Singapore & new censorship laws

Thu Mar 7 09:38:43 EST 1996

FROM : ZUHAIR KASHMERI IN TORONTO

Here is a message I received from AJNET in Australia ... appears that
the Singapore authorities have taken the first step toward Internet
control in Asia.

Date:     6 Mar 1996 12:24:26 +1000
From:     Eric Loo  [Eric_Loo at uow.edu.au]
Sender:   owner-ajnet at uow.edu.au  [owner-ajnet at uow.edu.au]
Subject:  FW: S'pore Internet restrictions

Dear colleagues:

It came sooner than expected  -- the growing regional "paranoia" of
internet's
impact on the morals of good wholesome citizens in Singapore. Next in
line is
Malaysia. The irony is from June 1-3, AMIC is holding a comm
conference in
S'pore with the theme "Asian communications: the next 25 years".  Not
much to
look ahead to.   Strangely, the old-fashioned "hypodermic
needle/bullet
theory" of mass communication is still in vogue among bureaucrats.

eric loo

______________________________________________________________________
________
To: Multiple recipients of list SEASIA-L
From: Southeast Asia Discussion List on Wed, Mar 6, 1996 11:49 AM
Subject: SG: Internet restrictions (StraitsTimes) (Fw)

     New moves to regulate the Internet here

     By Geoffrey Pereira

     March 6, 1996

     THE Internet here will be brought under the Singapore
Broadcasting
     Authority which said it would "concentrate on areas which may
     undermine [1]public morals, political stability and religious
     harmony in Singapore.

     The three Internet access providers here -- Singnet, Pacific
     Internet and, soon, Cyberway -- will have to be licensed and
     registered.

     So will all those who provide or resell services in public
places
     such as schools, libraries and cybercafes.

     Political parties, religious groups and others who have their
own
     Internet sites to discuss Singapore politics or religion will
have
     to register with the SBA. Electronic newspapers looking for
paid
     subscribers here will also have to be registered.

     The message of these moves, announced yesterday by Information
and
     the Arts Minister George Yeo, is that Singapore laws apply to
     communication via the Internet, just as they do to other media.

     Brigadier-General (NS) Yeo, who is also the Health Minister,
told a
     press conference that there were now about 100,000 people with
     Internet accounts here. [INLINE]

     While the Internet's development is encouraged, the new curbs
are to
     keep in check abuses such as pornography, hate literature that
sows
     social or religious discord, and criminal activity.

     The Internet is now regulated by the Telecommunication Authority
of
     Singapore. The proposed changes are expected to be raised in
     Parliament in the forthcoming Budget debate and finalised within
two
     months.

     Regulation of the Internet was also of concern in other
countries,
     such as those in Asean, whose information ministers are
arriving
     here todayfor a meeting.

     He suggested that Asean countries could exchange notes on how
to
     prevent each country from providing an electronic "sanctuary"
for
     those who use the Internet from there to criticise other
countries.

     The SBA said in a [2]statement yesterday that in the new
framework
     for legislation, all service providers and local content
providers
     -- people or groups with their own web pages -- will be deemed
to be
     licensed.

     The SBA's functions include, among other things, ensuring that
     broadcast material is not against public interest or order,
national
     harmony, good taste or decency.

     The SBA said: "By licensing Internet content providers, SBA
also
     reinforces the message that the laws of Singapore such as the
Penal
     Code, Defamation Act, Sedition Act and Maintenance of Religious
     Harmony Act apply as much to communications on the Internet as
they
     do to the traditional print and broadcast media."

     Service operators will have to take steps to prevent the
broadcast
     of objectionable material, block it from coming in, and also
remove
     such material from their systems.

     Controls, including software to prevent access to objectionble
     material, will be put in place in schools, libraries, cybercafes
and
     other places where there is public access to the Internet.

     BG Yeo likened the Internet to a tool that could be used for
     "narrowcast" private communication between as few as two people
     exchanging electronic mail, or for broadcast communication of
     information to millions of users at a time.

     "Our interest is at the broadcast end of the spectrum, not the
     narrowcast," he said, emphasising that the focus of attention
would
     be web sites which have a major impact and exposure.

     He said the move to register political parties and religious
groups
     with web sites was not aimed at stifling discussion, but at
making
     those in the discussions responsible and accountable for their
     views.

     He acknowledged that it was not possible to control undesirable
     material completely, and said: "What we can do is keep our
front
     yard and back yard relatively clean, by sweeping it every day.

     [3]Full text of the SBA statement on regulating the Internet
here

     [4]US Decency Act poised to regulate cyberspace abuses

_________________________________________________________________

URL:
http://www.asia1.com.sg/straitstimes