Thai Minister of Digital Economy warns that posting alleged crime pictures or videos online without involving police could violate new Personal Data Protection Act

PHOTO: รมว.ชัยวุฒิ ธนาคมานุสรณ์

Nation —

The Thai Minister of Digital Economy and Society has warned all citizens who record a picture or video of an alleged crime to only send it to law enforcement to avoid violating the Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA).

If a Good Samaritan recorded a person involved in a potential criminal situation, would this offend the PDPA? This was one of the questions that had been controversial on social media since the launch of the Personal Data Protection Act or PDPA on June 1st.

However, the Minister of Digital Chaiwut Thanakmanusorn recently responded to this question:
“Posting an inappropriate picture or video of another person online is an offense and could get you into trouble. But, as long as you only send the footage to law enforcement, that shoud be fine,” Chaiwut said.

The PDPA, according to the minister is intended to protect personal data that had been given to the third party. The third party was obliged to request the person’s consent prior to releasing their data to the public. This was the main point of the PDPA, the minister said.

He also said that posting and sharing pictures of others may instead violate certain civil laws, but he stressed that the whole point of the PDPA was just to protect personal data and not to stop people from taking normal photos.

“When you give your personal information to a third party, you have the right to request the confidentiality of your info. You can proceed with the PDPA act if you believe someone violates your right,” said the minister.

Licensed news media is exempt from the PDPA, according to the Ministry of Digital Economy, although journalistic principles must be applied.

You can learn more about the PDPA here.

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Aim Tanakorn
The local news translator at The Pattaya News. Aim is a twenty-four year old who currently lives in Bangkok. Interested in English translation, story-telling, and entrepreneurship, he believes that hard-working is an indispensable component of every success in this world.