Thailand’s police chief Police General Somyos Pumpanmuang has called on the government to use a single internet gateway so that censorship and surveillance can be conducted more easily.
Thailand currently has 9 major internet exchanges. Many governments have mulled centralizing control to state telcos CAT Telecom and TOT corporation for national security reasons.
Somyos said that the plan would only cost around $30 million (1 billion baht) and would help authorities filter, delete and intercept inappropriate content.
Earlier the government approved a set of digital economy laws that would centralize power and spectrum control under a new digital economy commission which was strongly criticized as a cyber spying bill in disguise.
It would allow the chairman of the digital economy commission, the Prime Minister, to order any telco to comply with spying orders and would exempt its staff from criminal prosecution for carrying out the commission’s orders.