How open is the Internet in Singapore? This presentation looks at different factors of openness and lists the relevant regulations and common law principles involved

1. Open Internet
and Singapore
BENJAMIN ANG
SENIOR FELLOW, CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE FOR NATIONAL SECURITY
NANYANG TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY, SINGAPORE

2. Open for Competition

3. Mobile Data Usage 2Q12-1Q16
148.4% mobile penetration

4. Total Wireless Broadband 2013-2016

5. 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)

6. Racial Riots in Singapore - 1964

7. 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

8. Symbolic Filtering
Singapore filters Internet content to promote social values
and maintain national unity,
denying access to objectionable material, (pornography and
content encouraging ethnic or religious strife)

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

10. 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)

11. Sedition Act
Offence to do anything with a seditious tendency s3.—(1)
(a) to bring into hatred or contemptor 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 contemptor to excite disaffection against the
administrationof 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 betweendifferent races or classes of the
population of Singapore.

12. Contempt of Court

13. Computer Misuse and Cybersecurity Act
15A.—(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

14. Defamation Law
The 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. 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. 16
• “Meanwhile,
something bears an
uncanny
resemblance to how
the money is being
misappropriated.”

17. Open for Everyone
open 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

18. Open for Opportunity
opportunity for students, entrepreneurs, creators, and
inventors
to explore, try and test new ideas and new business models
without asking permission from any established gatekeeper

19. Open as defined by Society
freedom 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”