Arthit Suriyawongkul is a computer scientist and cultural anthropologist by training. He started his career as a software localization engineer in a company with the motto “The Network is the Computer” and later joined a number of academic and industrial artificial intelligence research groups. His research interests are digital methods, privacy and autonomy, internet regulations, and engineering approaches for AI governance.
His interest in digital rights grew when he was an administrator for Thai Wikipedia where some of its articles were faced with censorship in Thailand. Since 2006, he is consulting for a number of organizations involving open source software for developments, internet freedom, journalism, and information rights, including Mekong ICT Camp, Opendream, Prachatai, iLaw, Thai Netizen Network, and Rocket Media Lab.
Arthit has also served as a committee member for the Campaign for Popular Media Reform, Electronic Government Agency’s Open Government Data Subcommittee, and National Innovation Agency’s Innovation Foresight Institute. Most recently, he got appointed for Thailand Consumers Council’s media and telecommunication subcommittee and a committee member of ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 42/WG 4 working group on Artificial intelligence use cases and applications. Arthit has received research grants from Privacy International, Southeast Asian Press Alliance, Internews, Thailand’s Broadcasting and Telecommunications Research and Development Fund for Public Interest, and the Thailand Research Fund.
He is currently a PhD candidate in SFI Centre for Research Training in Digitally-Enhanced Reality (d-real) at Trinity College Dublin and tweeting regularly about data, politics, and life during lockdown at @bact.
Some of Arthit’s published works:
Greenleaf, Graham and Suriyawongkul, Arthit, Thailand – Asia’s Strong New Data Protection Law (September 24, 2019). 160 Privacy Laws and Business International Report 1, 3-6, 2019. https://ssrn.com/abstract=3502671
Greenleaf, Graham and Suriyawongkul, Arthit, Thailand’s Draft Data Protection Bill: Many Strengths, Too Many Uncertainties (May 20, 2018). (2018) 153 Privacy Laws & Business International Report, 23-25, UNSW Law Research Paper No. 18-55. https://ssrn.com/abstract=3227862
Muqbil, Mishari and Suriyawongkul, Arthit, When elephants fight: Communications surveillance on the rise in Thailand. Global Information Society Watch 2014. https://www.giswatch.org/en/country-report/communications-surveillance/thailand
Suriyawongkul, Arthit, Walls of Fame, Witch Hunts, and the Power of the Crowd. Global Information Society Watch 2011. https://www.giswatch.org/en/country-report/freedom-association/thailand