THAILAND'S HOT (E)MAIL DEBATE
The outgoing Thai government issued a resolution to its officials to stop using foreign free email providers, such as Hotmail, Yahoo, and Gmail, for official communications. I don't see anything wrong with this order but Thai academics have said it could be unconstitutional. According to a survey last year four out of ten government workers were using free email services for official work.
I'm actually with the former government on this one. There are major security risks associated with using free email services not to mention the fact that getting an email from, for example, thailand-prime-minister@yahoo.com is extremely unprofessional.
I have similar concerns within my company. When someone has been using their personal email for work-related communications leaves the company what happens? They take everything with them and there is nothing we can do about it. And as a company you have zero control over what is being said on behalf of your company when someone is using these email providers.
A professor at Chulalongkorn University, one of Thailand's leading universities, is reported as saying the resolution has nothing to do with national security. I beg to differ. That is exactly what it's about.
2 comments:
I don't blame the people for using Gmail Ymail. More often then not institutional mails systems (eg. lotus notes, exchange) are so archaic and user un-friendly compared to the web ones. Also, one probably needs to configure some kind of proxy service to use the official mail systems at home.
Or install a mail server so you can have total control over everything that is sent electronically in the name of your company. Almost all of the professional companies in Thailand use them, so why can't the government use this too?
The fact is that any emails sent through a public free email service are not secure. Would you want your company (or state in the case of the government) secrets potentially being made public?
Thanks for your post - it's a good debate to have.
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