Minister ML Panadda Diskul of the Prime Minister’s Office blamed the outages on those spreading false information about the proposal for a single gateway, which would send all Internet traffic through one central government line, which critics claim would allow for easier monitoring of content.
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“There were several other government websites which faced similar problems”, he said, adding access to the sites had been restored by Thursday morning.
Opponents to the plan idea say it will restrict even further freedom of information in Thailand, with a few even comparing it to the grip of a communist country like China. Those hit included the main government e-portal, the Internal Security Operations Command, the Royal Thai Army and the defense, interior, and finance ministries.
The Ministry of Information and Communication Technology’s (ICT) website went down for more than two hours on Wednesday evening after it was “overcrowded” by the number of users, ICT deputy permanent secretary Somsak Khaosuwan, told AFP.
“The government is anxious about our youth and how they are using the Internet, that is why we have studied the use of a single gateway”, he told reporters. An outcry mounted quickly among businesses concerned about speedy, stable communications, as well as ordinary users concerned about their privacy.
A Change.org petition against the initiative had attracted 131,000 signatures as of Thursday.
Amidst widespread criticism of the single gateway concept, Pol Lt Gen Prawut confirmed that the matter is now under study by all related agencies and nothing has been decided yet.
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In brief, Article 10 of the Computer Crime Code stipulates that any person who illegally commits any act that causes the working of a third party’s computer system to be suspended, delayed, hindered or disrupted to the extent that the computer system fails to operate normally shall be subject to imprisonment for no longer than five years or a fine of not more than one hundred thousand baht or both. “We WOn’t intervene in the usage of Internet or social media”, he said. Reports also said an attack also targeted the Democrat Party website.
