Category Archives: 2016

Give your Feedback: Discussion on amendments to Copyright Act

Here’s how you can contribute to the proposed changes to the Singapore Copyright Act

Singapore chapter of the Internet Society and Creative Commons conducted a consultation feedback session on the consultation for amendments to the Singapore Copyright Act. Read more about the changes on the Ministry of Law website.

How you can participate

  1. Read the draft replies that we will be sending to IPOS in this document
  2. If you want more details, watch this video where IP lawyers and academics Byron Xavier, Warren Chik, Bryan Ghows, Bryan Tan (President, Internet Society Singapore Chapter), and Lam Chung Nian and Ivan Chew of Creative Commons Singapore, take us through some of the areas being contemplated
  3. E-mail us your feedback [email protected] by Friday 21 October 2016

You can download the Consultation Paper (link here)

COPYRIGHT

 

Trust on the Internet (Roundtable) – Video and Photos from InterCommunity 2016

We were at the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information, NTU, on Wednesday 21 September between 12 noon to 6 pm, to discuss the challenges of Restoring and Building Trust in the Internet with the international Internet Society community.

Some members also watched us streaming on Facebook Live at https://www.facebook.com/ISOCsg/

Photos and Video

Scenes from Internet Society chapters all over the Asia Pacific

First video

https://www.facebook.com/ISOCsg/videos/621522684639147/

Second video


https://www.facebook.com/ISOCsg/videos/621533937971355/


Announcement of the event

What are the challenges in Restoring and Building Trust in the Internet? Join us at InterCommunity 2016 to learn and share.

InterCommunity 2016 will be a hybrid (physical and virtual) meeting of the Internet Society community, harnessing and exemplifying the use of the global Internet to bring people together to interact and engage around a set of important topics. Internet Society Singapore Chapter will be hosting an Interactive Node at NTU where you will have full audio/video interactivity with the other interactive nodes around the world

Where: Small Studio (#B1-05)
Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information
Nanyang Technological University
31 Nanyang Link
Singapore 637718
When: Wednesday 21 Sep 2016, 12.30pm – 6.00pm

Registration starts at 12pm.

Admission is FREE but you must PRE-REGISTER at this link

Intercommunity

Schedule

Local discussion PRIOR to the Intra-Regional Session

Start Time: 4.30 UTC
End Time: 5.30 UTC
These local discussions will invite chapter leaders, members and node attendees to organize focused debate between themselves. These deliberations will be built around questions, which will be provided to each node (based on node topic). Each node will be supplied a set of questions by ISOC APAC which would be addressed during the local discussion.
How best to format the local discussion will be decided by each node, and this will be discussed and agreed to with them in advance of the day. The node will require a local scribe to take notes of important points raised during the local discussion. The summary of this conversation will serve as a guide and starting point for the Intra-Regional Session. The node has to identify a moderator / speaker who will present this summary.
The local discussion will stop at 5.30 UTC, each node will have a break of 30 minutes – and prepare itself (mainly technically) for the Intra-Regional session.

The Intra-Regional Session

Start Time: 6.00 UTC
End Time: 7.45 UTC
Each Node will join the Intra-Regional Session via a zoom link that will enable full audio/video interactivity with the other nodes. Zoom details will be provided to each node.
Building on local discussions, and the set of questions that will be provided to each node, this session will involve a moderated panel discussion between all regional nodes. Each node will arrange two local discussants/experts (based on node topic), one moderator who will direct and guide the local panel discussion and one co-moderator who will facilitate questions from local participants. Questions and comments should be limited to 60 seconds in order to allow fair participation. This should be made known to the community before the opening of the Q&A. In addition, there will be an Inter-regional moderator (ISOC staff) who will introduce the proceedings, keep the discussions on time and facilitate the intraregional
conversation.

