Singapore is the most wired city in the world. And according to a media survey, young Singaporeans aged 15 to 24 spend an average of eight-and-a-half hours a day being connected.The Singapore government has been embracing and even adopting new media for its work. While it is still some way from fully tapping the potential, the government said it will gradually evolve its policies with a light touch, as the Web2.0 revolution constantly throws up new challenges. And the government has been using new media outlets such as Facebook, YouTube and forums to hook up with citizens.
On 21 February 2009 Channelnewsasia.com reported an article on the government’s new media policy. It was entitled ‘Govt says policies on new media will evolve as new challenges crop up’. ‘Light touch… tough talk’. That was the name of the article The Online Citizen ran on the government and its new media policies.
Community Development, Youth and Sports Minister Vivian Balakrishnan launched the online resource on racial harmony on Saturday. While the government is gradually liberalizing its approach towards online engagement with its citizens, the minister added that one has to be responsible and careful when posting their thoughts online.”
Dr Balakrishnan said at the event:
“Anonymity in cyberspace is an illusion. You will remember in 2007, we prosecuted three persons under the Sedition Act because of the blogs they put up which denigrated the religion of one of our communities in Singapore.
“The reason we did that was to send the message that your words have an impact; if need be, we can identify you, and if we have to, we will be prepared to prosecute you.”
Computer Mediated Communication (CMC) is defined as any form of communication using computers and computer networks, including email, electronic conferences, newsgroups and web chats. CMC allows access and interaction between people and databases all over the world. The ideal example for CMC is the Internet.
CMC has changed our understanding and perception of effective human communication, especially in our perception and understanding of personal identity, the community, knowledge and information. CMC has caused a shift in the basic definition of the individual. It provides anonymity but information is ‘traceable’ through our digital footprints. As we can noticed from Dr Balakrishnan’s remarks, we know that the anonymity is not possible online. The government is able to track and monitor our activities online and even hunt down individuals.
CMC has greatly positively impacted our lives CMC has infiltrated many aspects of the community life, including, family, social life, education, governmental, medical and legal areas.
I believe that the government should not over regulate CMC such as the Internet. CMC such as the Internet has contributed to societal progress. It can be used as a form of receiving unbiased feedback as netizens tend to speak their minds freely on the Internet. I believe that the government should focus their attention on ideas, suggestions and thoughts expressed on the Internet. Although I agree some restraint is needed as a netizen, clamping down on free speech on the new media would have adverse effects. And making what could be deemed as a threatening remark at netizens is inappropriate.
Do you have any views on this topic?
12 comments
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March 3, 2009 at 6:41 am
Anonymous
If you want to play absolutely safe to preserve your anonymity, you need to bypass any of the Singapore ISPs. The best way to do this is to send the message from another country, or if you are in Singapore, to get your overseas friend to send the message as your proxy.
March 3, 2009 at 3:22 pm
Clement L
One should be responsible for one’s comments. It is best not to defame, not to pass derogatory remarks and cast aspersions. Stay and focus on debating dissent in viewpoints, instead of defaming a person. Dont give any good reason for the authority to “catch” you.
Local laws and international laws are still at infant stage. It is still not clear whether intermediaries like blog owners can be held accountable for individual post.
i think be a responsible netcitizen is the best behaviour using the Net.
March 5, 2009 at 11:44 am
Vic
i don’t really understand. look, for the government to identify the owner of a blog, they need to submit legal requests for the IP from the web servers which host the blog right? many of such web servers are overseas, which makes it more difficult right, since the owners of such servers are not subject to the legal jurisdiction of singapore. only when the IP is gotten can the owner be traced. am i right about this?
how is it possible for the ISPs to trace where the IP is coming from, when they don’t even know the IP address of the blog owner or commenter?
March 6, 2009 at 7:31 pm
kzk
It is the same technique that when you google search, google will know you are from Singapore . Also when you vote on a site, a software can check your IP address and made sure you only vote once.
Posting under anonymity is like a fun thing and the basic principle is wrong and does not exist.
March 7, 2009 at 2:47 pm
Mavern
This episode reminds me of an excerpt from Animal Farm.
I wonder what is the intention behind such an article.
March 10, 2009 at 10:49 pm
Kathe
If people honestly have bad comments to post, perhaps they should they be made to refrain from doing so? Why not ban such all criticism and surely there will be no more bad comments allowed on the net and everything will be alright and the government and public would be happy? …
March 12, 2009 at 2:24 am
Deb
Good for him to remind us that posting anonymous is not really anonymous. You can be traced if you are posting in Singapore and also from overseas. The government might even keep a profile of some bloggers. If you blog responsibly there is nothing to fear.
March 12, 2009 at 3:10 am
Mel
Everyone should be held for anything they say. Although there should be freedom of speech, restraint on sensitive topics such as race and religion should be avoided. These topics might be sensitive to certain groups of people and therefore, everyone should consider carefully their actions. If one breaks any law through his speech, he should be held liable.
March 15, 2009 at 11:36 pm
Sam
I believe this incident is a good example the typical approach of the government. They like to punish a selected few to make and example of of them thus, setting the rest of us in line. This method serves to deter anyone from doing anything similar to the people they charged.
March 17, 2009 at 1:28 am
Me
I believe there has to be a clear balance of the approach toward this topic. The government should not take too tough a stand on it. Nevertheless, bloggers should likewise be cautious on what they write about.
March 17, 2009 at 8:17 pm
Fred
I think the these comments on the internet are mostly constructive and can be put to good use. Debates online can be very healthy indeed.
Making threats against bloggers and netizens will not solve the problem anymore. They have become more resilient to these threats.
March 21, 2009 at 5:04 pm
Ken
Nice topic. Scary sia wad the minister said about bloggers. But i believe if u dont write too extreme you have nothing to worry about. Its just a few of these people say too sensitive stuff and get in trouble.