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Ministry for Information, Communication & the Arts reply to bloggers’ Proposals for Internet freedom in Singapore
Posted by admin on May 7, 2008
The Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts has responded to the bloggers’ paper entitled “Proposals for Internet freedom in Singapore”. (The full text of the proposal can be read here.)
The e-mail reply from the Ministry is addressed to Alex Au, and is reproduced as follows (my own comments to the reply can be found after the letter):
Dear Mr Au
My Minister would like to thank you and your blogger friends for the effort in putting up the proposals for Internet deregulation which you had emailed to him on 20 April 2008.
MICA is well aware of the fact that Internet and new media technology have evolved by leaps and bounds since we introduced our light-touch approach in 1996. Back then, MICA had recognised the potential growth and impact of the Internet, and the tremendous opportunities and benefits that it will bring to all of us. We were also wary of its negative aspects. Hence, our response to the Internet was to take a balanced light-touch approach. Our intent with this light-touch approach was to foster the growth of the Internet and to enable us to exploit its vast potential while safeguarding our society from its undesirable aspects. That 79% of our households subscribe to broadband and many Singaporeans especially the younger citizens own a blog or participate in some form of new media clearly show that the light-touch approach had not been without merit.
To keep up with the fast-evolving new media landscape, we have been reviewing our light-touch approach and are considering how we could take a lighter touch approach. We have appointed the Advisory Council on the Impact of New Media on Society (AIMS) in April last year to study the new media and how best to refine our regulatory framework.
We will consider the views expressed in your proposal and other feedback in our review.
Yours sincerely
K.BHAVANI (Ms)
Press Secretary
to the Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts
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