For Social media channels and online participants, ISOC APAC will appoint 4 online curators, who will monitor social media as well as zoom chat to consolidate key questions from online participants / social media. These questions will be passed on to the Inter-regional moderator, who will address the questions to the relevant local node(s).
Like in previous session, all nodes will have a scribe who will capture the content of the conversation in writing or visual format.
The session will stop at 7.40 UTC, each node will have a break of 20 minutes- and prepare itself (mainly technically) for the Global session.
Important: Interactive nodes should have a final list of Discussants/experts,
Moderators, Co-Moderator and Scribe no later than September 14 and submit them
to ISOC APAC so that the Intra-regional moderator has this list in advance.

The Global Session

Start Time: 8.00 UTC
End Time: 10.00 UTC

Interactive Nodes

Each Interactive Node will join Global Session via a zoom link that will enable full audio/video interactivity with the other interactive nodes. One of the 5 Interactive nodes will serve as host node. This node will have the Global session moderator who will facilitate and lead the discussions between interactive nodes. The two local SMEs/discussants (who participated in the previous session) will represent the node.

Viewing Nodes

Viewing nodes will join the Global Session via the Digitell Player. They will not have
interaction with the audience via audio/video.

Social Q&A

For the global sessions, there will be only one way for node participants to ask questions – via the Conference i/o social Q&A. Participants will enter their questions into the Social Q&A screen and all other participants will have the opportunity to vote for every question. Those questions receiving the highest vote tally when the SMEs are taking questions will be the ones that are addressed. Non-English speakers are invited to type their questions into the Social Q&A in one of the five languages (see below). The question will then be translated into English for all to vote.

Why InterCommunity?

• Unify the Internet Society community behind our shared global vision
• Showcase the Internet as a powerful tool to create engagement and connections across distance and time
• Create a “moment” for our global community of members to meet, share, and connect

InterCommunity 2016 Objectives

• Create a community connection to ISOC’s 2016 Strategic Objectives Connecting the Unconnected and Restoring and Building Trust in the Internet – using the campaigns to share the success stories of our Chapters and Members
• Position our Trustees as leading voices of our community, from our community – by hosting Trustees at Interactive Nodes
• Provide an opportunity for community engagement on a global project – Future Internet Scenarios
• Generate excitement for our rebranding effort and upcoming 25th Anniversary
• Celebrate the Internet Society community – have fun!

Overall Event Structure

I. A local roundtable type discussion PRIOR to the Inter-Regional Session
II. The Intra-Regional Session
III. The Global Session

Overall Theme:

“Connecting the Unconnected’ and ‘Restoring and Building Trust in the Internet’.

Register here to be part of InterCommunity 2016

New Exco 2016-2017 and Report for 2016

Our friends from the Institute of Policy Studies also presented the findings of their research, Normalization versus Equalization Effects of the Internet for Political Parties: Singapore’s General Election 2015 as a Case Studysee the video here

 

President  Bryan Tan
Vice President  Indranil Mukherjee
Secretary  Lim May-Ann
Treasurer  Sofia Morales
Education Chair  Jay Nagarajan
Programme Chair  Benjamin Ang
Other- roles: Ext/ International Liaison:
Ang
Peng Hwa
Honorary Auditors 1. Yvonne Lim

2. Tay Wei Kiang

3. Sanjeev Gupta

 

We congratulate the new Executive Committee of the Singapore Chapter. Left to right: Sanjeev, May-Ann, Sofia, Indy, Ben, Peng Hwa, Yvonne, Bryan, Jay, Harish

We congratulate the new Executive Committee of the Singapore Chapter. Left to right: Sanjeev, May-Ann, Sofia, Indy, Ben, Peng Hwa, Yvonne, Bryan, Jay, Harish

Here is the slide deck for the report on our chapter’s activities for 2016 – 2016, and projected activities for 2016 – 2017

 

Comment on potential action by film studio against innocent Internet users

The rights owners of two Hollywood movies (Queen Of The Desert and Fathers And Daughters) have started legal proceedings against illegal downloaders here and are seeking pretrial disclosure of Internet protocol (IP) addresses. In an unusual move, the Attorney-General’s Chambers has indicated that it will oversee the process to prevent abuse. Our Internet Society (Singapore Chapter) has also contributed to the discussion on this action.

