In their final meeting before the elections, the outgoing Thai Cabinet ministers managed to pass a resolution ordering all civil servants to cease the use of free e-mail accounts.
The decision was made on the grounds of national security, and for the development of a centralized e-mail system to augment, rather than replace, existing government e-mail accounts.
On Dec. 18 2007, the government acknowledged a report by the Office of the Public Sector Development Commission regarding the dangers to national security posed by civil servants using free e-mail accounts, especially those from overseas, as most had signed up by clicking on an end user license agreement without reading it.
The OPDC was concerned that many providers reserved the right to create backups of e-mail for continuity reasons and had access to read e-mail messages.
They reasoned that it was detrimental to the Royal Thai Government in the long run as it allowed foreign interests to read and analyze Thai government data for various purposes.
That also allowed foreigners to analyze traffic data and conduct espionage on secret documents.
The Cabinet resolution called for a national government e-mail service to be created for civil servants. A government agency, the Government IT Services (GITS, a semi-governmental organization set up by the National Electronics and Computer Technology Centre, Nectec), will come up with a plan and budget.
Responsibility for the project was given to the OPDC, the Office of the Prime Minister's Office and the National Intelligence Agency to implement. The Cabinet also ordered all civil servants to cease the use of free e-mail accounts, especially those from overseas providers, within one year.
Senior civil servants have been given three months to comply.
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