need to be able to better cope with modern cyber threats and tackle criminal activities such as fraud, scams, hacking, system attacks and personal information theft. The Digital Economy and Society Ministry needs to make sure that its cyber warriors' job description covers these areas and excludes online political surveillance.Otherwise, the main job of these warriors will be as pawns of the authorities to suppress freedom of expression or as part of online political crusades.

Beware the cyber warriors

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