Wiretapping a threat to citizens, Meechai again warns
Charter drafter chief Meechai Ruchupan said on Thursday that citizens would have more problems than benefit by giving greater authority to the National Anti-Corruption Commission to wiretap phone calls.
The issue was being hotly debated at the National Legislative Assembly meeting today before the NLA called on the debate to continue tomorrow as it could not reach a resolution on the issue.
The NLA’s law vetting committee has added clauses concerning the new power, but some who drafted the original law including Meechai see mainly disadvantages in granting additional surveillance powers.
People’s human rights and right to privacy are on the line, according to Meechai, who previously warned the NLA members that they could be specific targets of future tapping.
“Although they have to ask permission from the court, they would have 90 days to wiretap a hundred individuals and so on, just to try to catch one wrongdoer. It might be fun for the chasers, but not for those whose rights are violated,” said Meechai.
Meechai said the Constitution Drafting Commission would not be able to say anything much about the issue, if anything, until the joint law review panel is set up after the law has passed three readings.