The government will use pre-emptive scanning of electronic networks to detect possible threats, Senior Minister for Law and Home Affairs Ho Peng Kee told Parliament on Monday, Nov 13.

A new amendment to the Computer Misuse Act says any person or organization can be ordered to take measures to prevent computer attacks, as these could jeopardize the city-state's defense, essential services or foreign relations.

Mr Ho cited the threat of terrorism as the main reason to extend the government's powers.

"Instead of a backpack of explosives, a terrorist can create just as much devastation by sending a carefully engineered packet of data into the computer systems which control the delivery of an essential service, say for example, a power station, thus causing it to malfunction," he said, according to a government transcript.

The amendment didn't specify who could be empowered to act for the government or what actions they could take.

Some lawmakers expressed concern that the law could be misused because of its vagueness and the absence of measures to ensure the government's accountability. The Straits Times quoted Chin Tet Yung, chairman of the Government Parliamentary Committee for Home Affairs and Law, as warning that the wide-ranging and open-ended provisions could become "an instrument of oppression itself."

In a bid to allay fears about the measure, Mr. Ho said law-abiding citizens need not worry about an invasion of privacy or that the powers given to the government were too broad. Mr. Ho told Parliament that the new legislation has a "narrow focus" and that the government's powers would only be used in the face of imminent threat and "special situations," according to the Straits Times.

Singapore, an affluent city-state of four million people, has strict laws governing political activity and other areas. It recently eased some censorship rules, but still bans pornographic publications and aims to block access to some Web sites.

In a 1999 action that caused controversy, Singapore's internal security agency -- at the request of a state-linked Internet-service provider -- secretly scanned 200,000 computers to trace a virus that allowed hackers to steal computer passwords and credit-card numbers. SingNet, the Internet-service provider, later issued an apology, telling customers it should have informed them about the scanning.

SingNet, a unit of Singapore Telecommunications Ltd., said the purpose of the scanning was to identify computers that were susceptible to hackers and that no computers were actually entered to access confidential information.

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