Last year, we (Internet Society Singapore Chapter) formally complained to the Law Society of Singapore that two lawyers (from the same law firm in the current matter) had issued letters threatening criminal proceedings, fines and prison, against people who they accused of pirating the film Dallas Buyers Club. This type of threat is not allowed under the Law Society’s Practice Directions here. You can read our detailed reasons and the complaint at this page. We also conducted a workshop to educate the public:  Copyright End User Infringement Workshop: A view from both sides of the fence

The Law Society of Singapore replied that their inquiry committee has decided that a formal investigation by a disciplinary tribunal is not necessary, but the lawyers “should be given a warning, reprimand or order to pay a penalty of not more than S$10,000”. More details are available in this news report from the TODAY newspaper

Now that the same law firm appears to be starting similar legal proceedings again, we have written to the national newspapers to share our views and concerns. A version of the article below appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on August 20, 2016, with the headline ‘Don’t punish innocent Internet users‘.


Don’t punish innocent Internet users

The Internet Society (Singapore Chapter) views with concern and interest the various news reports that the rights owners of two Hollywood movies – Queen Of The Desert and Fathers And Daughters – have started legal proceedings against illegal downloaders here and are seeking pretrial disclosure of Internet protocol (IP) addresses.

While we do not condone copyright infringement, we are concerned that a potentially large number of lawsuits may be filed on the basis of IP addresses sought.

Recent cases from other jurisdictions have ruled that IP addresses do not sufficiently identify which individuals committed copyright infringement.

It is entirely plausible that some of the IP addresses may belong to innocent home or business owners who were not aware that their IP addresses were used or who may have not secured their networks sufficiently at the material time.

We question the fairness of subjecting them to the stress and cost in time and money of defending themselves against legal claims.

We are pleased that the Attorney-General’s Chambers has indicated that it will oversee the process to prevent abuse (“AGC steps in as studios seek illegal downloaders“; Wednesday).

We note also that our previous complaint to the Law Society regarding letters of demand sent to alleged downloaders of the movie Dallas Buyers Club resulted in the Law Society finding that the letters sent by the law firm did infringe the Law Society’s ethical standard, by threatening criminal proceedings, fines and prison time against people who they accused of pirating that film.

The Law Society’s findings imposed a penalty of $10,000 or reprimand upon the law firm.

Since the acts of those lawyers in question were adjudged to have crossed acceptable boundaries, we have asked the Law Society to advise on the status of the alleged infringers.

A clear determination by the Law Society may help delineate the boundaries of acceptable conduct by lawyers and law firms here.

Finally, while the rights holders appear to be preparing to sue individuals, we suggest using the blocking provisions that were added to the Singapore Copyright Act last year. They are a self-help remedy to stop massively infringing sites, and will avoid mistakenly targeting innocent Internet users.

In conclusion, while we support the rights of copyright owners, we urge caution so that innocent Internet users are not adversely affected by their actions.

Ang Peng Hwa (Professor)
President
Internet Society (Singapore Chapter)

A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on August 20, 2016, with the headline ‘Don’t punish innocent Internet users‘.

Did the Internet help the opposition or ruling party in the Election?

Does the Internet help the opposition parties in Singapore overcome structural disadvantages offline, or does it replicate the dominance of the ruling party? The researchers assessed five political parties according to how well they use their websites and Facebook during the 2015 general election (GE15).

Normalization versus Equalization Effects of the Internet for Political Parties: Singapore’s General Election 2015 as a Case Study

Date/Time: 24 Aug 2016 Wed, 7-8pm sharp, (note: this will be followed by the ISOC SG AGM 2016 from 8-9pm, which is only open to members.)

Venue: APAC Meeting Room, Red Hat Asia Pacific, 8 Shenton Way #10-00, AXA Tower, Singapore 068811

Fee: free for members; but membership will be available at the door for SGD$50 (annual fee) if you’d like to come!

