Govt to monitor Thaksin's SMSs

[CrazyExpat]

I found this story in the Bangkok post very interesting. I wonder how they plan to monitor this? What mechanisms are in place? Is this easily done for him? Others? All?

The government plans to closely monitor the SMS messages that ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra plans to send directly to his supporters, to see whether they represent a threat to national security, Prime Minister's Office Minister Sathit Wongnongtoey said on Monday.

Mr Sathit admitted it was not easy to control text messaging.

The government would also check the programme content of satellite broadcaster PTV, operated by the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD), following complaints that the programmes gives misleading information.

The political movement backing the fugitive politician was getting more vigorous, he said. He pointed to Thaksin's use of a leader of a neighbouring country to pressure the government last week, and the stress it caused.

Last Wednesday, Puea Thai Party chairman Chavalit Yongchaiyudh paid a one-day visit to Phnom Penh and met Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen. He said latern that Hun Sen was willing to host Thaksin if he wished to stay in Cambodia.

Gen Chavalit said Mr Hun Sen was full of praise for Thaksin and expressed sympathy for the "political injustice" he suffered in Thailand.

On arrival in Thailand on Friday to attend the Asean summit, the Cambodian leader said Thaksin was welcome to serve as his economic adviser and his government would not allow his extradition to Thailand.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/breakingnews/158150/govt-to-closely-monitor-thaksin-moves

[Beer Chang]

Gen Chavalit said Mr Hun Sen was full of praise for Thaksin and expressed sympathy for the "political injustice" he suffered in Thailand.

On arrival in Thailand on Friday to attend the Asean summit, the Cambodian leader said Thaksin was welcome to serve as his economic adviser and his government would not allow his extradition to Thailand.

Wonder how much Toxin is paying Mr Hun Sen?

[WannaGo]

I wonder how they plan to monitor this? What mechanisms are in place? Is this easily done for him? Others? All?

I think it would be fairly easy for them to do this.

Last year, Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick was sent to jail for committing perjury during during a civil trial. Prosecutors used his own text messages to show that he'd lied under oath. Apparently, the text messages were stored in the servers of the company that provided the service to the city government, just like emails are temporarily stored in your ISP's server.

I guess it's possible even to monitor the messages in real-time, if the government's electronic intelligence networks are sophisticated enough. I wouldn't be surprised if the US can and does do that in certain circumstances.