Posts for 2019

The proposal of new laws on the Internet stratosphere in sunny (lately, very sunny) Singapore, has been making the rounds. There are people talking about it - lawyers, journalists and activists mostly - and as a web professional I think I should attempt to take an interest in them, i.e, weigh in with my two cents. Though, as it turns out, I can muster only a modicum of interest, and hopefully by the end of this blogpost you'll see why.

Doxxing

The first law concerns doxxing. In case this is new to you, doxxing is the practice of publishing private information about an individual on the Internet without his or her express permission, with the intention to encourage violence or harassment towards this individual. The usual perpetrators being online vigilantes towards perceived deserving targets.

Soon, doxxing will be punishable via fines or jail time. And to that, I have only three words.

About damn time.

Online vigilantism has been a thorn in the side of civilized society in recent years, with aggressors such as SMRT Feedback and their delusions of heroism outing the likes of Jover Chew. While people like Chew most assuredly do not elicit any sympathy from me whatsoever, giving carte blanche to civilians to doxx people is a dangerous practice and should not be encouraged. People and their families have received death threats and worse, from anonymous sources after being doxxed. Worse, some of these are actually cases of mistaken identity!

No civilian should be given the right - legal, ethical or moral - to inflict this treatment on anyone.


So yes - this proposed amendment to the Protection from Harassment Act gets my unequivocal support. The Internet's a troublesome enough place without lynch mobs and the rabble-rousers that stir them.

In fact, while we're at it, we should also do something about the self-righteous wankers who take pictures of people who offend them in any manner and post them on Social Media and instigate others to shame or pile on those people. While that's not technically doxxing, that's certainly facilitating it.

Fake News

This other one's a little dicey. It concerns the Government's ability to take down fake news. In this proposed new Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Bill, the Government gets the authority to issue takedown orders of any post or article that contain what the Government considers false or misleading, to Internet service providers and social media platforms. Facebook and the like will not be able to hide behind their autonomy because they do have to abide by the laws of any nation they do business in.

See a problem with that? The Government decides what warrants a takedown order. In effect, if you put a toe out of line and publish something the Government considers objectionable, there's the possibility that the Government can pretty much fix you, just like that. That seems like an overreach. This has sparked an outcry among activists, and several members of the Government have since stepped up to explain that they're not clamping down on Freedom of Speech, and that criticism, opinion, satire and the like will not be touched by this law, and that they don't intend to abuse this law for their benefit. The thing is, assuming that I believe this current Government, there's no guarantee that future Governments will not abuse this. And sometimes, abuse does not even have to be intentional. All that's needed is for one party to believe that they are using the law as intended, and it's for the greater good, and the slippery slope beckons.

It's no skin off my back, personally. This blog doesn't deal in politics unless politics somehow crosses paths with Internet tech as is its occasional wont. And my readership isn't large enough to scare the incumbent into action. This is pretty much a solid a guarantee as any that I will remain unscathed by this new Bill; because publishing online falsehoods isn't really my style (or intent), and because my words simply don't carry that far. Succinctly put, I'm just not that important, or crazy.



But that's not why I find myself markedly apathetic towards this new piece of legislation, even though logically, just as a citizen, I should be concerned. It's more because I've seen what Freedom of Speech does for countries like the good ol' US of A. Batshit crazy Social Justice Warriors abound on Twitter and Facebook. My WhatsApp groups are filled with shared links to outrageously insane rhetoric treated like religious truth. Freedom of Speech is a nice concept and I truly wish people could handle it better. Unfortunately, the likes of The Real Singapore have, in recent times, ably demonstrated that Singaporeans aren't responsible enough to handle that kind of freedom, or smart enough not to be taken in by provocateurs.

What would I prefer - the kind of behavior that's becoming all too commonplace in USA, or a Government-controlled Internet space? Neither outcome is particularly appealing. Whether or not this Bill goes through, there's no result I'll be happy with. As such, I'm having trouble finding enough fucks to give.

In conclusion...

These proposed changes to the law are going to take place, no matter who screams and cries, or how loudly. Considering that other countries already have their own laws that lead to Internet censorship, it's really rather surprising that a country as supposedly draconian as Singapore has taken this long to join the crowd.

Sure, protest. Let it out. And if you really gotta do it online, do it now, while you can. Go sign those Internet petitions, make a bombastic Facebook post or something. Express your dismay and displeasure. Very soon, you may not be able to - legally, at least.