The Singaporean government is attempting to have ISPs in
Singapore block any foreign political web site unless it registers
with the government, through an amendment to the country's
Parliamentary Elections Act, according to a report by ZDNet UK. If
enforced, the law would mean that any foreign political site
refusing to register would be banned in the same way as
pornographic sites are blocked in the country.
Under the Singapore Broadcasting Authority Act’s Internet Code
of Conduct, ISPs in Singapore must take every effort possible to
ensure that material prohibited by the government is not
"broadcast" over the internet to users in Singapore. The government
exerts control over internet content by channelling all the
material that ISPs in Singapore host through a government
controlled exchange before it can be displayed on the internet.
The recent amendment to the Parliamentary Elections Act to ban
ISPs from hosting foreign political web sites has been viewed as
the latest example of unreasonable control by the ruling People's
Action Party (PAP). The PAP has held power since the country's
independence in the 1960s. A general election is expected to be
called in the country within the year and will be the first since
the internet became widely available as an information source .
Critics see the amendment to the Act as the government's attempt to
block rival political propaganda form both home and abroad.
Singaporean web site operators can be fined up to $20,000
(£13,767) and face two years imprisonment under the Act if they
fail to register a political site with the government, stating its
nature, target, and identifying the publisher.
