Thai Premier Spams Nation, Prompts Consumer Outcry 81
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."
Re:Hmmmm... (Score:4, Insightful)
I wonder what this plan to solve the crisis involves. Figuring out who is more likely to respond to unsolicited mail/email/etc...?
I think the charge of 3 baht per message says it all.
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The charge is from the mobile network, not Saree.
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Pop quiz: what business is Thaksin (oddly enough the loser in the current round of turmoil) in?
C...n (Score:1, Insightful)
Anything starting with C and ending with n.
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Re:Hmmmm... (Score:4, Interesting)
Also, the new PM is from a coalition of minor Thai parties and has nothing to do with Thaksin.
This story also appears to be a non-starter in Thailand. I went back to the 18th at thairath.co.th [slashdot.org] (a Thai language newspaper) and found no mention of this story in the political section.
Anyway, I'm not sure I would consider it spam if Obama had a message stating something like "I, the new President, invite you, the people of the U.S., to join together and help us rise out of our current situation. I welcome your comments." (The picture in the Bangkok Post is too blurry for me to make out every word the Thai PM wrote, but that's the gist of it.) In fact, I fully expect Obama to do something very similar in his first week, though it will be an announcement on TV pre-empting your favorite show. I doubt it will be quite as short or too the point, either.
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Anyway, I'm not sure I would consider it spam if Obama had a message stating something like "I, the new President, invite you, the people of the U.S., to join together and help us rise out of our current situation. I welcome your comments."
Replace "comments" with "zip codes", and voilÃ, SPAM!
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Re:Hmmmm... (Score:5, Insightful)
...get the phone company to provide the cell tower location they are connected to....
I'm not sure you comprehend the logistics involved in doing this for tens of millions of users. And besides supposedly, according to the article, people spending the effort to send back the text message will give him an indication of "those who wants to 'help' solve the crisis", not "those who received this message". Otherwise, just pulling the address database from the telecoms would be a helluva lot easier then your method.
This whole attempt, of course, speaks volumes, mostly to the apparent idiocy of a PM who believes that either:
1) The people who respond really want to help (instead of just responding to the novelty of it)
2) People that don't respond want the crisis to continue
3) The people that are intelligent/capable enough to actually provide major support for his efforts would be attracted to his cause by this text message.
I'm betting more that he's actually not an idiot, but has some shady deal/debt with the telecoms.
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it's certainly no harder than sending 10's of millions of sms's then dealing with the returned data. mordern cell systems can tell what number is locked on to what tower.
Re:Hmmmm... (Score:5, Funny)
The postal code reply would give the government a clearer idea about which parts of the country wanted to take part in the government's attempt to solve the crisis.
Seems more likely that you'll get a sense of where the concentrations are of idiots who believe that they can actually solve a political crisis by sending their postal code in a text message.
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If we could ELIMINATE the idiots we wouldn't have so many crises.
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I got one of those [mobileactive.org] from Thaksin in February 2005 when I was working in Thailand. From what I remember it was a sort of scam, because the transmitting telephone company, still owned sub rosa by Thaksin, got paid for all those SMSs.
The link above is a bit confusing; it refers to an SMS for the 2006 election, but the 2005 election was held on Feb. 6 (that's my birthday and alcohol sales were banned as of noon Feb.5, so I remember it quite well, and not without some resentment ...).
Not really spam (Score:2, Insightful)
People over use the word spam these days. All the new PM did was try to rally his people to a cause. It was in bad taste perhaps but seeing as how Thailand doesn't have the type of emergency broadcast system we have here in the USA I'd think this isn't totally uncalled for.
If he had made this a habit and over used it then I would call it spam, but this looks like a one time deal during a genuine state of emergency. I wouldn't call that spam personally.
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Spam can be considered any kind of unsolicited electronic contact if you didn't provide your number personally and it was also sent to thousands of other people.
Re:Not really spam (Score:4, Interesting)
It depends on how much is in it. (Score:3, Insightful)
I read the article, but couldn't decipher the picture with the Thai text.
But I think I recognized "Pad Thai" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pad_thai) in there somewhere.
So this message could be just "spam, Pad Thai and spam." There is not much spam in that. Of course, you could ask the waiter to replace the Pad Thai with spam, and the you would have "spam, spam and spam."
Hmmm . . . Pad Thai . . . is it ok to eat that for breakfast?
