Sintercom
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Sintercom (Singapore Internet Community) was an Internet community launched by Dr Tan Chong Kee in 1994 with the objective of providing a platform for free flowing discussion on various national issues much akin to soc.culture.singapore in USENET which he was active in.
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[edit] The SBA Incident
On 5 July 2001, Dr Tan received a letter from the Singapore Broadcasting Authority asking him to register Sintercom under the ‘Singapore Broadcasting Authority (Class License) Notification 1996’ and explained that registration was a procedural requirement the intention of which was to emphasize the need for content providers to be responsible and transparent when engaging in Singapore’s political issues.
On the 20 August 2001, Dr Tan announced that he would shutdown Sintercom rather than registering the website under the SBA Act due to concerns over the ambiguity of the legal wording of the Act. Specifically, Dr Tan suggests that the ambiguity of the draft net legislation would lead to self-censorship as terms such as 'against public interest' are open to interpretation by those in power.
[edit] Revival
In Dec 2001, Sintercom was revived by an unknown 'New Sintercom Editor' at Geocities and has since moved on to newsintercom.org.sg. However, the relevance of New Sintercom is questionable given the prevalence other alternative channels such as Tomorrow.sg and personal blogs.
[edit] Editors
The former editors of Sintercom are as follows:
- Dr Tan Chong Kee, Founder, Chairperson, The Necessary Stage
- Ms Chang Li Lin, Public Affairs Manager, the Institute of Policy Studies, Singapore[1]
- Ms Wynthia Goh
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Interview with Dr Tan Chong Kee, Accessed: 23-Dec-2006 [2]
- Terry Johal, School Of Applied Communication RMIT University, Controlling the Internet: The use of legislation and its effectiveness in Singapore, Accessed: 23-Dec-2006 [3]
