Singapore tightens grip on Internet content<\/p>\n
SINGAPORE (Reuters): Singapore has tightened its grip on
\nInternet content in the run-up to the next election by ordering a
\ncurrent affairs portal to register as a political website.<\/p>\n
Sintercom -- which runs chat rooms, a speaker's platform and
\nthe \"Not ST\" section as an alternative to the pro-government
\nStraits Times newspaper -- has sent in the registration forms but
\nnow faces questions of how it will comply.<\/p>\n
\"We will try to hold fast to our belief and principles as much
\nas we can as new problems crop up,\" the organizers said in a
\nstatement posted on the site at www.sintercom.org.<\/p>\n
\"If future problems are too numerous or too insurmountable, we
\ncould still close down Sintercom. Of course, we hope that day
\nwill never come.\"<\/p>\n
Deputy Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, launching the ruling
\nPeople's Action Party (PAP) website last month, said new
\npolitical guidelines were needed as the last election in 1997 was
\nrun under rules that pre-dated the Internet.<\/p>\n
\"Limits are necessary because, while the Internet has great
\npotential and utility, it also has its dangers,\" Lee said. \"On
\nthe Internet, information and disinformation are disseminated
\nequally quickly and are not always easy to distinguish.\"<\/p>\n
Lee -- who is also a brigadier general, chairman of the
\ncentral bank and son of Singapore's founding father Lee Kuan Yew
\n-- did not specify what sort of limits might be imposed.<\/p>\n
The PAP, which has dominated parliament since Singapore's
\nformal secession from Malaysia in 1965, is expected to call an
\nelection this year ahead of the August 2002 deadline.<\/p>\n
In a July 9 letter, the Singapore Broadcasting Authority
\n(SBA), which oversees all Internet content providers, knocked
\nback an initial Sintercom appeal against the order.<\/p>\n
\"Registration of political websites is a procedural
\nrequirement and is used to emphasize the need for content
\nproviders to be responsible and transparent when engaging in the
\npropagation, promotion or discussion of political issues relating
\nto Singapore,\" the SBA wrote to Sintercom editor Tan Chong Kee.<\/p>\n
The watchdog gave no reason for its decision, which appeared
\nto have no connection with the new political content rules being
\nstudied by the government.<\/p>\n
No one at the SBA was immediately available to comment on
\nWednesday.<\/p>\n
Besides Sintercom, a variety of sites host forums for
\npolitical chat, including Think Center (www.thinkcentre.org), the
\nNational Solidarity Party (www.nsp.org.sg) and Singaporeans for
\nDemocracy (www.gn.apc.org\/sfc).<\/p>\n
The satirical site TalkingCock.com lampoons politicians and
\nordinary Singaporeans without prejudice.<\/p>\n
Organizers of Internet portals and some opposition parties
\nhave objected to the idea of new rules on political content but
\nexpressed scant surprise that the government was making the move.<\/p>\n
\"If the government is worried about the Net spreading slander
\nfaster than good things about it, it might want to do some
\nexhaustive investigation why this is so,\" Sintercom said.<\/p>\n
\"Trying to prevent differing views from appearing on the Net
\ndoes not fundamentally address or resolve dissent. In the long
\nrun, trying to regulate discussion of issues on the Net will do
\nmore harm than good.\"<\/p>\n
Singapore typically bans or censors films, magazines and books
\nfor excessive amounts of sex, violence and drug references.<\/p>\n
It also prevents access to a selection of Internet sites, most
\nof them pornographic, but intent web surfers have little trouble
\nnavigating around the token roadblocks.<\/p>",
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