S'pore controls Internet and keeps it free of pornography

S'pore controls Internet and keeps it free of pornography

SINGAPORE (Reuter): Singapore unveiled yesterday measures to
regulate political and religious content on the Internet, and
keep its patch of cyberspace free of pornography.

The guidelines, effective from July 15, are designed "to
safeguard the national interest", Singapore Broadcasting
Authority (SBA) officials told a news conference.

"We must take a proactive approach to put some rules in place
so that our young children will not be affected by objectionable
material," said SBA Chief Executive Officer Goh Liang Kwang.

Singapore, which already has tight controls over broadcast and
print media, said in March that it intended to license all
Internet service operators and local content providers under the
SBA's wing.

The measures unveiled yesterday sprang from the earlier
announcement.

Under the new rules, all operators -- from main providers to
outlets such as cybercafes -- must register with the SBA.

Organizations putting locally produced political and religious
information on the Internet's World Wide Web pages must also
register with the SBA.

Goh said the new measures relied to a large extent upon self-
policing, but added that operators might occasionally be required
by the SBA to block out objectionable Web sites.

Failure to abide by the guidelines would draw a fine of
unspecified amount or cancellation of the license, Goh said.

Contents deemed objectionable include those "which tend to
bring the government into hatred or contempt, or which excite
disaffection against the government," an SBA statement said.

An SBA official said in response to a question that it would
be difficult to give an example of anti-government hate messages.

"These guidelines are broad," said Koh Tin Fook.

Ling Pek Ling of the SBA added: "On the Web pages, we're not
saying that criticism of the government is not allowed. All we're
saying is, be responsible."

Opposition politician Chee Soon Juan criticized the new
guidelines.

Chee, secretary-general of the Singapore Democratic Party,
told Reuters: "It's just another way that the government is
trying to control the free flow of information in this country."

"All these restrictions make no sense in this day and age in
Singapore," said Chee. "It's just going to set us back."

The SBA officials said they realized it was impossible to
police the Internet completely.

"We don't want objectionable material to be easily
available... We just want to keep this part of the Internet,
within our immediate neighborhood, clean," said Goh.

There are about 100,000 Internet users in the city state of
three million people.