GOVERNMENT websites were down yesterday after cyber-warriors kicked off a campaign of attacks following the passing of controversial changes to the Computer Crime Law.

The sites hit included Govern-ment House, Office of the PM, and the Royal Gazette website.

It was not confirmed if the failure of these sites, which were offline sporadically yesterday, was the result of attacks or a defensive measure by the government.

Earlier, Major-General Ritthi Intarawut, director of the Army’s cyber centre, warned state agencies to prepare for cyber attacks by hackers angry over changes to the Computer Crime Act, advising them to step up security or even shut down systems temporarily.

Government agencies, previously targeted by hackers upset by changes to the law, were also advised to keep a close watch on system gateways, and place tight restrictions on firewalls in preparation for possible attacks.

The warning came after a group of Internet users known as “Opponents of the Single Gateway” threatened to attack government websites and wipe out all data today if the government did not respond to its demand for the amendment to be scrapped.

The law sparked major controversy, with nearly 400,000 Internet users signing an online petition at Change.org calling for the National Legislative Assembly (NLA) to withhold approval of the changes over fears they would hit online freedom and privacy.

After the NLA passed amendments last Friday, netizens staged protests online and offline.

Some government websites have been targeted and were brought down by cyber “warriors”, who repeatedly and simultaneously entered those sites.

Defence Ministry spokesman Maj-Gen Kongcheeo Tantravanich said the government had measures to defend against any attack but he demanded the attackers stop, saying such acts were not the solution to the issue. Damaging websites and causing trouble for the public was wrong.

He said the Army’s websites had a strong protection system. But because of the current situation, it had to emphasise the importance of cyber security more.

He said the Defence Ministry website had been targeted but was undamaged.

Kongcheep said all related agencies had to work harder to build “correct” public understanding of the computer law, stressing that it was not related to a single gateway.

‘Impossible to delay’

Meanwhile, NLA president Pornpetch Vichitcholchai said changes to the computer law were an improvement of the law with authorities sharing power in enforcing the act, while there would be increased public participation in the decision-making process to regulate online content.

With regards to calls to delay promulgation of the law, Pornpetch said that was impossible as the changes had already passed the NLA.

He said the amended Act was better than the previous version as it shared power – leaving it to courts to judge matters and representatives of civil society to sit on a newly introduced screening committee.

Ministers would not have the power to shut down or limit content without court consent, he said, which was was better than mechanisms in other countries.

Pornpetch said he wanted opponents of the changes to point out how they wanted to improve the law.

The NLA was ready to set up a public forum to exchange ideas, he said.

The NLA president said he did not want the matter linked with a single gateway, stressing that the new law imposed restrictions on authorities, preventing them from violating people’s privacy.

If found guilty of breaching people’s privacy, officials would be punished “three times” harder than ordinary citizens, Pornpetch said.