Redacted, 6 June 2013
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Anger turned inward: 'Blacking out' websites
Blackout on Thursday 6th June 2013 from 0000hrs to 2359hrs
This is what it feels like if you are not able to read or know
A screenshot of the #FreeMyInternet landing page, with details for this Saturday's planned protest against the MDA's new licensing scheme. (Screenshot from freemyinternet.com)
More than 130 Singapore-based websites are taking part in a 24-hour online blackout in protest of the government’s licensing scheme for news websites
By Thursday morning, at least 134 sites blocked access to their content while providing a redirect link to a page called #FreeMyInternet, the name of an online movement started by prominent socio-political bloggers in Singapore
The page carries a line that reads, "This is what it feels like if you are not able to read or know".
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Bloggers stage 24-hour "blackout" to protest new MDA licensing regime
The New Asia Republic website on June 6, 2013
Websites by some prominent bloggers in Singapore
went offline at the stroke of midnight today on Thursday in protest of a
new licensing regime for local news sites with substantial reach
They said the new rules which require local news websites with substantial reach, to come up with a S$50,000 bond and comply with a take-down notice within 24-hours, will limit public discourse.
Aljazeera.com, 8 Jun 2013
Singapore, RoS - One of the most wired countries in the world looks set
to implement new media regulations seen by some as a bid to stifle
independent news and information. The Southeast Asian city-state has not been known for press freedom.
Domestic media is strictly controlled and has been accused of adopting
mainly pro-government views.
Perhaps the biggest implication the policy could have would be on
opposition political parties in the lead-up to the country's general
elections in 2016.
Opposition leader and secretary-general of the Singapore Democratic
Party Chee Soon Juan expressed concerns that the government was trying
to stifle political opponents online and said that there was a danger
that the government could be seen as "trying to regulate the
opposition's means of communicating with voters before the next
elections".Full story
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Singapore News Regulation. If we don't go online, we won't see the right news
New regulations hit Singapore's online community
Yaacob Ibrahim, Minister for Communications and Information and Minister-in-charge of Muslim Affairs, Singapore:
"As long as they go onto online news sites to read the news, I think it is important for us to make sure that they read the right things."
If we don't go online, we won't see the right news.
It is the govt that has to be regulated not the online news
It is almost a month since my last posting. It is a bit hard to explain
why I have not written as much as I did in the past. There are no major
changes in my life except that I'm getting older. Since I started
blogging in 2005, the Internet has enabled Singaporeans to have deeper
understanding of the system they live in. It allowed the underlying
causes of problems faced by Singaporeans to be discussed objectively and
trade-offs in govt polices to be seen with greater clarity. This
deeper understanding does not help the PAP to maintain its dominant
position.
Despite having the whole mainstream media on its side, the PAP has
struggled to explain the benefits of the system it has in place and
convince the people that old policies and schemes should remain as they
are. The less democratic aspects of the system of govt is becoming less
justifiable and less acceptable to Singaporeans
Even as the
aspirations for progress and change builds up, the PAP wants to maintain
its dominance making as few changes as possible. To do so, it has to
control the Singaporeans' access to information. The PAP wants control
and influence over the online news media that has increased in
popularity in the last few years. The new MDA regulations gives the PAP
govt broad powers to do this
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The real reason behind online crackdown
Lee Hsien Loong in his first national day speech in 2004 as prime minister invoked Chairman Mao’s “let the hundred flowers bloom”.
He added “… we are going to do is to open up the Speakers’ Corner where you can go and make any speech you like and we are going to say, ‘Well, if you want to go there and have an exhibition, go ahead.”
And now, less than a decade after his speech, not just a hundred flowers have blossomed, cyberspace and Hong Lim Park have merged into one gigantic political force never seen before in Singapore’s history. This certainly was not what he anticipated.
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Free My Internet: protest at Hong Lim Park
At his swearing-in ceremony after the last general election, the Prime Minister asserted, “Our politics cannot remain static either. More interest groups and alternative views have emerged, competing for support. Our political system can and must accommodate more views, more debate and more participation.”
The duplicity is crystal clear.
