Transcript of the above video: 

As the title of this video suggests, this is a reminder that filming people without consent is a crime in Thailand. I actually thought of making this video after reading a recent comment on our channel. "Hi Ben, thank you for the great videos. I'm sorry this is totally unrelated, but I sometimes see some idiots filming ladies secretly on Beach Road and labeling them as freelancers "without any consideration" about how that may impact their image in life should their loved ones and family see them. It makes my blood boil, and I do my best to report them whenever I can. I would truly appreciate it if you talked about this in a related video. Thank you." Actually we talked about this some time ago, quite a bit at length, but I think it's kind of one of these things, periodically I have got to kind of rehash stuff we talked about in the past because in my mind we have gone over it, but yeah there are new people here and they don't sort of understand how things work. 

So referring over here to Khmer Time's, khmertimeskh.com, and it's odd that this popped up, but I went ahead and was doing a search and this frankly was the best citation I could find and it does actually quote Bangkok Post, so they are citing the Bangkok Post on this website but I am a big believer in credit where credit is due when it comes to citations. Title is: New Personal data law comes into effect in Thailand. Quoting directly: "The Royal Thai Police (RTP) has issued a set of recommendations on the use of personal photos, videos and other files without violating the new Personal Data Protection Act, which came into effect yesterday. Deputy Police Spokesman Pol. Colonel Siriwat Deepor said on Tuesday that people can still take pictures and videos of others unintentionally and use them for personal purposes, but they must not cause damage to anyone." So this is the key point. "Unintentionally" is the word to take in context there, and must not cause "damage". So if somebody tells you, "hey I don't want to be filmed", you are automatically put on notice, you are then damaging them. They don't want to be filmed. 

Quoting further: "The PDPA was published in The Royal Gazette in May 2019, with a one-year grace period for stakeholders to adjust. The full enforcement of the legislation was then pushed back twice due to the pandemic. The Government later pressed for the full enforcement from Wednesday, when law violators will be liable for a hefty fine of up to 5 million baht and a maximum term of 1 year in jail for using personal data of others without consent." And that includes their photos. So that is something to really understand here. 

I don't think a lot of foreigners really get that. We have done the videos even under the old laws, which were actually arguably more relaxed. This thing actually tightened things up, and don't play with the notion of "intentional" or "unintentional". The balancing act comes in the "damage" part as well. So whether or not somebody, it is not on a person to affirmatively tell you they don't want to be filmed. Quite the opposite. The presumption is people do not want to be filmed. 

So again, the thing to take away from this video is yes, it is a violation of Thai Law to film somebody without their permission and there could even be criminal penalties associated with doing so.