See no evil, surf no evil

Singapore grapples with online pornography

SINGAPORE may be no better equipped than any other nation in its ability to control the anarchy of cyberspace, but the Wired Island isn't surrendering to the forces of darkness. In a country where the media are vigorously monitored and sometimes censored to protect cultural values, officials are trying to cordon off the sleaziest corners of the Internet. The primary targets are hundreds of pornographic sites that can all too easily be accessed by children.

It's a big job, one with a built-in conundrum. Singapore is in the midst of a government-backed program to spawn a generation of students who are as at ease using a computer as they are at skipping rope. But by encouraging kids to learn to use the Internet, the government frets it may be giving them the skills to poke around where they don't belong. "We don't have any hard statistics to support this," says Bernard Tan, an associate professor at the National University of Singapore, "but many parents see the Internet as something a little insidious, a channel for their kids to get undesirable things. This might be preventing a lot of parents from letting their kids access the Net," says Tan, chairman of a government-sponsored Internet advisory panel.

Singapore has been hung up on the horns of a similar dilemma before. Authorities in 1996 tried to impose controls on cyberspace, drafting rules that some feared would allow the stifling of political debate and dissent. Ensuing criticism from information technology companies, among others, convinced officials who fervently want the island to become a regional hub for Internet traffic to relax restrictions.

Today, officials emphasise, the main thrust is preventing access to smut. The Singapore Broadcasting Authority maintains a list of 100 porn sites which are supposed to be blocked by the island's three Internet service providers (ISPs). A spokesman for the authority concedes "it's a token effort," since the sites frequently multiply or change Internet addresses to skirt censors. "We don't have the resources [to maintain a complete roster]. We'd need a whole new company to do that," says the spokesman. Rather, the list is intended "to send out a message that this is not what we want on the Net if we can help it," says Tan.

To allay parents' fears, the government decided to go one step further. It ordered the ISPs to offer the option of a special family-friendly Internet service that would automatically block access to offensive sites from extensive rolls compiled and regularly updated in the U.S. The service essentially takes the place of existing off-the-shelf web-screening software such as Net Nanny and Cyber Patrol, which must be installed on users' home machines. "It is very difficult for parents to install the software programs to protect their children, when the children know much more about the computer than the parents do," Minister of Information and the Arts George Yeo said in announcing the directive.

The island's largest ISP, SingNet, owned by government-linked Singapore Telecommunications, unveiled its Family On-line service in July. The response so far is less than enthusiastic. About 1000 people have signed up, paying $8.56 a month compared with $6.10 for a basic Internet account. "Personally, I think all this talk that parents are the ones pushing for control over the Internet is just a handy excuse for the government to go in and do it," says one local Webnaut. Indeed, more than 40 percent of Singapore households own computers, and one-sixth of the population has Internet access - making it harder to argue that parents are unduly spooked by the seamy underbelly of the online life.

Few expect a government crackdown. In fact, Singapore, like the US, is leaning towards industry self-regulation through a movie-style ratings system for websites registered in Singapore. A September report by Tan's committee recommended the local internet industry label Singapore sites using internationally recognised content rating systems, such as the one developed by the US-based Recreational Software Advisory Council. A committee of industry players including computer companies and ISPs are working on guidelines, a process expected to take several months.

Tan says the Internet's constructive aspects outweigh the destructive - which can't be totally eliminated at any rate. "The Net is a positive medium when you approach it positively," he says. Considering the prevalence of violence and sex in TV programs and in movies, "you'd have to keep your kids locked at home in a dark room if you wanted 100 percent blockage." That is not exactly the kind of enlightened education that Singapore envisions for its computer-literate student body.

                              Published in the Asiaweek November 20, 1998.