Cyber snooping

Bangkok Post (27 January 2010) has a worrying report in its Database/Tech section on cyber-snooping by the Ministry of Information and Communications Technology.

Concerns have been raised over the use of so-called Sniffer hardware and software to track “suspicious internet activity.” It seems the government is keen to use this technology to have internet service providers monitor all traffic and this is thought to be illegal.

Currently, authorities are supposed to get court approval before blocking a suspicious site, although the Minister has said they don’t always do this. Using this technology blocking would become proactive.

It is reported that the “ICT Ministry has a 120-million-baht budget for technology investment to correctly and analyse internet data which may harm national security, but this money cannot be put to use if we cannot use Sniffer.” Note the use of the term “national security” as code. Monarchy, of course.

Legal experts say the use of “Sniffer or other data-interception technology, [would mean] the government would be in violation of the Computer Related Crime Act B.E. 2550, section 8. This is because if data which is not for public use is intercepted and sent into the computer system, the government action will be deemed to have acted illegally.”

Another expert warns: “In the wrong hands, this technology could be dangerous, as businesses and political parties could use it to monitor their rivals…”.

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