Forty Thousand Names to Stop #SingleGateway
and Laws Eliciting Online Personal Information 

Thai Netizens Network and Amnesty gathered in front of the parliament laying old laptops claiming for online freedom and privacy. They were ready to submit forty thousand names to stop #SingleGateway and the laws eliciting online personal information.

After campaigning “Stop Single Gateway, Stop Laws Eliciting Personal Information” on change.org gaining more than 40,000 names of supporters, Thai Netizens Network and Amnesty International Thailand gathered in front of the parliament to lay “old” and “broken” laptops and computers to send the message that if the “draft amendment to the Computer Act” was passed, the online freedom would be damaged like those devices.

After that, Mr. Athid Suriyawongsakul, Coordinator of Thai Netizen Network and Mrs. Piyanuch Kotsan, Director of Amnesty International Thailand submitted the claim to Mr. Peerasak Porjit, Second Vice President of the National Legislative Assembly (NLA) after there were more than 40,000 people supporting the movement.

Mrs. Piyanuch Kotsan, Director of Amnesty International Thailand emphasized the claim earlier submitted to the NLA on 26th May and was extremely concerned about the content in certain sections which restricted the freedom of expression and the right to privacy of citizens which should be promoted and protected according to the international human rights standards and especially the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, of which Thailand is a state party.

“The right to liberty and privacy should be protected under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) in Thailand since 1996. The duty of the Thai authority is to safeguard such rights strictly, not to infringe them like it is now.”

Mr. Peerasak thanked Thai Netizens Network and Amnesty Thailand for providing a platform to express opinions appropriately and said that he would use the data for the discussion of Agenda 2 and 3 of the draft bill with the chairperson of the NLA at the NLA conference and the NLA members. In addition, he would like Thai Netizens Network to clarify to the Draft Consideration Commission for more understanding.

“Draft Amendment to the Computer Act” or “Draft of Act on Computer-Related Offenses B.E. ….” is one of the “Digital Security Law Series” which 6 public organizations and more than 22,000 people have previously signed up to delay the consideration and which the government promised to amend in order to not violate the liberty and rights in 2015.

Thai Netizens Network called on the NLA members to amend the draft of Section 14 to be more concise and the drafts of Sections 15 and 20 allowing measures affecting the liberty and rights of the people, the consideration of which will be made by the National Assembly of Thailand only. In addition, the network urged the NLA member to consider deleting Section 20(4) from the draft.