This week's arrest and detention of 12 people who shared the Koh Tao rape claim story on social media shows anyone who is sensible and has a moral conscience exactly how the misuse of the Computer Crime Act (CCA) can harm ordinary citizens.
The Royal Thai Police's Technology Crime Suppression Unit on Wednesday rounded up 12 people from various provinces and took them to Koh Tao police station for questioning and detention. They are facing computer crime charges for sharing a report by the CSI LA Facebook page on the alleged rape of a 19-year-old British woman on the island.
If found guilty, they will end up in jail for up to five years and/or be forced to pay a fine of up to 100,000 baht. Nobody should be subject to such harsh punishment for an act that tens of millions of people in Thailand do regularly. Reading news stories and sharing them with others on Facebook, without the intention of causing material and imminent harm to anyone, should not be construed as a crime.
Sadly, the loopholes in the CCA -- its broad and ambiguous provisions on a range of offences -- have paved the way for exploitation and misuse by the powers-that-be.
Since it was passed into law in 2007, the CCA has done more harm than good. Its provisions for offences regarding defamation and false information inputted into computer systems have been misused to stifle criticism and free speech. Its 2017 revision may have removed the defamation offence and added a little more clarity, but the amended law is still vague and too broad in its content, paving the way for abuse. These include its definitions of offences relating to "distorted or false information" which "could cause damage to other people", or which "could undermine national security or cause panic among the public".
In pursuing legal action against the 12 people, plus the administrator of the CSI LA Facebook page and the editor of the Samui Times, who are based in the United States, the police said the rape claim they shared is "distorted information" as defined by the CCA.
The police's job, in fact, is to allow more time for a probe. Instead, they wrapped up the case too quickly and have given themselves the job of taking legal action against these people.
This is only the latest in numerous cases of abuse and misuse of the law by authorities against people from all walks of life -- political activists, politicians, journalists and ordinary social media users to silence or punish them for speaking out.
This week, the police also brought computer crime charges against former national police chief Sereepisuth Temeeyaves for his June 25 Facebook post which accused the current regime of cheating in the 2016 constitutional referendum and the constitution.
Law enforcement officers may have either ignored the real intention of the CCA or they lack a proper understanding of it. The CCA's real goals are to prevent and crack down on crimes associated with the use of technology such as hacking, phishing or stealing of information from computer systems or other forms of fraud. The law should be used to protect people, not to threaten and harm them. And it should not be used to stifle free speech.
The National Legislative Assembly did not pay heed to concerns voiced at public hearings when the law was amended. But after an election next year, a new government along with new lawmakers need to better serve the people by pushing for drastic changes to this law. They need to ensure the intentions of the law and the offences are clearly defined and any ambiguous and vague provisions are removed.
Without strong political will, this law will stand as a threat to free speech and will fail in its mission to protect the people.