LATEST changes to the Computer Crime Act have not been officially completed, but they have already gained considerable momentum. Critics of the Computer Crime Act believe that law has been misused. Anont Chavalawan, a law expert at iLaw, said the Computer Crime Act was problematic especially Article 14, which prohibits the posting of “false information”, resulting in the misuse of the law. “Now, if a message is posted online, people will often be charged with both defamation based on the Criminal Code and the Computer Crime Act, too.”Anont said the computer crime law should not cover defamation because it could lead to worse punishments – up to two years in jail increasing to up to five years under the Act. Kanathip Thongraweewong, dean of the Faculty of Law at Saint John’s University, spoke at a separate forum last week that discussed other sections of the Computer Crime Act.

Source: The Nation Bangkok November 28, 2016 09:07 UTC