{"id":93,"date":"2013-06-07T14:44:04","date_gmt":"2013-06-07T18:44:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/internetmonitor\/?p=93"},"modified":"2013-06-10T09:50:08","modified_gmt":"2013-06-10T13:50:08","slug":"singapore-media-license-requirement-casts-a-chill-on-free-expression","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/internetmonitor\/2013\/06\/07\/singapore-media-license-requirement-casts-a-chill-on-free-expression\/","title":{"rendered":"Singapore Media License Requirement “Casts a Chill” on Free Expression"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Straits Times reported<\/a> that more than 150 websites and blogs in Singapore went black yesterday to protest a new government-imposed licensing requirement that, \u201ccasts a chill over the city-state\u2019s robust and free-wheeling online communities,\u201d said Cynthia Wong, Human Rights Watch\u2019s senior Internet researcher, in a statement<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Beginning June 1, the Media Development Authority requires<\/a> websites that \u201creport regularly on issues relating to Singapore\u201d and attract more than 50,000 unique monthly visitors in Singapore obtain a license and put up an approximately USD$40,000 bond. If the MDA finds \u201cprohibited content,\u201d including that which \u201cundermines racial or religious harmony,\u201d the sites must remove it within 24 hours.<\/p>\n

The MDA identified<\/a> ten mainstream media outlets that must apply for the license, including Yahoo! Singapore, which calls the requirement unsettling<\/a>. The government said the measure provides consistency with existing media regulations. Siew Kum Hong, a former presidentially appointed member of Parliament, disagreed<\/a>\u00a0with the assertion that the law creates parity with traditional forms of media, mentioning that newspapers found to publish prohibited content do not have to collect unsold copies within 24 hours.<\/p>\n

The government also said the measure does not apply to blogs, though it does not rule out<\/a> including blogs in the future. Netizens criticized<\/a> the measure for its vague language<\/a> and the lack of public consultation<\/a> involved in its formation. Bloggers launched a #FreeMyInternet<\/a> campaign and have scheduled a June 8 protest in Hong Lim Park. As of today more than 4,000 people have signed an online petition<\/a> demanding the government withdraw the measure.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Singapore recently passed a measure that requires online news websites to obtain licenses, pay a $40,000 bond, and agree to remove “prohibited content” within one day. Netizens protest, saying the measure’s vague language could force bloggers and grassroots journalism out of business and chill their speech. Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5507,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[856,367],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-93","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-legislation","category-singapore"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4L9BV-1v","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/internetmonitor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/internetmonitor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/internetmonitor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/internetmonitor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5507"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/internetmonitor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=93"}],"version-history":[{"count":28,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/internetmonitor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":125,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/internetmonitor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93\/revisions\/125"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/internetmonitor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/internetmonitor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/internetmonitor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}