A Thai government official on Wednesday defended a sweeping cybersecurity bill which experts have decried for allowing the wholesale seizure of private computers and property, saying that “every country has a need” to protect itself, Agence-France Presse reports. Civil liberties advocates, internet companies and business groups are protesting the planned legislation, saying it sacrifices privacy and the rule of law, according to interviews and documents reviewed by Reuters. A cyber security center opened in Thailand in September to train personnel from countries in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to help combat cyber threats in the attack-prone region.