Declan McCullagh
Wed, 03 Jul 2002 09:13:36 -0700
My report from Singapore, circa 1996: http://www.eff.org/Publications/Declan_McCullagh/nn.singapore.sling.120496.article --- Subject: newsgroup posters accused of 'criminal defamation' in singapore Date: Wed, 3 Jul 2002 From: [deleted --DBM] To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> dear declan, something that might interest you / politech readers... the singapore govt is taking pains to show it can control dissent and protest on the internet. this continues a long tradition of using the law and libel suits (given incredibly broad interpretation by the courts when the government is a litigant) to stifle negative comments directed at the government in singapore. these worrying developments bode ill for the growth of democracy (or indeed, basic personal freedoms of speech and information). they have also been seizing hard disks of known 'dissidents' and computers from flats of people suspected of having posted criticism of the government on local discussion newsgroups and websites, and have been known to order ISPs to conduct remote searches of users' computers ostensibly to look for pornography and viruses. i understand the need to protect individuals (including politicians) from libel and slander, but these newsgroup postings hardly constitute reason for such heavy-handed action clearly intended to impress upon civil society in singapore that the government's long arm extends even into cyberspace. http://sg.news.yahoo.com/020703/5/singapore12172.html <http://sg.news.yahoo.com/020703/5/singapore12172.html> here is the link. please do not quote my email or name in any correspondence or posting, though you are more than free to use the information in the email in your own messages. best regards [deleted --DBM] ------------------------------------------------------------------------- POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list You may redistribute this message freely if you include this notice. To subscribe to Politech: http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ Declan McCullagh's photographs are at http://www.mccullagh.org/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Like Politech? Make a donation here: http://www.politechbot.com/donate/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------