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Published on September 8, 2007

Www.prachatai.com quoted its source as saying that the unnamed woman had been arrested on August 24, the same day the 37-year-old webmaster was arrested, and had been detained in jail since. It said her family had financial constraints and was struggling to pay her bail. The online paper, however, did not give details of the woman.

The Webmaster, widely known among Internet users as Phraya Phichai, and the unnamed women were reported to be the first two people to be charged with the new Computer Crime Act, which went into effect on July 18.

Both Information and Communications Technology Minister Sitthichai Pookaiya-udom and the commander of the Economic and Cyber Crime Division Police, Maj-General Wisut Wanitchbutr, denied any knowledge of the arrests, even after they were reported in an overseas newspaper.

Phraya Phichai was freed on bail on Thursday.

The Computer Crime Act, first proposed by the ICT Ministry, has been the subject of heated controversy due to the extreme powers it gives police, who are able to seize the computers of people they suspect of disseminating insulting or pornographic content.

Reporters Without Borders, an organisaton that fights for press freedom, on Wednesday issued a statement to voice its concern over the arrests and the law.

"It confirms our fears about the dangers of a law that is supposed to combat pornography but turns out to be a way of restricting and controlling press freedom," said the statement.

The Nation