Amateur crime sleuths warned they could be prosecuted for breaking PDPA

Amateur crime sleuths have been warned they could be prosecuted under the Personal Data Protection Act despite their good intentions.

Chaiwut Thanakamanusorn, head of the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society, urged the nation’s unofficial detectives against posting video clips or pictures of others on social media, regardless of their good intentions, as it may violate the PDPA.

A new PDPA law was introduced on June 1 which carried the threat of a 1 year jail sentence and 5 million baht fine for anyone breaking it. But there are some grey areas.

Chaiwut acknowledged it is legal for people to photograph or film criminal acts as it could help in the prosecution of those breaking the law, but says posting the evidence online could also violate the law.

“People can send pictures or videos to the police, but they are not allowed to publish them online. People who appear in the…