Thailand plans to track tourists using their phones

By: Patrick Jones

Looking to visit Thailand? Well, just keep in mind that while they welcome you, they'll also want to keep close track of you.

Thailand's telecommunications regulator has devised a new plan to track tourists through their mobile phones. This will be made possible through a special SIM card.

Though there is currently very little information on how this could be implemented, the plan is intended to help find tourists who are wanted by police.

They also are looking to find people who may have fallen in love with the country a bit too much and have overstayed their welcome without proper documentation.

Lately, Thailand has been trying to crack down on tourists who are misbehaving.

There are oppositions to the plan. Many are against it, fearing it won't even work.

Free speech advocacy groups believe the whole thing would be useless, especially if its intention is truly to catch criminals or terrorists. They point out it would be too easy to get around buying the special SIM card.

The advocates say most tourists should be really easy to track without any special devices.

Anyone in New York City knows that to be true – it just takes one quick glance over Time Square to spot those tourists!

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