Type of site | online registration system and closed database |
|---|---|
| Available in | Thai |
| Owner | Centre for COVID-19 Situation Administration |
| Editor | Krungthai Bank andDigital Government Development Agency |
| Commercial | no |
| Registration | required |
| Launched | 17 May 2020; 5 years ago (2020-05-17) |
| Current status | Online |
Thai Chana (Thai:ไทยชนะ,pronounced[tʰājt͡ɕʰā.náʔ];lit. 'Thais win') is an online registration system and closed database for public establishments to record their visitors as a government's plan to combatCOVID-19 pandemic in Thailand. The database is available only to theMinistry of Public Health's Department of Disease Control in order to track, trace and restrict the visitors who may later be infected.[1]
Thai Chana was developed byKrungthai Bank andDigital Government Development Agency and was launched for public on 17 May 2020, following an order to reopen department stores after 2-month lockdown. Every enterprises are obliged to have their visitors "check-in" to theThai Chana system upon arrival and "check-out" upon departure. As of February 2020, the system is available on its website and itsAndroid mobile application. On its first day of operation, the system was deployed by more than 44,000 stores and was checked-in by more than 2 million users.[2]
According to the official statement, goal of the system is to "determine the crowdedness of the given business location, so that the business owner can manage the visitors' admission" and to "trace the visitors [in case got infected] and track down those with close contact to them based on their check-ins".[1] However, many found that these goals have never been implemented throughout the pandemic.[3]
The system has been criticised for collecting certain aspects of users' private information that are deemed irreverent to the track-and-trace scheme[4] and unnecessarily violating citizens'online privacy.[5]
Poramet Minsiri, founder ofKapook.com [th] toldBBC Thai[4] thatThai Chana has made him realise that "[Thai] citizens' rights are so light". He further criticised the unnecessary collection of users'real-time location, amongst others, as a violation of online privacy. Human rights academics Sarueni Achawananthakun criticised its lack of transparency on data collection. She further questioned the extent of involvement of Krungthai Bank given its for-profit status.[5]
Not long afterThai Chana launched, manyiPhone andiOS users in Thailand received spam messages viaiMessage advertising online casino scams. Manynetizens accused the government'sThai Chana for possible leakage of many telephone numbers to third parties.[6] However,Ministry of Digital Economy and Society declined all claims.[7]