This will be part of an inter-ministry review, to be done by year-end
By Tessa Wong, The Straits Times, 2 Apr 2012
THE Government will hold a public consultation exercise as part of an inter-ministry review of cyberbullying laws.
The review is expected to be completed by year's end, said a joint statement from the three ministries undertaking the review, in response to queries from The Straits Times.
These are the Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts, the Home Affairs Ministry and the Law Ministry.
The review is part of a two-pronged government approach for tackling cases of cyber-harassment and cyberbullying. The other prong is an ongoing effort to encourage the Internet community to come up with a code of conduct.
Home Affairs Minister Teo Chee Hean noted the need to curb such activities when he said in Parliament last month that as Singapore becomes more diverse, there have been 'new stresses and strains' and incidents of friction where some people 'express their views in an unfettered way'.
Since last November, people have reported to the police at least four Singaporeans who allegedly made racist remarks on Facebook or Twitter. The latest involved a polytechnic student who tweeted a derogatory comment about Indians on March 25.
Most states in the United States, as well as Australia, India and Britain have laws that prohibit cyberbullying. Some are broad laws covering the public. Britain's Communications Act, for example, forbids anyone from sending a message that is offensive or menacing via any public electronic communications network.
Others specifically protect young people. For instance, education laws in California disallow students from bullying other students or school staff, and this includes posting threats on a social network or website.
Some of these laws were introduced after incidents of cyberbullying. In Missouri, the 2006 suicide of 13-year-old Megan Meier after being bullied online led to the state passing an anti-cyber-harassment law.
In Europe, where many countries do not have specific cyberbullying laws, other steps are taken to protect young people. In 2009, the European Commission got 17 social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace to sign an anti-cyberbullying pact, pledging to protect users' privacy. For example, the sites must make it easy for users to report inappropriate behaviour and ensure the profiles of under-18 users are private by default.
Most Singapore lawyers contacted said Singapore should consider broadly targeting acts such as harassment and invasion of privacy, rather than aim specifically at online bullying.
This approach will ensure the laws stay relevant as society evolves and different communication media emerge, said Drew and Napier's Mr Adrian Tan, who specialises in online defamation cases. 'We should focus on the social harm caused rather than the means by which the harm is delivered,' he added.
But litigation lawyer Indranee Rajah wants a law that specifically clamps down on harassment or bullying.
The current Miscellaneous Offences Act is not good enough in such cases, said Ms Rajah, who is also chairman of the Government Parliamentary Committee for Information, Communications and the Arts.
It fails to cover conduct that does not directly threaten the recipient but which is still harassment, such as posting a phone number online and inciting netizens to harass the target, she said. She argued that an anti-harassment law should ban any action 'calculated to provoke anxiety, distress or fear in a person'.
Political analyst Derek da Cunha wants a privacy law to stop people from taking pictures and videos of others and posting these online to 'embarrass or ridicule them'.
But whatever laws are enacted, they should not restrict fair comment, said Ms Rajah and blogger Alex Au.
Mr Au wants more latitude for fair comment when the person is a public figure. 'People should be allowed to speculate on politicians as it brings into public discussion what a person's true loyalties and attitudes to life are... This benefits society as a whole,' he said.
Young must help safeguard racial peace
Editorial, The Straits Times, 3 Apr 2012
OFFENSIVE and downright inflammatory posts on the Internet, typically made by young people, are linked to the proliferation of social media. These vehicles tend to promote a comradeship of candid airings on all range of matters, seemingly protected from general dissemination. Savvy Net users, however, know that nothing is further from the truth. The Net is porous. Its multiplier effect made sure that two students' posts in recent weeks that disparaged the character of Singaporeans and the Indian race caused widespread consternation. Such troubling tendencies should have little to do with youthful bravado or immaturity. The correct focus ought to be on the bedrock understanding that objectionable comments put out thoughtlessly can do serious harm to relations in a multiracial society. This is such a self- evident truth that it is disconcerting some young people appear oblivious or indifferent to it, despite sustained efforts at civic education.
A debate on social media ethics and the dangers of race categorisation has ensued, arising from the reaction. This is good. It was encouraging that the students' rants brought swift condemnation from the Net community, and across all racial groups. It shows that there is much good sense among Net users, and social pressure by one's peers can assert a judgment on unacceptable behaviour.
Certainly, context is relevant in evaluating the pathology and whether the response is better firm or measured. It can range from Internet lynchings of offenders, to making police reports at the drop of a hat, to thoughtful approaches that include rehabilitation, such as counselling. Some young people may be proceeding on the misguided notion that free speech is a lark, more so in 'private' discussion clubs. There is no such thing. Organised hate campaigns are unheard of here, which is a credit to the people's general level-headedness. But juvenile blathering that pokes fun at communities and faiths should be frowned upon by all in society, which should help hotheads to grow up quickly, before they do serious harm to their society, and futures.
Expectations that self-policing might be enough to enforce a code of conduct may prove optimistic. Some clearer societal norms of what is acceptable, and what not, will have to be fashioned, if only to ensure that the message gets through to younger Singaporeans on the dangers of playing with racial sentiments that can spark out of control, sometimes over seemingly innocuous, even flippant, remarks. Young Singaporeans need to be made aware that while Singapore may have progressed economically, its racial harmony remains very much a work in progress that needs to be safeguarded and nurtured with care.
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