Want to see plenty of indignation and outrage? Plainclothes army intelligence officers rubbing shoulders with foreign journos? Tonight, the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Thailand is hosting a panel titled, “Thailand's Single Digital Gateway,” describing the event with the following blurb: “There is a lot of confusion on Thailand's proposed single gateway project, which we hope to address with this panel.”
In case you’ve been living under a rock, the government announced the possibility of a Single Digital Gateway for Thailand and netizens went berserk, mounting virtual mobs that went on government websites and hit F5 (the refresh button) repeatedly, causing the sites to crash from the sudden overload.
Will this panel get shut down like some of the FCCT’s previous efforts to discuss the junta’s policies? Even though the government isn’t sending representatives, the speakers—Prinya Hom-anek (more on him later) and Prasong Ruangsirikulchai (Senior Director of NTT and Executive Director of the Telecommunications Association of Thailand [under Royal Patronage])—don’t exactly sound like frothing-at-the-mouth Red Shirts. The third speaker, NBTC commissioner on the broadcasting subcommittee and free speech activist Supinya Klangnarong, is more of a wild card, having battled with both Thaksin and past military regimes.
We spoke to Prinya Hom-anek, the founder of cyber security consultants ACIS. He’s advised the Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Defense and Royal Thai Army on national cyber security issues but has not been consulted on the Single Digital Gateway issue and insists he is commenting on it as an individual, not as a representative of the government.
Are you for or against the project?
I’m against it. I am not against the government. I’m against the single digital gateway, if it happens. I want to tell the government and prime minister, please do it some other way. The government wants to promote the digital economy so [the single gateway] doesn’t make sense. Think of it as an airport. Imagine there’s only one airport to get in and out of Thailand. What if that airport gets shut down? I’m not saying it’s bad, but it’s not a good idea. Single point-anything is a risk. You take the risk of a power failure and then it all goes down. That’s why you need multiple gateways.
So why did the government float the idea?
The Prime Minister is worried about content for the young generation, bad things on the internet. He wants to deal with that content. He asked his staff to find a solution. He didn’t ask for a single gateway. He asked for a solution. But I think right now there is no solution for him. Internet is an open society. It’s very hard to do something like that.
What would you recommend?
You can use Google’s “safe search” for your kids. You can adjust your settings. It’s the parents’ job. I don’t think it’s the job of the government. I think [Prayuth] worries about [kids]. He doesn’t want to control information. But he should consult with someone who will tell him it’s very hard to block information online.
7pm, Wednesday, Oct 7
Members: Free
Non-Members: B450
Foreign Correspondents' Club of Thailand
Penthouse, Maneeya Center Building
518/5 Phloen Chit Road (connected to the BTS Skytrain Chitlom station)
02-652-0580
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