He also said, “…the Government will engage all segments of society – young and old, students, workers and retirees. We will reach out online and in the real world. We will listen carefully to different voices, understand the day-to-day difficulties and strains facing Singaporeans, address their concerns and be open to inputs on what Government can do better.”
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Yahoo Criticizes Singapore’s New Internet Rules
The real reason behind online crackdown
Lee Hsien Loong in his first national day speech in 2004 as prime minister invoked Chairman Mao’s “let the hundred flowers bloom”.
He added “… we are going to do is to open up the Speakers’ Corner where you can go and make any speech you like and we are going to say, ‘Well, if you want to go there and have an exhibition, go ahead.”
And now, less than a decade after his speech, not just a hundred flowers have blossomed, cyberspace and Hong Lim Park have merged into one gigantic political force never seen before in Singapore’s history. This certainly was not what he anticipated.
read more
Free My Internet: protest at Hong Lim Park
At his swearing-in ceremony after the last general election, the Prime Minister asserted, “Our politics cannot remain static either. More interest groups and alternative views have emerged, competing for support. Our political system can and must accommodate more views, more debate and more participation.”
The duplicity is crystal clear.
He also said, “…the Government will engage all segments of society – young and old, students, workers and retirees. We will reach out online and in the real world. We will listen carefully to different voices, understand the day-to-day difficulties and strains facing Singaporeans, address their concerns and be open to inputs on what Government can do better.”
read more
Yahoo Criticizes Singapore’s New Internet Rules
The Singapore arm of U.S. Internet firm Yahoo Inc. has criticized the
city-state’s recent move to regulate certain Internet news sites,
calling the new rules “redundant” and unsettling for the domestic media
industry. Singapore’s media regulators last week imposed new licensing
rules on 10 news sites run by Yahoo’s Singapore unit and two domestic
media
YAHOO! BREAKS SILENCE ON MDA LICENSING SCHEME; THEY ARE REDUNDANT
Yahoo! was one of the 10 sites affected
by the new MDA regulations earlier this week but despite a huge response
from the online community, Yahoo! did not pass comment until now.
The regulations, which came into effect on 1st June, would force Yahoo! as well as 9 other Mediacorp and SPH sites to pay a performance bond and comply to take-down notices within 24 hours.
In response, Mr Alan Soon, the country manager of Yahoo! for Singapore as well as the managing editor of Southeast Asia, posted on the webpage that the regulations were somewhat redundant.
The regulations, which came into effect on 1st June, would force Yahoo! as well as 9 other Mediacorp and SPH sites to pay a performance bond and comply to take-down notices within 24 hours.
In response, Mr Alan Soon, the country manager of Yahoo! for Singapore as well as the managing editor of Southeast Asia, posted on the webpage that the regulations were somewhat redundant.
Yahoo Singapore to comply with new licence rules
Yahoo
Singapore indicated yesterday that it will comply with a controversial
licensing framework for online news sites, though it does not deem the
new rules necessary.
In a note put up on its site, country manager and Yahoo South-east Asia managing editor Alan Soon said that agreeing to be licensed would pave the way for his staff to gain full government accreditation and access to more events.
Unlike reporters from mainstream media outlets, those from Yahoo are not issued media passes by the Ministry of Communications and Information (MCI), do not receive official press statements and are not invited to government press conferences.
In a note put up on its site, country manager and Yahoo South-east Asia managing editor Alan Soon said that agreeing to be licensed would pave the way for his staff to gain full government accreditation and access to more events.
Unlike reporters from mainstream media outlets, those from Yahoo are not issued media passes by the Ministry of Communications and Information (MCI), do not receive official press statements and are not invited to government press conferences.
Internet Code of Conduct
– Breakfast Network: Talking points for that Talking Point show
– Political Writings: What will they say on June 8
– Simply Gab: MDA Licensing Outcry – is it an overreaction?
– Thoughts of a Cynical Investor: Two cheers for today’s S’pore Blackout
– Singapore Ideas: On Marx and media licensing
– The Void Decker: In support of #FreeMyInternet
– Bear family’s journey with a little dog in Spore: MDA licensing on news media restriction
– [FB] Kirsten Han: MDA’s licensing scheme – is it anything like the others?
