The New Thai Cyber Crime Bill May Nab Jil As Well

Might we have the possibility of "Jil In Penang" in the future?

There has always been only one thing (other than completely losing my job) that would make me have to move out of Thailand. It was something that I knew about from the very earliest planning stages of my move here: If I couldn't create a "virtual private network" (VPN) to log on to my company's computers back in America, I couldn't work in Thailand.

Now, with the passing of the Cyber Crime Bill by the Thai military government, all kinds of internet activities — most of them (sadly) obvious — are going to become illegal: "Disseminating improper content" (i.e. no porn), "doctoring pictures" (i.e. no insulting the king), "damaging a computer" (i.e. no hacking), "undermining national security" (i.e. planning anti-government rallies) will all land you in jail.

However, there is one facet of this law which affects many, many internet users in Thailand that is of concern: The use of proxy servers to access sites banned by the government is also illegal.

What is the difference between setting up a VPN to log on to your company's e-mail or file server overseas, and using a proxy server to access online gambling sites through a internet server in Seoul? Not much, if you are on the outside of that connection looking in: If you are the internet police, with both of these examples, all you will see is a secure internet connection to an overseas server with data flowing along it that you cannot access.

It might only be that I would have to register my VPN connection with my internet service provider, and it could be that simple. However, the other possibility exists that I will be cut off from accessing my company via the internet, with no options to reconnect, and therefore a move (and a fast one at that) to a friendlier country may be in order.

However, it seems to me (and several experts that I've talked to agree) that this law definitely covers far too much ground to be enforceable: It covers just about every international corporation, where an office in Bangkok accesses the file and mail servers of their London office. If you shut down all of the VPN and secure internet connections going out of Thailand, a great portion of Thailand's online business operations would grind to a halt.

Well, we'll see, won't we? Penang is lovely, and cheaper than Pattaya, and I could still always fly back to Pattaya once a month to party with my friends. (And the "Malaysia My Second Home" (MM2H) visa program includes 10-year visas for yourself, all immediate family, plus one maid.)