Thai cyber activists threaten more attacks

Thai cyber activists have threatened to launch fresh attacks on state agency websites unless the government formally abandons its single internet gateway proposal, the media reported on Sunday.

According to sources, the single gateway will be implemented to control access to websites deemed inappropriate and monitor the influx of information from abroad. The plan is designed to target websites with domains that are registered abroad, which the Thai government cannot order to close down.

An online campaign against the proposed gateway is being waged through a Facebook page called "Single Gateway: Thailand Internet Firewall".

A message on the page said that despite the attacks on the state agency websites last week, the government was showing no sign of reviewing or scrapping its single gateway policy.

The activists on September 30 and October 1 repeatedly refreshed the home pages of government websites simultaneously, a tactic known as a distributed denial of service attack (DDoS), to overload servers and make the web pages slow or temporarily unavailable.

The activists said it will give the government until 11.30 p.m. on October 14 to review or scrap the policy, or will launch concentrated attacks.

They said it is necessary to defy the state's authority because it is attempting to impose a dictatorship in both real life and cyberspace.

It will try to keep any possible impact on the general public to a minimum, but warned allowing a single gateway to become reality would cause "immeasurable harm" to the economy, society and politics.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha has said he had not instructed any agency to move forward with the project.

He said nothing had been done yet, and the proposal was simply being discussed between state agencies concerned with security and the digital economy, including trade, investment and information distribution.

The single gateway was raised as one of several options, he said, adding the government is very worried about the human rights implications of the proposal so the public should not panic.