Thailand ditches plan to track tourist SIM cards
Tuesday, 24 Feb, 2017
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Thailand has scrapped a controversial plan to monitor all tourists’ movements with traceable SIM cards.
The National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) proposed the measure last year, which called for all mobile operators to install location tracking software to SIM cards.
This would potentially allow authorities to access all user data such as messages and location details, although it said tourists would only be tracked if they overstayed their visa duration or were involved in criminal activity.
The national telecom regulator faced strong criticism to the plan at a public hearing and the tourism and sports ministry also voiced concerns it would damage the country’s image, the Bangkok Post reported.
It has now admitted defeat and ditched the proposal altogether.
"We have stopped all related processes for the tourist SIM card plan," said NBTC secretary-general Takorn Tantasith.
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Editor for TravelMole North America and Asia pacific regions. Ray is a highly experienced (15+ years) skilled journalist and editor predominantly in travel, hospitality and lifestyle working with a huge number of major market-leading brands. He has also cover in-depth news, interviews and features in general business, finance, tech and geopolitical issues for a select few major news outlets and publishers.
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