Slashdot Mirror
Thai Premier Spams Nation, Prompts Consumer Outcry
patiwat writes "Newly installed Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva's first act was to send a spam SMS to tens of millions of Thai cell phone subscribers. The message, signed 'Your PM,' urged people to help him solve the Thai political crisis and respond with their postal code at a charge of 3 baht (10 US cents). The new premier was criticized for violating privacy regulations."
The charge is from the mobile network, not Saree.
No existe.
This wasn't an emergency communication. It was just a "hi from the new prime minister", and the responses would do no more than give him an idea of the geographic distribution of his support. It isn't even a good survey technique.
Moreover, Thailand has good radio and television penetration. There is one TV for every two Thai people. He could easily have gone on TV and radio.
The cost to send an SMS in Thailand is typically 3 baht. Pre-paid plans on the major carriers (True, DTAC, AIS) all charge about 3 baht per SMS.
The SMS wasn't sent to all mobile phones either. I have 3 phones, and the only one to receive the SMS was the one without Thai fonts.
The papers tried to make a big deal out of it over here, but I haven't met a single person who so much as mentioned it.
If this gets too much press coverage, politicians in other countries might get the idea to start doing this!
Thailand *is* in a crisis situation right now, and the PM could fudge his way out of this.
But the US auto industry is also in a crisis. Would you like to receive some spam everyday from US Senator Carl Levin, asking you to support the bailout? (For the non-US folks, Carl Levin happens to be the Senator from Michigan, where most of the US auto industry is based).
If the government in the country where I live gets the ability to spam everyone, as they please, first I will chuck my cell phone, and then I will move.
Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
The message, signed 'Your PM,' urged people to help him solve the Thai political crisis, and asked if the recipient would like to receive more contacts from him, if so, respond with their postal code at a charge of 3 Baht (10 US cents).
If every politician and businessmen here sent a message to rally people for their cause, we'd end up with dozens of spam messages per day. Actually, I get ~2 spam messages/day from businesses in Thailand already (I live here).
This is abuse of communication, not privacy.
Oh and it was from 'yourPM', no spaces. I got it on my cell, here is the translation:
"I am your new prime minister. I ask that everyone join hands for Thailand / if you are interested in talking with me please send me a postcard to your main postoffice at #9191 (3 baht)"
My thai friends thought the SMS was a prank . . . The majority population feels he became PM through very immoral means, so I can see this SMS message making a lot of people not happy over here . . .
I, the new Prime Minister, invite you to help Thailand come out of its current {illegible, probably crisis). If you're interested in receiving (illegible, probably information) from me,please send your 5-digit postal code to this number .... (the rest is cut off)
It doesn't seem very spammy. The tone was appropriate, neither common nor overly polite. The Thai language paper I looked through didn't even mention the message. I look at it as just a better version of the required political speech on your first day.
p.s. I know that you were joking about reading (it does have "Thai," though), but I though you might be interested in the content.
Put identity in the browser.
That's a nice theory about the new PM, but as far as I can tell, he's part of a coalition of minor parties and he spoke out over the army coup in 2006. He was actually supported by the King, not the military.
Admittedly, the Suvanabhumi airport fiasco and the removal of Somchai, the democratically-elected PM was sad, but there's no way to know how corrupt those elections were. A vote sold for two beers when I lived there. The PPP (Somchai's party) was apparently dissolved for buying votes, though there's some evidence that it was business as usual.
Thai Rak Thai (Thaksin's party) was also elected several times by gaming the Bangkok vs. upcountry political system and throwing so much pork at the outer provinces that everyone voted for him. Hey, who wouldn't vote for an extra month's salary in cash and interest-free loans?
Since The recently-deposed PM was Thaksin's brother-in-law and one of the richest families in the country, and Thaksin was extraordinarily corrupt even by Thailand's standards, your propoganda makes me doubt you're a disinterested party in the manner.
The King has been the only thing keeping Thai politics remotely sane since it went constitutional, and his death will let the dogs loose.
Put identity in the browser.