Ministry of Information and Communications Technology has officially set up an operations centre to monitor websites around the clock. Nearly 5,000 web pages have been found to be offensive, mostly to the throne.
On Feb 4, Information and Communications Technology Minister Ranongruk Suwanchawee hosted the first meeting of a committee recently appointed by the Prime Minister to prevent and suppress the propagation of illegal and inappropriate information through the internet.
Apart from the ICT Minister, the committee includes the permanent secretaries of the Ministries of Interior, Defence, and Justice, Directors-General of the Departments of Special Investigation and Public Relations, and representatives of the Royal Thai Police, National Security Council, and the armed forces.
Ranongruk said that due to inadequate public relations and education on proper access to websites, the ministry would run a campaign to raise the understanding of computer-related laws in educational institutions to prevent any offences.
The committee formalized the Internet Security Operations Centre (ISOC), formerly known as the ‘War Room’, to monitor inappropriate content on the internet, with officials from the ICT Ministry and other relevant agencies keeping watch 24 hours a day. A special call centre is being set up for the public to give information on inappropriate websites.
‘In the ISOC room, staff will be divided into three sections to monitor three categories of inappropriate websites: (1) those which offend the nation, religion, and monarchy, (2) those which affect tradition and culture, such as Hi5, or advertise abortion pills, and (3) those which provide gambling and dangerous online games such as the GTA game’, said the ICT Minister.
According to the minister, the MICT has requested court orders to close or block 4,818 URLs which include 4,683 web pages offensive to the monarchy, 98 pages offering pornography, and 37 pages containing false advertisements.
Ranongruk said that the pictures showing marijuana smoking on the Hi5 website had been deleted by the account owner, who is a foreigner, and therefore cannot be prosecuted. The MICT and the Ministry of Culture have been monitoring the postings of pictures of female students with phone numbers for the purpose of prostitution, and have found an increase in online advertisements for abortion pills and sex gear. The MICT has asked the Ministry of Public Health to investigate if the abortion pills are produced domestically or abroad, and has requested court orders to close such websites.
The ICT Minister said that the Ministry had no budget to run ISOC, and as far as she was concerned, the Telephone Organization of Thailand Plc Ltd and the Communications Authority of Thailand Plc Ltd were footing the bills, with an initial investment of 8 60-inch monitors. Hardware and software equipment come from the ‘War Room’. Currently, the MICT only pays TOT for rent.
A source at TOT said that TOT had paid 45 million baht for the renovation of the ISOC room, while the real cost should have been only 10 million baht. Now the MICT is paying TOT 1,150,000 baht a month for rent, and it is not yet clear whether the ministry will have to pay more when the ISOC room becomes fully operational.