– Blogging for Myself: Anger turned inward: ‘Blacking out’ websites
– Under the Angsana Tree: Bloggers stage 24-hour “blackout”
– New Nation: Blogs black out for 24 hours, S’poreans become more physically fit
– Limpeh Is Foreign Talent: Sorry but I am not turning my blog off today
– The Economist: Two steps back [Thanks Adrian]
– Breakfast Network: Licence scheme: Answers not very good leh
– Thoughts of a Cynical Investor: Answering the PAP’s cock & bull about the “long term”
– Holly Jean: Crying Foul over MDA Licensing Framework for News Websites
– guanyinmiao’s musings: An Objective And Neutral Internet? (Hint: It Doesn’t Exist)
– Signs of Struggle: Like a good journalist should
– DKSG: What happen to the Media Literacy Council?
– New Asia Republic: Why MDA’s licensing rule can be a credibility own goal
– Blogging for Myself: MDA fiasco: MSM made to look its worst
– Reflections on Change: Do Singaporeans Believe What The Government Says?
– Ravi Philemon: How are existing regulations inadequate Yaacob?
– S M Ong: Singapore Internet regulation, 1996-style!
– The Kent Ridge Common: Internet freedom is vital to individual liberty
– Where Bears Roam Free: More horse manure from Yaacob Ibrahim
– Sgpolitics: #FreeMyInternet response to Dr Yaacob Ibrahim’s statements of 4 June 13
– The Heart Truths: Singapore’s Very Own Voting Blackout! #FreeMyInternet Now!
– InSing: Commentary: Outcry over MDA’s ruling not just about censorship
– TRE: Laws already exists to regulate news websites
– TRE: The real reason behind the Internet Crackdown
– Asiaone: New rules ‘will make netizens more cynical’
– Wired.co.uk: Singapore’s websites must pay to mention Singapore, block LGBT content
– Breakfast Network: Talking points for that Talking Point show
– Political Writings: What will they say on June 8
– Simply Gab: MDA Licensing Outcry – is it an overreaction?
– Thoughts of a Cynical Investor: Two cheers for today’s S’pore Blackout
– Singapore Ideas: On Marx and media licensing
– The Void Decker: In support of #FreeMyInternet
– Bear family’s journey with a little dog in Spore: MDA licensing on news media restriction
– [FB] Kirsten Han: MDA’s licensing scheme – is it anything like the others?
– Blogging for Myself: Anger turned inward: ‘Blacking out’ websites
– Under the Angsana Tree: Bloggers stage 24-hour “blackout”
– New Nation: Blogs black out for 24 hours, S’poreans become more physically fit
– Limpeh Is Foreign Talent: Sorry but I am not turning my blog off today
– The Economist: Two steps back [Thanks Adrian]
– Breakfast Network: Licence scheme: Answers not very good leh
– Thoughts of a Cynical Investor: Answering the PAP’s cock & bull about the “long term”
– Holly Jean: Crying Foul over MDA Licensing Framework for News Websites
– guanyinmiao’s musings: An Objective And Neutral Internet? (Hint: It Doesn’t Exist)
– Signs of Struggle: Like a good journalist should
– DKSG: What happen to the Media Literacy Council?
– New Asia Republic: Why MDA’s licensing rule can be a credibility own goal
– Blogging for Myself: MDA fiasco: MSM made to look its worst
– Reflections on Change: Do Singaporeans Believe What The Government Says?
– Ravi Philemon: How are existing regulations inadequate Yaacob?
– S M Ong: Singapore Internet regulation, 1996-style!
– The Kent Ridge Common: Internet freedom is vital to individual liberty
– Where Bears Roam Free: More horse manure from Yaacob Ibrahim
– Sgpolitics: #FreeMyInternet response to Dr Yaacob Ibrahim’s statements of 4 June 13
– The Heart Truths: Singapore’s Very Own Voting Blackout! #FreeMyInternet Now!
– InSing: Commentary: Outcry over MDA’s ruling not just about censorship
– TRE: Laws already exists to regulate news websites
– TRE: The real reason behind the Internet Crackdown
– Asiaone: New rules ‘will make netizens more cynical’
– Wired.co.uk: Singapore’s websites must pay to mention Singapore, block LGBT content
