Open Internet and SingaporeBENJAMIN ANG

SENIOR FELLOW, CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE FOR NATIONAL SECURITY

NANYANG TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY, SINGAPORE

Open for Competition

Mobile Data Usage 2Q12-1Q16

148.4% mobile penetration

Total Wireless Broadband 2013-2016

Net Neutrality is not a problem –no complaints received so far

1. No blocking of legitimate Internet content

2. Comply with competition & interconnection rules

3. Provide Information Transparency

4. Meet Minimum QoS standards

5. Niche or differentiated Internet services allowed

(Infocomm Development Agency – Decision on Net Neutrality 2011)

Racial Riots in Singapore - 1964

Access should be denied …… to content that "undermines public order and the nation's security, denigrates race and religion, or erodes moral values.“

… includes "pornography, deviant sexual practices, sexual violence, child pornography, [and] bestiality.“

◦ Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts,Censorship Review Committee: Report of 2003 26

Symbolic FilteringSingapore filters Internet content to promote social values and maintain national unity,

denying access to objectionable material, (pornography and content encouraging ethnic or religious strife)

Symbolic FilteringMedia Development Authority (MDA) blocks a symbolic list of 100 Web sites (primarily pornography) as a symbol of the state’s disapproval

Licensing and Regulation

INTERNET SERVICE PROVIDERS

◦ Need a license to offer services in Singapore

◦ Need to comply with the Internet Code of Practice, which "outlines what the community regards as offensive or harmful to Singapore's racial and religious harmony.“

ONLINE NEWS SITES *

◦ Must be licensed

◦ Must remove objectionable content within 24 hours of being notified by MDA

* (>50,000 unique visits from Singapore each month, and report on news or current events)

Sedition ActOffence to do anything with a seditious tendency s3.—(1)

(a) to bring into hatred or contempt or to excite disaffection against the Government;

(b) to excite the citizens of Singapore or the residents in Singapore to attempt to procure in Singapore, the alteration, otherwise than by lawful means, of any matter as by law established;

(c) to bring into hatred or contempt or to excite disaffection against the administration of justice in Singapore;

(d) to raise discontent or disaffection amongst the citizens of Singapore or the residents in Singapore;

(e) to promote feelings of ill-will and hostility between different races or classes of the population of Singapore.

Contempt of Court

Computer Misuse and Cybersecurity Act15A.—(1) Where the Minister is satisfied that it is necessary for the purposes of preventing, detecting or countering any threat to the national security, essential services or defence of Singapore or foreign relations of Singapore, … can order …

(2) (a) Power to search and decrypt computers under Criminal Procedure Code;

(b) provide any information (relating to computers)—

(c) providing real-time information

Defamation LawThe plaintiff will succeed if he/she can show that the statement◦ would lower his reputation

◦ referred to him/her

◦ was published to at least one other person

◦ (no need to prove falsehood or malice)

15

• “Where Your CPF

Money Is Going:

Learning From the

City Harvest Trial”

• “Below is the chart that

Channel NewsAsia

had created to show

the relations of Kong

Hee and his five

deputies, and the

funds that they have

misappropriated.”

16

• “Meanwhile,

something bears an

uncanny

resemblance to how

the money is being

misappropriated.”

Open for Everyoneopen platform,

allowing any of us to innovate,

create new services and tools,

share freely and widely, and

access all of the products and services that others have made available

Open for Opportunityopportunity for students, entrepreneurs, creators, and inventors

to explore, try and test new ideas and new business models

without asking permission from any established gatekeeper

Open as defined by Societyfreedom is not anarchy; it exists within the rule of law.

Societies impose legal restrictions in order to promote particular community norms.

Antisocial behavior does not become acceptable simply because it is “on the Internet”