Transcript of the above video: 

Look I said it, and this isn't an "I told You So" video, this is a video to explain to people where things stand and basically get into why I had my concerns about the Destination Thailand Visa to begin with, why I still have my concerns and how it's being rolled into this AI panopticon kind of Immigration set up. I thought of making this video after reading a recent article from the Pattaya Mail, pattayamail.com, the article is titled: The evolution toward digital sovereignty: Paradigm shifts in Thai Immigration and integrated big data governance. Now again, I urge those who are watching this video, go check out the article in detail. The reason for the thumbnail it's from Jurassic Park; I really don't like being right. There's that great scene in Jurassic Park where Jeff Goldblum's character is sitting there and he had said, "look, life finds a way. These kinds of things are not predictable" and that is kind of the way I feel about, well maybe on the predictability side it's not so analogous to that thumbnail, but I feel the same way Jeff Goldblum did in that scene. I don't want to be right about the DTV. That being said, let's jump in here. 

Really quickly, before we get into the citation, I've had folks ask me and say how can we support you? We don't always have to avail ourselves of a law firm here in Thailand and we know you don't monetize your channel - obviously there are promotional elements for the firm associated with this channel - but people have asked how they can support us otherwise, other than just being a client of the firm. Well it's possible to do that. My better half and I set up a restaurant here in downtown Bangkok. It's called Pancake Palace. As the name implies, it’s breakfast anytime as well as American Diner style food; we also have an English breakfast on the menu. So for those who are interested, hamburgers, cheeseburgers, chilli bowls, as well as great American breakfast. We also have great buffalo wings and grilled cheese sandwiches as well; coke in glass bottles too. So if you're interested and you want to check us out, come on by. Links are in the description below if you want to find us. 

That said, let's jump into this, under the heading: Scrutiny of Destination Thailand Visa (DTV) Quoting directly: "While the DTV offers unprecedented flexibility, it is a primary target for Data Cross-examination." I talked about this going back, years back, when they tried to roll out these man trap - basically they are integrating tax policy, banking policy through this OECD nonsense that is being brought in, and basically then Mr. Anutin pushed back on that by rolling out the Thailand Digital Arrival card, they weren't able to completely implement that the way they wanted to. That was all supposed to tie into the Digital Wallet as well and that fell by the wayside when that government fell apart, which I'm thankful for that. 

That said, these supranationalists and quite honestly these foreigners who want to have an undue influence on Thailand, don't seem to ever give up, and it looks like more and more we are seeing these foreign policies being implemented through into Thailand. And again an example of this is "primary target for data cross-examination".  Again, this is going to be occurring at the kiosks at immigration now, it looks to me like. Quoting further, and I think this backs it up: "The Compliance Trap - Digital footprints (entry/exit patterns, Digital Nomad status verifications) are now audited against the DTV's specific remote-work requirements. If the Big Data analysis suggests a mismatch such as a lack of legitimate remote activity or inconsistent travel, the risk of immediate visa revocation is substantially higher than in the manual era." And as I have discussed in other videos, they are utilizing AI technology to do this kind of adjudication now. And even in that article, they say the algorithm is driving things, or maybe it was another article that I was reading at a similar time. But again, what does that mean? "Specific remote work requirements" - so what are the criteria for that? And then meanwhile, "a mismatch such as a lack of remote activity or inconsistent travel" - what does that mean? How is that going to be adjudicated?

This is what I hated about the DTV from the beginning. Everything is nebulous; nothing is well defined, so no one knows where they stand. And now we're going to have computers? Maybe for this video I should have used, and maybe in a future video I'll use the thumbnail from the movie The Other Guys where this guy is like a financial con man who when finally gets cornered says, "Computers! What if one day they ran it all?" and it's meant to be absurdist because that idea is a bad idea, and again, I don't think that this is the greatest thing for the country. 

That said, quoting further, and getting to the quote regarding the algorithm: "We have entered an age where the "Algorithm is the Adjudicator." I don't want to live in that age. I don't want to live with an algorithm adjudicating me. That's a terrible idea. We're people. We're not driven by machines. Machines work for us; we don't work for them. Quoting further: "Navigating Thailand's legal landscape now requires more than just an understanding of the law; it requires a mastery of your own Digital Identity." How about it not be that. I'm tired of this being stated to some sort of foregone conclusion. At the end of the day, the law exists for a reason because free people need to be able to cohabit and exist in a civilized society, but now the algorithm is going to dictate how everything works for foreigners in Thailand? And by the way, if Thai nationals think that this isn't eventually going to come home to roost for them, they had better think again because this stuff if nothing else, will be Beta tested on the foreign community, before being rolled out on the Thais.

I'm very hopeful cooler heads prevail, and we see this roll back. That being said, that doesn't seem like that's where the momentum on this is heading so we will certainly be keeping folks updated on this channel as the situation evolves.