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Students asked to register their blogs with university
I received a rather unwelcoming email in my inbox yesterday. "MESSAGE ON EXERCISING FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION RESPONSIBLY," screamed the header. My university (Nanyang Technological University) apparently had decided to remind students about responsible blogging after what seems to be an undisclosed incident.
A schoolmate of mine pointed out that they are probably responding to the controversy whereby an anonymous blogger posted a blacklist of foreign students who are deemed to have displayed bad attitude and other unflattering qualities.
Reminding students about responsible use of free speech is fine and good, but there were some puzzling statements contained in that email. I was hopping mad at first after reading it, but then, I was told that the contents of the email are nothing new (see Students Affairs Office website); no point fretting too much about it.
Anyway, here are the lines that stood out:
Don't: Creating webpages / blogs containing information regarding politics and religion, unless you have acquired proper licenses from the Media Development Authority AND the written approval of the University.
For those of you who are not familiar with the situation in Singapore, political and religious blogs are required to register with the MDA (under the Broadcasting Act), which is a media regulatory body run by the government. The only problem is that the regulations have been largely ignored by bloggers here.
But what is even more interesting is that the University wants all its political and religious student bloggers to seek approval from the administration. This is a demand that will be largely dismissed by yours truly, and a handful of other bloggers who are studying on campus. Just like its rules on attire.
I received a rather unwelcoming email in my inbox yesterday. "MESSAGE ON EXERCISING FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION RESPONSIBLY," screamed the header. My university (Nanyang Technological University) apparently had decided to remind students about responsible blogging after what seems to be an undisclosed incident.
A schoolmate of mine pointed out that they are probably responding to the controversy whereby an anonymous blogger posted a blacklist of foreign students who are deemed to have displayed bad attitude and other unflattering qualities.
Reminding students about responsible use of free speech is fine and good, but there were some puzzling statements contained in that email. I was hopping mad at first after reading it, but then, I was told that the contents of the email are nothing new (see Students Affairs Office website); no point fretting too much about it.
Anyway, here are the lines that stood out:
Don't: Creating webpages / blogs containing information regarding politics and religion, unless you have acquired proper licenses from the Media Development Authority AND the written approval of the University.
For those of you who are not familiar with the situation in Singapore, political and religious blogs are required to register with the MDA (under the Broadcasting Act), which is a media regulatory body run by the government. The only problem is that the regulations have been largely ignored by bloggers here.
But what is even more interesting is that the University wants all its political and religious student bloggers to seek approval from the administration. This is a demand that will be largely dismissed by yours truly, and a handful of other bloggers who are studying on campus. Just like its rules on attire.
