<p dir="ltr">The “Computer Crimes Act” of Thailand was amended this year to change, add, and remove various aspects. Although many articles have been amended, and even improved in some cases, there are still &nbsp;critical issues found within the current and proposed legislation.</p> <p></p>

<p>Civil society groups have urged lawmakers not to pass the new Computer Crime Bill, as it further violates the rights to freedom of expression and to privacy.</p> <p>Representatives from the Thai Netizen Network (TNN), an internet freedom advocacy group, on Thursday, 6 July 2016, submitted a petition to Peerasak Porjit, Deputy President of the National Legislative Assembly (NLA), urging the authorities to halt the process to pass the amended version of the Computer Crime Act.</p>

<p>An embattled former Education Minister from the Pheu Thai Party has denied sedition charges, vowing to continue to fight the charges against him through civil disobedience.</p>

<p>The Criminal Court has sentenced a well-known anti-establishment red-shirt country singer to seven years and six months in prison for lèse majesté, making him promise to grow trees to honour the Thai monarchy after his release.</p> <p>On Wednesday morning, 1 June 2016, the Criminal Court on Ratchadapisek Rd, Bangkok, sentenced Thanat Thanawatcharanon, 58, aka Tom Dundee, a country singer-turned-red-shirt activist, to 15 years’ imprisonment for offences under Article 112 of the Criminal Code, the lèse majesté law.</p>

<p>Chiang Mai Provincial Court has dismissed charges against a Lahu ethnic minority activist accused of posting a video clip defaming the Thai military.</p> <p>According to&nbsp;<a href="https://tlhr2014.wordpress.com/2016/03/08/maitree_verdict/">Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR)</a>, the Provincial Court of Chiang Mai on Tuesday, 8 March 2016, dismissed charges against Maitree Chamroensuksakul, a Lahu activist and citizen journalist, indicted for offences under Article 14 of the 2007 Computer Crime Code (importation of illegal internet content).</p>

<p dir="ltr">A military officer in northern Thailand has sued a Lahu ethnic minority activist for posting a facebook video clip, saying that the clip defamed him and injured the honor of Thai military. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>

<p dir="ltr">The surprising thing about a four-minute music video mocking junta leader Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha, for which a little-known district official now faces up to five years in prison, is that it doesn’t appear to contain any obviously defamatory content.</p>

<div>On 28 December 2015 a military court sentenced Tanitsak to eight years imprisonment, reduced to four years in light of his guilty plea. A defendant in the lèse majesté case concerning the distribution of Banpodj audio programs, Tanitsak, known as Neng Jungnup, is 50 years old.</div> <p>&nbsp;</p> <div> </div>

<p dir="ltr">Thai Criminal Court sentenced a man accused of defaming the monarchy on facebook to nine years imprisonment with a sentence reduced by one third.</p> <p dir="ltr">The Criminal Court on Ratchadapisek Rd, Bangkok, on Wednesday, 20 January 2016, sentenced Piya J., a 46 year-old programmer of offenses under Article 112 of the Criminal Code, the lèse majesté law, to nine years in jail.</p>

<p>Thai Military Court has extended the pre-trial detention of a man accused of creating a copycat Facebook profile under his friend’s name to take revenge by posting lèse majesté messages and images.</p>

<p>The Military Court has granted bail to a Rajabhakti activist who was taken from his sickbed and held at an unknown location for five days.</p> <p>According&nbsp;<a href="https://tlhr2014.wordpress.com/2015/12/18/thanate-116-military-court/">Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR)</a>, the Military Court of Bangkok at 4:20 pm on Friday, 18 December 2015, granted 100,000 baht (about 2,763 USD) bail to Thanet Anantawong, a 25-year-old activist who was taken from his sickbed while waiting for a medical operation last week.</p>

<h2>1. The more active citizens</h2> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>Given the public curiosity that there could be corruption in the construction of the&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rajabhakti_Park">Rajabhakti Park</a>, and if so, who among the government officials, the military junta or members of the coup makers have been involved, it has led to at least three intriguing activities initiated by media and citizens keen on corruption issues including;</p>