To RSVP: please send an email with your name, company and designation, and email to info@isoc.sg

Agenda:

6.30 pm Registration and coffee

7.00 pm Briefing by TNG YING HUI and CAROL SOON (Institute of Policy Studies)

7.45 pm Discussion and Q&A

8.00 pm END BRIEFING

[ISOC SG AGM 2016 (for ISOC SG members only)

8.00 pm AGM 2016 starts

9.00 pm End AGM 2016]

Speakers

TNG YING HUI is a Research Assistant in the Arts, Culture and Media cluster at the Institute of Policy Studies. Her research areas include Internet regulation and the impact of new media on politics. She has a master’s degree in International Studies from the Josef Korbel School of International Studies at the University of Denver. Before graduate school, she worked at CNBC. Her by-lines have appeared in the Asian Correspondent and Al Jazeera.

CAROL SOON is a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Policy Studies. Carol’s research interests include social media and politics, digital engagement, digital technologies and advocacy, and surveillance. She led the study on media and Internet use during General Election 2015. Carol worked in the corporate sector where she developed communication campaigns for profit and non-profit organisations prior to joining NUS.

To RSVP: please send an email with your name, company and designation, and email to info@isoc.sg

Fee: free for members; but membership will be available at the door for SGD$50 (annual fee) if you’d like to come!

Normalization versus Equalization Effects of the Internet for Political Parties-

 

Notes from our Net Neutrality Seminar and Discussion 2016

ISOC SG Net Neutrality Seminar and Discussion - 27 July 2016

ISOC SG Net Neutrality Seminar and Discussion – 27 July 2016

This research into Net Neutrality in Singapore was sparked by an online advertisement: SingTel music plan allows you to pick from Amped, Spotify or KKBox or radio without further data charges. This is a zero-rated plan – plan that exempts data from counting against a user’s data cap, or from accruing any excess charges.
If you believe in Net neutrality – then ISPs should treat all data equally. ZR provides unfair advantages to certain content providers, certain ISPs, creates walled garden

History

2010 IDA consultation on N/N
2011 IDA issued N/N Paper
– fast lanes are permitted, no banning of throttling
– access to legitimate websites should not become unusable
2014 MWC
– Singtel called regulators to give ISP permission to charge Whatsapp
Parliament: Gerald Giam raised the question
MCI replied: ISPs are concerned with competition

Case studies

India – Facebook introduced Free Basics app and internet.org to provide free access to FB and 36 other sides in the app, optimized for feature phones, if they subscribe to certain operators
This raised concerns: users have limited view of internet chosen by FB
FB counter argument – target market was people in poverty who have no access anyway and did not know the benefits of the internet; it would be better to give them some form of access first, and full access was unsustainable for a private company
But Free Basics is now banned in India because India’s IT sector opposed

USA – T-Mobile binge-on plan provided ZR video content from a limited no of content providers
Resolution limited to 480p, unlimited streaming
common concerns: T-mobile might shape the environment
Unusual that it was praised for creating technical standards and in theory any content provider could stream on the Binge On Plan

Regional (S-E Asia)
ZR is a concern today – see the SingTel Amped ZR plan
FB is active in PH, TH, IN and Myanmar
MY provides access to FB, Whatsapp, Waze all under ZR plans

Net Neutrality in Singapore

Based on interviews by the researchers, who is closest to the purist (EFF) definition of Net Neutrality?
1. Civil Society (ISOC)
2. Industry players
3. IDA

Discussion in SG tends towards the fact that we have very good broadband infrastructure
IDA notes that there are 5 prominent ISPs – consumers can choose between them
Even industry players say SG has abundant bandwidth, no need to prioritize
ISOC view: many have accessibility to high-speed Internet so users can still get to the content; all were aware of negative concept of ZR but felt it was not an issue in SG

ISOC view: there should not be traffic prioritisation; there should not be ZR; but in Singapore it may not be an issue because of high bandwidth
IDA goals
– to ensure competition
– to ensure high speed, low latency
IDA considers ZR to be only a theoretical problem but not a real problem in SG, they are monitoring and will step in if there are complaints

Industry players argue that ISPs should be transparent.
ZR is a competition issue
ZR has different meanings in developed and non-developed countries

 

Conclusion

ZR has not been discussed much in Singapore
No -ve feedback from consumers
No noise from industry players
Is it really a problem for SG?

