ASEAN ministers ponder dark side of infobahn
ASEAN ministers ponder dark side of infobahn
SINGAPORE (Reuter): ASEAN ministers yesterday spoke about the dark side of the information technology revolution sweeping their countries and launched a joint effort to deal with the Internet invasion.
Singapore Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong set the tone for the biennial information ministers' meeting in Singapore when he spoke about the "darker veins" of the multi-media revolution.
"...We cannot tap into the riches of this new technology without also hitting the darker veins," he said.
"The free flow of information brings with it problems as well as opportunities. Take the Internet, for instance. In cyberspace, pornography is easily available to youngsters," he said in his keynote address.
The information ministers from the seven ASEAN countries are likely to define a collective stance against the "long and ominous shadow" of the net at the end of their one-day session, one ASEAN official said.
ASEAN, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, groups Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, Brunei, the Philippines and more recently Vietnam.
"All the statements made this morning have expressed preoccupation with this new phenomena, especially the Internet," ASEAN Secretary-General Ajit Singh told reporters after the morning session.
"It is not a question of confronting the Internet but it is more to see how we can make a collective stand and take advantage of the Internet in proposing the right image for ASEAN," he said.
Values
In their morning deliberations, the ministers expressed concern about the effect on Asian values and disinformation about Asia spread through the Internet.
"Although (the Internet) has opened up the world to all, what it offers may not be totally acceptable to us in this part of the world," Malaysian Information Minister Mohamed Rahmat said in his speech.
"Our value system is different. Pornography, and all types of writings and the graphics, including those that attack people and government are accessible to net users," Mohamed said.
He told reporters that Malaysia, which does not have regulations governing Internet usage, may revamp its laws to accommodate the Internet wave but is watching to see how other countries implement new Internet laws.
Principles
He said ASEAN needed to identify common principles to manage their respective information technology and satellite broadcasting infrastructures.
Singapore, which already has tight controls over broadcast and print media, said this week it would license all Internet service operators and local content providers under the Singapore Broadcasting Authority (SBA) in order to protect local values.
The Internet is a global network of computer users linked by telephone lines. Users can exchange electronic mail, post messages, swap information, scan research published by universities, governments and companies and shop across the world. The system connects more than 30 million users.
Indonesian Information Minister Harmoko called for the setting up of an ASEAN television channel, the extension of the ASEAN web page on the Internet and the setting up of expert group meetings to deal with the issues.
Apart from issues covering the Internet, the ASEAN Information Ministers' meeting will also discuss several other proposals including one for setting up an ASEAN satellite.