Digital Media Censorship in Singapore

1
Digital Media Censorship in Singapore

• An Individualized Study Options Project by Wesley
  Phay Chun Wah
• Anglo-Chinese School (Independent)

2
Project Scope

• Introduction to Project
• Objectives of the Project
• Research Study
• Survey Questionnaire
• Analysis of Survey Results
• Conclusion

3
Introduction to ProjectWhat is Digital Media
Censorship?

• The MICA censors inappropriate media
• Digital media refers to websites, digital
  videos/images, blogs, podcasts, etc.
• Undesirable content include pornography, racial
  discrimination, politically provocative media,
  blood and gore

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Introduction to Project (continued)

• Censorship can be for a variety of reasons
• Local ISPs block high-profile sites such as
  Playboy, but very few sites are blacklisted
• For example, 2 bloggers were jailed for posting
  racist comments on blogs
• Singaporean government also censors politically
  provocative media, such as Singapore Rebel by
  Martyn See

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Objectives of the Project

• 3 Main Objectives
• To find out more about Singapore governments
  stand on digital media censorship
• To find out what Year 2 Anglo-Chinese School
  (Independent) students think about digital media
  censorship
• Raise awareness about the importance of digital
  media censorship and educate internet-users
  about the laws pertaining censorship

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Research Study

• Research shows that MICA allows internet users to
  view digital content at their own discretion
• However, distribution or online publication of
  undesirable digital media is punishable by the
  law
• Some Singaporeans feel that freedom of speech
  should be allowed

7
Survey

• I distributed about 100 survey forms and received
  81 responses
• Respondents are all Year 2 students of
  Anglo-Chinese School (Independent)
• Thus survey only finds the opinion of extremely
  narrow category of people

8
Questionnaire

• Multiple-Choice Questions (from 1 8)
• Are you aware of the current state of digital
  media censorship in Singapore?
• Is Singapores stand on digital media too
  harsh/strict?
• Should Singaporeans have the right to view any
  digital media that they want?
• Should pornographic media be censored?
• Should violence/gore in digital media be
  censored?
• Should politically provocative media be censored?
• Should racist/discriminative media be censored?
• Should blogs with unsavoury content be censored?
• Open-ended Question
• What do you think about the general state of
  digital media censorship in Singapore? (e.g.
  stringency, censorship standards)

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Survey Results
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Analysis of Survey Results

• There is a need to increase awareness about the
  guidelines of digital media censorship
• About 43 felt that Singapores censorship is too
  strict, however about 37 were neutral and 20
  felt that Singapores current censorship is
  acceptable
• A majority 64 felt that they deserved the right
  to view any digital media that they want
• However, many respondents still felt that
  pornography and racist remarks should be censored
• A large 32 were undecided whether blogs with
  unsavoury content should be censored or not
• About 50 felt that violence and politically
  provocative media should not be censored
• Overall, according to statistics and open-ended
  responses, respondents felt that digital media
  censorship in Singapore is too strict.

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Conclusion

• There is a need to raise awareness about digital
  media censorship
• to prevent errant internet users from getting
  into trouble with the law
• Respondents felt that the censorship standards
  were too strict
• need more freedom of speech

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The End

• Thank you for listening.
• Time for the QA session.