The Right to Privacy in Thailand: Privacy International Submission to Human Rights Committee In its concluding observations on the Republic of Korea, this Committee expressed its concerns about “the operation and insufficient regulation in practice of so called ‘base-station’”.25 The technology reportedly in the hands of the Thailand authorities raises similar concerns, due to the lack of specific regulations of its use. This is further exacerbated given that the deployment of IMSI catchers could contribute to the repression of freedom of expression and of peaceful assembly in Thailand. 6. Application of Orders that prevent corporate transparency While the martial law established after the 2014 coup was lifted in April 2015, the Thai military government immediately implemented the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) Order No. 3/2558, designed to respond to actions allegedly intending to undermine or destroy peace and national security. The order grants extensive powers to a specific category of military of officers called ‘Peacekeeping Officers’. Peacekeeping Officers are in charge of preventing and suppressing offences related to lèse-majesté, internal security, rearm regulations and “any violation of any other orders issued by the NCPO.”26 After the coup, the NCPO had issued a notification (NCPO Notification No. 26/2557) establishing an online social media committee to “examine, inspect and access ‘online information”. The committee had the powers to suspend or close websites and social media platforms, including those accused of undermining the military government. Since Order No. 3/2558, Peacekeeping Officers are now in charge of enforcing this notification.27 The work of Peacekeeping Officers is not subjected to any form of judicial oversight. Order No. 3/2558 also grants the government the authority to restrict publishing
any types of data which are not in the national interest. This has impacted the ability of telecommunications companies to be transparent about the government requests they receive to hand over user data, block services or take down content. The telecommunications company DTAC, part owned by the Telenor Group in Norway, stated in their government access report: “Ordinarily there is no legislation which prevents the publication of aggregate data relating to the use by the government of the powers described in this report. However under the expansive extrajudicial powers vested in the government under NCPO Order No. 3/2558 issued under Section 44 of the Interim Constitution, it has the authority to restrict publishing of any types of data which are not in the national interest”.28 25 26 27 28 Concluding observations of the Human Rights Committee on the fourth periodic report of the Republic of Korea, UN Doc. CCPR/C/KOR/CO/4, 3 December 2015. https://www.telenor.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/GOVERNMENT-ACCESS-REPORT_05.pdf Ibid. Ibid. 7