Challenges of Information Ethics in Thailand

1. Problems and Challenges facing
Information Ethics in Thailand
Soraj Hongladarom
Department of Philosophy and
Center for Ethics of Science and Technology
Chulalongkorn University
Bangkok, Thailand
Workshop on “Intercultural Information Ethics,” ASIS&T Annual
Meeting,Pittsburgh, PA, USA, October 27, 2010

2. Outline
 Brief summary of the situation and the region
 Main Issues of Info Ethics in the Region
 Challenges
 Opportunities

3. What is Happening
 Thailand is undergoing a period of radical
transformation which used to take place in other
countries decades ago.
 Many are deeply worried about this because
they have not experienced anything like it
before.
 The Internet has been a key tool in this
transformation – a very interesting case for
research.

4. Main Issues in Information Ethics
 Politicization of Media
 Media are being used as propaganda tools to
whip up public opinions and to advance
agenda of partisan groups.
 People are divided according to which
discussion group they belong to. This also
seems to happen with social networking
media such as Facebook and Twitter.
 This politicization has a serious impact on the
idea of free flow of information across borders.

5. Main Issues
 Freedom of expression
 This is a serious issue. We also find this a big
problem in China.
 Many websites in Thailand have been closed
down. The Ministry of ICT once said that they
had closed more than 10,000 web sites. It is
difficult to verify that because they never
released the full list of sites they have actually
closed, but this shows their ‘efficiency’ in
doing this.
 Establishment of “cyber-scout” (vigilante
group).

6. Main Issues
 Copyright and IP rights
 Thailand is one of the countries listed by the
US as an IP rights violator, but things are
improving. Many have turned to open source
software as a countermeasure against
enforcement of copyright law in software.

7. Main Issues
 Privacy
 Traditionally, privacy was not much of an issue
in old Siam.
 But with modernity people have become more
aware of their privacy rights.
 A new law on protection of personal data is
being drafted.
 Still the authorities tend to snoop into people’s
online life, and they have not been consistent
in enforcing the law.

8. Main Issues
 Digital Divide
 This has been a main issue for quite some
time.
 Digital divide inside a country, and among
countries (global digital divide).
 Though there have been some
accomplishments, Thailand still has quite a
long way to go.
 Recent attempt to license the 3G network has
been postponed by the court because the
state operators fear they will lose out.

9. “Global Info Ethics”
 In general many in Thailand agree on the need for
global information ethics. Many issues listed above
are the same in other regions too.
 However, as Thailand and other cultures in Asia do
not share the same ethical tradition as exists in the
West, they need to find their own ethical system –
their own way to justify the issues.
 For example, some have talked about Buddhist
viewpoints on information ethics.

10. Major Challenges
 Language
 Political situation
 Shortage of research
 Limited number of people who are active on this
topic
 Scholars, study programs, public fora
 Ethics still being viewed as restrictions on
freedom or only a list of “don’ts”

11. Opportunities
 Big regional office of UNESCO in Bangkok (but
there could be more interaction with Thai
universities and think tanks)
 Thailand’s being in a period of huge
transformation.
 Increased awareness of political rights and
eagerness to participate in online discussion.
 Growing infrastructure – despite the mishap that
recently took place regarding 3G licensing.