Re:It depends on how much is in it. (Score:5, Informative)
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.
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Re:Not really spam (Score:5, Informative)
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.
Re:Not really spam (Score:4, Interesting)
He should have been honest and said: "Hi, I'm your new Prime Minister who was installed by the military and the middle classes, because the poor majority of our country finally got it into their stupid heads to get together and vote for a party that more or less represented their interests. This is not allowed. Democracy is not about having a government that gets the most votes, but about serving the interests of the middle class and wealthy."
It's the same old sad story.
This guy and his supporters deserve something more than a reply to a text message.
Re:Not really spam (Score:4, Informative)
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.
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Indeed the GP should be modded "-1 head up ass". When the king dies expect a coup every couple of months.
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Indeed the GP should be modded "-1 head up ass". When the king dies expect a coup every couple of months.
Heh, seeing that you said [slashdot.org] Samak Sundaravej was never voted into power, but was instead installed by the Army, and also said that Somchai Wongsawat was similarly never voted into power, you've got your head too far up your ass to be able to see where anyone else's head is.
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All the parties game the system. It's how politics in Thailand works. The new guy is just as, if not more, corrupt than the old one. The whole thing is a joke. Thaksin's replacement was removed after being convicted of a conflict of interest (he was moonlighting as a chef on a television cooking show â" that's so pathetic that words fail me).
The difference is that Thaksin's lot were voted in with a majority, and he'd more or less kept most of his campaign promises. Hell, he'd even completed a previous
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Since the average vote costs a couple of beers, it doesn't take much to get "the will of the majority," especially if you
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I was involved with gov't relations in the 90's, too. Thaksin siphoned more money off of the Thai government than any politician in recent history. Ther's a reason his wealth nearly tripled while he was in power. Since he was the richest man before he became PM, I think we can see how much money that truly was.
He was a crook. He stole unbelievable sums of money.
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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.
While it's true that the Democrats are in coalition with minor parties, I would hardly call the Democrat party itself a "minor party"--they were the #2 party behind TRT/PPP before the latter's dissolution.
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.
Well, election monitors from the EU [bangkokpost.com] said that the 2007 election that put the PPP and Samak Sundaravej in power went mostly smoothly [bbc.co.uk], despite complaints of vote-buying. Yes, it's unfortunate that vote-buying is commonplace in Thailand, but according to Transparency International [transparency.org], corruption in Thailand went
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Khun Abhisit has become premier after extraordinary political manoeuvrings and a bidding war for MPs. For a fascinating look at how politics and "democracy" works in Thailand, take a look at this timeline by a Thai newspaper editor [nationmultimedia.com]. While some details are based on rumours, the cash incentives to MPs and refusal by any body to investigate are public knowledge.
Thai politics has always been corrupt to a greater or lesser extent. However, the corruption reached a new level under the premiership of Khun Tha
Re:Not really spam (Score:4, Interesting)
The thing is that there are two Mobile Phones for every one Thai person.
If you've ever met a Thai you'll find that they are married to the phone. Mobile coverage is better then TV and Radio combined in Thailand.
This is just the information he would need to strengthen his power base and weaken his oppositions. If you think that American politicians are petty and corrupt, you've never learned about Thai politics, they take pork barrel spending to a whole new level. Abhisit is learning who he needs to appease to stay in power, his predecessor did the same thing.
Stop doing that. (Score:3, Insightful)
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... 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)
Step one: don't make it so easy for a politician to send a text message to everyone in the country that has a cell phone. If they can do that, they can abuse it.
3 baht is not excessive (Score:4, Informative)
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.
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It looks like 3 baht is about 8-9 US cents by the currency exchanges. But then again by the Big Mac Index which (humerously) measures purchasing power rather than exchange rate, 3 baht is 17-18 US cents. Then again, we really need to factor in local wages which means the Premier cost each person the equivalent of 96 cents(*).
(*) Start with 3 baht. Convert to Thai Big Macs at rate of 1BM per 62 baht to get 0.0484MB. Convert that to hours of labor at rate of 67min per 1 Thai BM to get 3.24min. Now conve
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Ghah, got "continue editing" and "submit" buttons mixed up. Anyway, all rates are taken from http://www.ubs.com/1/ShowMedia/ubs_ch/wealth_mgmt_ch?contentId=103982&name=eng.pdf [ubs.com] and http://www.economist.com/finance/displaystory.cfm?story_id=11793125 [economist.com]
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Thai cell phone companies charge for receiving texts? I thought they were like the rest of the Asian countries and only charged the sender.
