Table 5.4
SUMMARY OF LEGAL CASES AND OFFENSES RELATED TO INTERNET CONTENT DURING THE POST-2006-COUP PERIOD
Date of
Incident
Type of Offense Allegedly
Committed
Summary of Incident
Legal Measures Taken
September
2007
L è se-majest é
(section 8 of the constitution, and
section 112 of the penal code); input
into a computer system of data that
were an offense against national
security or terrorism according to the
criminal code [section 14(3) of the
Computer-Related Offenses Act]
An alleged l è se-majest é comment against the
monarchy on the now-defunct political forum
Web site www.propaganda.forumotion.com by a
man using the pseudonym of Praya Pichai. The
man was brought into custody and jailed for
two weeks but charges could not be fi led for
lack of evidence.
The Web site was shut down
and Praya Pichai faced ten years
of continued surveillance and a
threatened prison term if he
posts a political comment online
again.
April 2008
Input into a computer system of
pornographic computer data that
are accessible to the public [section
14(4)] of the Computer-Related
Offenses Act
Owner of 212 caf é online forum was arrested for
hosting a link to a pornographic Web site. At
the arrest time, the police could not specify the
problematic URL of the link. Although the forum
webmaster immediately shut down the Web site,
a month later, the police raided his home offi ce
and appropriated his servers and computer
devices.
The forum owner was
summoned to appear at a police
station and to submit the names
and contact list of all the forum ’ s
clients (about 28,000 people).
He eventually spent one night in
jail and later posted bail for THB
100,000 (USD 3,250).
January
2009
L è se-majest é
(section 8 the constitution, section
112 of the penal code), input into a
computer system of computer data
that is an offense against national
security or terrorism according to the
penal code [section 14(3) of the
Computer-Related Offenses Act]
A blogger was arrested and convicted for having
uploaded royally defaming materials on the
www.youtube.com Web site. He was held in
custody for three months before a l è se-majest é
verdict was announced in April, resulting in a
ten-year imprisonment. In June 2010 his petition
for a royal pardon was answered and he was
released from prison.
The police (through the
high-tech crime unit and DSI)
kept the convicted blogger on
surveillance for about six months
before the arrest.
Continued
SUMMARY OF LEGAL CASES AND OFFENSES RELATED TO INTERNET CONTENT DURING THE POST-2006-COUP PERIOD
Date of
Incident
Type of Offense Allegedly
Committed
Summary of Incident
Legal Measures Taken
September
2007
L è se-majest é
(section 8 of the constitution, and
section 112 of the penal code); input
into a computer system of data that
were an offense against national
security or terrorism according to the
criminal code [section 14(3) of the
Computer-Related Offenses Act]
An alleged l è se-majest é comment against the
monarchy on the now-defunct political forum
Web site www.propaganda.forumotion.com by a
man using the pseudonym of Praya Pichai. The
man was brought into custody and jailed for
two weeks but charges could not be fi led for
lack of evidence.
The Web site was shut down
and Praya Pichai faced ten years
of continued surveillance and a
threatened prison term if he
posts a political comment online
again.
April 2008
Input into a computer system of
pornographic computer data that
are accessible to the public [section
14(4)] of the Computer-Related
Offenses Act
Owner of 212 caf é online forum was arrested for
hosting a link to a pornographic Web site. At
the arrest time, the police could not specify the
problematic URL of the link. Although the forum
webmaster immediately shut down the Web site,
a month later, the police raided his home offi ce
and appropriated his servers and computer
devices.
The forum owner was
summoned to appear at a police
station and to submit the names
and contact list of all the forum ’ s
clients (about 28,000 people).
He eventually spent one night in
jail and later posted bail for THB
100,000 (USD 3,250).
January
2009
L è se-majest é
(section 8 the constitution, section
112 of the penal code), input into a
computer system of computer data
that is an offense against national
security or terrorism according to the
penal code [section 14(3) of the
Computer-Related Offenses Act]
A blogger was arrested and convicted for having
uploaded royally defaming materials on the
www.youtube.com Web site. He was held in
custody for three months before a l è se-majest é
verdict was announced in April, resulting in a
ten-year imprisonment. In June 2010 his petition
for a royal pardon was answered and he was
released from prison.
The police (through the
high-tech crime unit and DSI)
kept the convicted blogger on
surveillance for about six months
before the arrest.
Continued