Forum raises questions about legal boundaries on the Net
THE question of liability when it comes to comments online is still a contentious issue and many members of the public are not quite sure about what is legal or not when it comes to talking about the military junta or the monarchy, a symposium on Internet
The issue of the legal boundaries of freedom of expression on the Net has become more pertinent after the coup last year, which forced many opponents to express themselves in the virtual world, speakers at the Internet Good Governance and Freedom of Expression symposium concluded. The forum, on Thursday at Chulalongkorn University’s Faculty of Communication Arts, was organised by half a dozen organisations, including the Thai Netizen Network.
According to the Freedom of Expression Documentation Centre, 37 of the 47 people accused or prosecuted for lese majeste offences since the May 2014 coup found themselves in trouble for comments they made on the Internet.
The centre warned that anyone expressing themselves on sensitive issues – be it a comment critical of the monarchy or the military-backed government – risks being prosecuted.
Using a pseudonym won’t help either, warned speaker Anond Chavalawan, who represents a group called Internet Dialogue on Law Reform.
However, many speakers brought up the contentious issue of how can one be sure that the person thought to have posted a defamatory comment on the Net is really the offender and that their account has not been hacked or another account created in their name.
Thanatorn Thananond, a member of the Thai Lawyers for Human Rights, cited a case in which a person was detained for 84 days before the authorities found out that the Facebook account this person being prosecuted for had been created by someone else.
The forum also debated whether clicking “Like” on a Facebook posting might violate the Computer Crimes Act, and whether it equals a violation of the lese majeste law. There was no consensus on this matter despite an earlier police warning saying both violations were equal crimes.
Another issue debated was whether spying on private conversations on applications such as Line to prosecute people on lese majeste charges was an infringement of privacy.
There was no consensus beyond the fact that online legal liability was still a new frontier, as many social media users are still unsure about what is permissible despite the growing crackdown.
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