As it is always with SPAM: Wrong audience (Score:1)
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Ssshhh! Please keep this quiet! (Score:4, Informative)
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.
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A better translation of the message (Score:1, Informative)
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).
The actually SMS message translation (Score:5, Informative)
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 . . .
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I, the new Prime Minister, invite you (hon.) to join together to bring Thailand out of (something illegible). If you are interested in being contacted by me again, please send your 5-digit postal code ("rahat praisanee") to the number ... (cut off in the picture).
Personal interest -- where did you learn Thai? How long have you lived there? Are you in IT?
Re:The actual SMS message translation (Score:1)
I like your translation better . . .
> Personal interest -- where did you learn Thai? How long have you lived there? Are you in IT?
Taught it to myself over 4+ years, lived here no more than 4-5 months, and I'm an engineer that runs a fairly popular website (which is why I visit /.). I'm guessing by your better translation you must be Thai? =P
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I was there when FOSS was in full swing. How's it holding up now? I don't hear much from the LinuxTLE or OfficeTLE teams at NECTEC these days.
My gal's brother is pissed about the new PM, too. He lives in Bangkok but doesn't like the politics there (being a northerner at heart). Every time she talks to him, they spend more time on politics these days than anything else.
Thais didn't seem so
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Yea, I find a lot of Thais would rather pretend politics didn't even exist here . . . but the extremists have definitely created some polarization . . . as for political change, I could use a bit less corporate protectionism and bit more Visa time between runs =P
I'm not involved with the programming/OS/IT community here, although they contacted me to join them. I tend to the robotics community here.
My site is the same as my username, http://www.societyofrobots.com/ [societyofrobots.com]
Probably not interesting for you unless you
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Here is the actual text so someone else can do a better translation job . . . make sure your encoding is set to Thai!
àoeàà(TM)àààà£à±ààà(TM)àà£ààà(TM)àfàààààààSààà--ààà(TM)à£àààà(TM)ààà£ààà--ààà--ààààààààààà
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Maybe your country wife isn't happy because Thaksin isn't giving her bribes anymore but the rest of us honest people who don't do illegal things are quite happy thank you.
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Don't you have more important things to do like an airport to 'legally' shut down and Newin to bribe with ministerial posts? ;)
Whatever the PAD says, true or not, the reality is that the current gov't lost every election but they are the ones in power.
BUSINESS TRANSACTION URGENT (Score:5, Funny)
GOOD DAY TO YOU SIRS OR MADAM
I AM [PRIME MINISTER OF KINGDOM OF THAILAND]. I HAVE BUSINESS PROPOSITION TO MAKE YOU. Have URGENT POLITICAL CRISIS to get out of the country; need you to send 10c ([TEN CENTS]) to me and it's yours.
Is NOT pyramid scheme
Signed,
[Thai prime minister]
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None of this is to absolve Mr Thaksin and his cronies of their sins. But even his gravest abuse -- a "war on drugs" in 2003, in which police were suspected of hundreds of extra-judicial killings -- was not entirely his fault. The dirty war against supposed drug-dealers was misguidedly supported by Thais of all social classes. Even the king, in an equivocal speech that year, sounded at times as if he approved of it.
Wrong. Thaksin explicitly gave the police in the north the right to execute suspected drug dealers on sight. No right to a trial by peers. No trial for the public record. Just a bullet to the back of the head. It wasn't "suspected." It was well-documented and widely reported.
Never mind that the police up there are just organized crime and used the "War on Drugs" to consolidate power. You didn't even need to be a low-level drug dealer because the police co
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The Economist doesn't know what it's talking about:
The fact that the Economist wants a two-party system for Thailand just proves that they have their heads up their asses. They don't even discuss Islamic separatists. Wow.
I did not know people were allowed to talk about Islamic separatists.
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Maybe, but I bet at least his wife doesn't look like a horse with a hangover.
in thailand, the government IS the problem. (Score:2)
and here's one more example.
He's late (Score:1)
Oh, the innocent times, within several years, the boom of telemarketing has immunized the populace to the extent this wouldn't raise too many eyebrows today.