Q. Should the NN debate be driven by the outcome or the principle?

A. IDA says this is a theoretical problem, no one has complained yet!

Q. Why are we nonchalant about NN in SG?

A. IDA is aware, monitoring, they have broad powers, consumers not complaining

Q. What if ISPs start to slowly degrade and consumers are not aware?

A. We need to study this as there is no data available now

Q. Is it possible that there are startups who cannot get started because of throttling? Given that ISPs are also moving into content plays, will that mean that independent content startups are at disadvantage?

A. There are no complaints so far from start ups

 

Q. Can we practically measure throttling?no answer

A. No answer. If you can’t quantify a problem then we will struggle to convince the regulator

 

From the floor: Telefonika (Spain) 2014 wanted to charge $1 for Google because they lost SMS business
So now phone calls and text are free, but data packages cost more

Q: Does that amount to net economic benefit? Then there is no competition law issue.

A. We should have a project to measure ISP speed for different sites and apps

We should encourage ISPs to be like T-mobile and make it available to all content providers

Meeting concluded at 8:30 pm

Background of the Seminar / Discussion

[Posted previously]

Net Neutrality is a controversial issue in other countries, with Internet users (like you and me), Internet Service Providers, and governments, often disagreeing on whether they should treat all data on the Internet neutrally, or if they should charge different rates for different uses and users.

What does Net Neutrality mean in the Singapore context?
Would it benefit or hinder Internet use in Singapore?
Should some online services or users have priority or preferential (or heavier) pricing?
Is it time to review the official policies on Net Neutrality that were issued in 2011, before the exponential growth of streaming services like Netflix and Spotify?

Learn more about these issues and join the discussion at our event

NET NEUTRALITY – WILL IT WORK FOR SINGAPORE?

27 July 2016, 7 pm, at APAC Meeting Room, Red Hat Asia Pacific, 8 Shenton Way #10-00, AXA Tower, Singapore 068811

Agenda:

7.00 pm Registration and coffee

7.15 pm Briefing by TNG YING HUI and TAN MIN-WEI (Institute of Policy Studies)

7.45 pm Discussion and Q&A with GREG MITTMAN, CTO of MyRepublic, moderated by BRYAN TAN (Pinsent Masons MPillay)

9.00 pm End

Admission

Admission is free for members of the Internet Society

You can join the Internet Society when you register at the door

Register here

Send us an email at [email protected] to register for this event and to reserve your seat.

Speakers

Moderator BRYAN TAN is a partner at the law firm Pinsent Masons MPillay. Qualified in both England & Wales and Singapore, Bryan Tan practices in such areas as finance, information technology, telecommunications, biotechnology and bioinformatics, Chinese intellectual property, entertainment law, and corporate and commercial work. He advises corporates, banks, institutions as well as governments and has advised on acquisitions of software systems for hospitals, factories, banks, vessels and defence systems. Bryan has advised multinational technology companies and has also advised numerous start-ups in Southeast Asia and venture capitalists on funding, mergers & acquisitions and exits. His team closed 15 VC-related deals last year. Bryan was also legal advisor to the ASEAN Single Window project, a key initiative for ASEAN 2015. Bryan has also written eight text books on e-commerce, electronic evidence, data protection and higher education.
GREG MITTMAN has over 15 years experience in telecom and technology. He has valuable cross functional experience holding senior positions in business development, regional marketing, strategy, alliances, managed services and complex sales. He is presently Vice President and CTO of MYREPUBLIC, a Singapore-grown startup, which is the world’s first telecom company purpose-built for optical fibre NBNs (National Broadband Networks). MyRepublic now provides fast internet service to over 50,000 homes and businesses in Singapore.

TNG YING HUI is a Research Assistant in the Arts, Culture and Media cluster at the Institute of Policy Studies. Her research areas include Internet regulation and the impact of new media on politics. She has a master’s degree in International Studies from the Josef Korbel School of International Studies at the University of Denver. Before graduate school, she worked at CNBC. Her by-lines have appeared in the Asian Correspondent and Al Jazeera.

