Singapore bans fake news

[rslade]

OK, normally I would be very supportive of something along this line.  But I doubt this will work.

Singapore's new law bans the spread of (what the government decides are) false statements.  Allowing the government to decide what's fake could give them a lot of leeway to crack down on any form of dissent.

So, like, good luck with that ...

[Flyslinger2]

Job security for politicians: if nothing bad is reported about them or spoken of them then they seem perfect, they will win re-election and can turn into tyrants.

With the sophistication of communications that is available today this won't be enforcable.  Just as citizens in Russia and China have learned to work around restrictions placed on them Singaporeans will find a way to freedom.

[SWTurley]

"Fake News" is just a moniker for dissenting opinions. The U.S. legacy media, once deemed to be reliable and authoritative, has been manufacturing news to support the establishment narrative for decades. As result people have embraced alternative sources. There is no such thing as unbiased reporting. Everything is framed within the context of a particular world view. The more the technocrats try to suppress, the stronger the dissenters grow and the more rapidly the changes they are trying to prevent progress. Let value be determined in the market of free ideas.

[rslade]

> SWTurley (Viewer) posted a new reply in Industry News on 05-10-2019 08:20 AM in

> "Fake News" is just a moniker for dissenting opinions.

That's fake news. (Or, possibly, an alternative fact ...)

> Let value be determined in the
> market of free ideas.

The invisible Twitter feed of Adam Smith ...

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[Caute_cautim]

Just how are the expected to prove that the statement is fake news?  Conjecture?  Others opinions?  Research and a balance of opinion vs reliability of witnesses or facts and reliability of the source?  But the source could be doing the feeding any how to create the illusion or fake news in the first place?

A lie detector?  AI and voice and body language indicators?

What happens if it is a written fake news?  How do they prove it is not fake news?

On the basis one is innocent until proven guilty or does this not apply?

Regards

Caute_cautim

[denbesten]

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@Caute_cautim wrote:

Just how are they expected to prove that the statement is fake news? 

---

It's their right, although the article does point out that civil rights groups are raising objections.

---

On the basis one is innocent until proven guilty or does this not apply?

The article does hint at Singapore's Presumption of Innocence with the statement "A person found guilty...".  One small nit.  It is "presumed innocent until proven guilty". 

[rslade]

> @Caute_cautim wrote:
>   On the basis one is innocent until
> proven guilty or does this not apply?

A good point, and one that many people fail to recognize.

The legal principle of "presumption of innocence," despite being mentioned in the
UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights, is not universal by any means. It is
generally restricted to Common Law legal systems, and these are by no means
common. (Some Civil Law legal systems may, specifically, apply the presumption
of innocence, but that's on a case by case basis.) As a member of the
Commonwealth of Nations, Singapore's legal system is based on common law, but
it has a number of significant differences, so I wouldn't automatically assume the
presumption of innocence applies.

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