[Commons-Law] S'pore passes sweeping anti-hacker laws

[Lawrence Liang]

The Indian IT act is significantly inspired by the
singapore law, hope we dont follow suit on this one

lawrence

S'pore passes sweeping anti-hacker laws 
By Staff, CNETAsia
Wednesday, November 12 2003 9:04 AM 

SINGAPORE--The Computer Misuse Act passed on Monday,
leading to concerns that the new and wide-ranging
powers given to the government might lead to civil
rights infringements. 

According to reports in the local press, the new law
allows the government to empower any person or
organization to take pre-emptive action based on
'credible information' against computer terrorism. 

This in effect means that persons can be held by the
police even before they commit a computer crime. 


 

The definition of computer terrorism includes threats
to a computer system that could jeopardize national
security, essential services, defence or foreign
relations. 

Some parliamentary representatives raised concerns
over the new act, warning that the wide-ranging and
open-ended provisions were necessary, they could
become "an instrument of oppression itself", reported
the Singapore daily, the Straits Times. 

Senior Minister of State Ho Peng Kee said in response
that the government did not detail the measures that
the minister can take because of the fast changing
nature of computer threats and that the broad
definitions would give the security agencies latitude
to decide what actions to take. 

Ho said that MPs should not worry about abuse, and
that law-abiding citizens did not need to worry about
their privacy. 

Fewer checks and balances
The MPs' questions point to the question of executive
discretion, Straits Times daily writer Tan Tarn How
said in a commentary. 

While the Misuse Act was passed by the Singapore
parliament and will be applied by the Singapore
courts, it is the executive branch of government that
carries out and enforces the Act. Given the broad
provisions of the Misuse Act, the executive branch has
a great deal of leeway and unclear boundaries to its
powers. 

He set out what he saw as the Singapore government's
argument: "it would be too cumbersome to refer the
details to Parliament, and it would be more efficient
to allow the executive to change the rules as
circumstances which require amendments to be made
evolve." 

Singapore has a reputation for strict political
control. The country has positioned itself as an IT
hub for Asia, with the electronics sector accounting
for nearly half of all manufacturing activities. There
is a growing emphasis on higher-end IT services,
together with education, medicine and biotechnology. 

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