TAN MIN-WEI is a Research Assistant in the Politics and Governance Cluster at the Institute of Policy Studies, a think-tank dedicated to fostering good governance in Singapore through strategic policy research and discussion. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Politics from the University of Nottingham, and his research areas include Internet policy and regulation.

net-neutrality

EdTechXAsia 2016 – Special rate for ISOC.SG members

EdTechXAsia 2016 will bring together perspectives from leading Educators, key Government Agencies, Technology Solution Providers, top-level EdTech Start-ups, Investors, Corporates and media professionals to provide an engaging experience for knowledge sharing, networking, learning and collaboration. Find out more at this link

Internet Society Singapore Chapter is a supporting organisation to edtechx Asia.  Members of the Internet Society Singapore Chapter are entitled to a special discounted rate. Check your email from us for your discount code.

Join us at the EdTechXAsia 2016 summit and expo event in Singapore on the 8-9 November to connect with the influencers shaping the ‘Now and Next of EdTech’ worldwide. We’re looking forward to showcasing global perspectives on 21st Education & Skills at the 2016 EdTechXAsia summit including:

  • EdTech industry giants, iTutorGroup and Kaplan, highlighting 21st century education trends
  • Innovators transforming personalised learning technologies
  • Educators sharing their stories of how they’re incorporating EdTech in their classrooms and leading higher education institutions
  • Browse the 2016 Agenda to see all the 21st century learning sessions included in our EdTechXAsia programme

Over two days, 100 international thought leaders will share their insights & global perspectives on 21st Century Learning.

Members of Internet Society Singapore Chapter are entitled to an exclusive discount when you register for the EdTechXAsia Conference. Simply register at the link which you received in your email to enjoy a 10% exclusive discount off Super Early Bird rates. If you have not received your email, let us know at [email protected]

Super Early Bird Rates will end 12 August 2016, 2359hrs | Promo code is exclusive to members of Internet Society Singapore  only and is applicable on/before 12 August 2016, 2359hrs 

EDTECH784x295-Internet-Society-Spore

 

Speaking at IPv6 Share & Learn 2016 at CommunicAsia2016 on #Cybersecurity #IOT #SmartNation

Benjamin Ang, our Education Chair, is speaking at #IPv6 Share & Learn 2016 at #CommunicAsia2016, Marina Bay Sands, Wed 1/6 and Thu 2/6, on #Cybersecurity #IOT #Liability #SmartNation

Venue : Marina Bay Sands
Presentation 1: Cybersecurity and Legal Lessons after Apple v FBI
Date: 1 June 2016, Wed (Day 2)
Speaking Slot: 11.30am – 12.20pm

Presentation 2: IP the in Internet of Things: Smart Nation, Smart Hacks and Legal Liability Cybersecurity breaches
Date: 2 June 2016, Thur (Day 3)
Speaking Slot: 12.30pm – 12.50pm

Slides are available below

CommunicAsia2016


 

 

 

 

Lawyers who sent Dallas Buyers Club letters face consequences

Last year, we (Internet Society Singapore Chapter) formally complained to the Law Society of Singapore that two lawyers had issued letters threatening criminal proceedings, fines and prison, against people who they accused of pirating the film DALLAS BUYERS CLUB. This type of threat is not allowed under the Law Society’s Practice Directions here. We, at the Internet Society, believe that the current case presented a good chance to reflect on some developments for future improvements to the protection of intellectual property rights in a world of sharing, streaming and downloading, where innocent Internet users can continue to use the Internet without fear.  You can read our detailed reasons and the complaint at this page

Now the Law Society of Singapore has replied that their inquiry committee has decided that a formal investigation by a disciplinary tribunal is not necessary, but the lawyers “should be given a warning, reprimand or order to pay a penalty of not more than S$10,000”.

More details are available in this news report from the TODAY newspaper

TODAY-Dallas Club

 

 

 

 

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