Essay draft 1

Increasingly, social media platforms such as Facebook have become a platform for anonymous groups in Singapore to target and attack popular social media influences such as bloggers. While what these vigilantes post on their social media platform pages may seem harmless and even taken as a joke to some, there have been instances where lines have been crossed. For instance, the home address of Singapore blogger Wendy Cheng was exposed online by a follower of the anonymous group “SMRT Ltd Feedback” in 2014. The follower had used an online tool that the anonymous group had posted on its Facebook page to find out Wendy’s address. (Cheng, 2015)The reason for this being, they simply did not like her. With thousands of followers on SMRT Feedbacks Facebook page, exposing their victim’s home address online puts their victims lives in danger. While there are laws, such as the Protection from Harassment Act to protect an individual against cyber harassments like these, the solution is not full proof and still leaves many victims of cyber harassment unprotected.

In 2014, Singapore full time blogger Wendy Cheng filed for a Protection Order against the anonymous satirical vigilante group SMRT Ltd (Feedback). According to Wendy, the anonymous group had been harassing her via social media platforms like twitter and Facebook. The group has allegedly posted insulting and derogatory comments about her looks, her character and even accused her of rigging her blog’s statistic counter and fraud, which could have potentially affected her blogging career. (Koh, 2015) When her home address was posted online for virtually anyone to see, Wendy filed for the Protection Order for fear of the safety of her 2 year old son and mother. This is not the first time that the anonymous group has exposed the home address of a person online. In 2014, following an incident where a Sim Lim Square shop owner Jover Chew swindled a Vietnamese tourist into paying a highly exorbitant price for an IPhone. The vigilante group took justice into their own hands by exposing the home address of Jover Chew online so that online users could play pranks on him in punishment for his misdeed. While these may all seem like harmless, satire pranks, it actually poses danger to victim’s lives as well as their careers and businesses.

The Protection Order was put in place in 2014. Unlike any other acts, the Protection Order is extended to the anonymous on social media. The act helps to “protect persons against harassment and unlawful stalking and provide civil remedies in relation to false states of fact.” (Yam, 2014) This means that cyber harassers will no longer be able to make untrue or derogatory and abusive communication about their victims under the Protection Order. They are also liable to punishments if they fail to obey the order. While the act may seem effective, it actually fails to take into consideration certain details, as such making the solution to the problem of cyber harassment a non full proof one.

The Protection Order does not require the anonymous to expose their identities.  This means that anonymous groups like the SMRT Feedback can actually take on another social media persona to attack its victims without breaking the rules of the Protection Order on their social media account. Also, with a large number of followers and fans of the vigilante group, stopping the group itself from cyber harassing its victims does not stop their followers from continuing to do so. As such, the Protection Order does not entirely protect cyber victims from harassments online.

Aside from the Protection Harassment Act that has been implemented, Singapore has also put in place a new “Cybercrime Command” within the Criminal investigation Department (CID) in order to combat cybercrimes. (Lim, 2015) The cybercrime command aims to create a platform whereby young Singaporeans who use the Internet often are able to work hand in hand with the police in investigating cyber-harassers. The Internet is a huge network; it is nearly impossible for the police to track down every single activity. As such, the platform will be an effective measure to take towards cyber-harassment as it allows the online community to give “tip-offs” to the CID whenever they witness an online harassment taking place, the CID will then look into the issue and take necessary actions on the harassers. (Liang, 2015).

While Cybercrime command may be effective in locating and punishing cyber-harassers, like the Protection Harassment Act, it is not a preventive measure towards cyber-harassment. Both measures only solve the issue as it arises. In order to combat cyber-harassment, actions need to be taken at the root of the problem. To prevent these anonymous groups from harassing their victims. A preventive measure would be stating rules that harmful or derogatory comments are not allowed to be posted on social media platform pages. Social media platform administrators should ensure that popular social media accounts with over a certain number of followers are monitored closely with routine checks. Should there be any form of cyber-harassment detected, the social media page will then be forced to shut down after a warning. Should there be a need, the administrators can then report the issue to the police for further action to be taken.

As the saying goes “prevention is better than cure.”  Attempting to solve the issue of cyber harassment through laws such as the Protection act order and the Cybercrime command may be effective in certain ways as mentioned above. However in order to prevent cyber harassment from taking place,  cooperation between both social media platform administrators and the police force is necessary.

References:

Koh, V. (2015, February 6). Channelnewsasia. Retrieved from http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/xiaxue-takes-out/1641824.html

Yam, P. T. (2014, September 19). Singapore Statuses Online. Retrieved from http://statutes.agc.gov.sg/aol/search/display/view.w3p;page=0;query=DocId%3A%2207275b05-417a-4de5-a316-4c15606a2b8d%22%20Status%3Ainforce%20Depth%3A0;rec=0

Lim, Y. (2015, March 06). channelnewsasia. Retrieved from http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/police-to-set-up-new/1698876.html

Cheng, W. (2015, February 6). xiaxue. Retrieved from www.xiaxue.blogspot.com.sg

Liang, L. Y. (2015, March 6). the staits time singapore. Retrieved from http://www.straitstimes.com/news/singapore/more-singapore-stories/story/new-cybercrime-unit-within-the-cid-be-set-20150306

An Influential event

When I was 15 years old, I had the opportunity to go on a Community Involvement Program (CIP) trip to Batam, Indonesia with a group of girls from my secondary school. I immediately jumped at the opportunity, as the thought of being able to go on a “holiday” with my friends was so appealing. Little did I know that the 4 days 3 nights trip would change my life forever. A group of us were assigned to visit an Indonesian Christian orphanage called “House of love”. The House of love was an orphanage built specially to house children who had been left home less and without a family after the 2004 Tsunami that hit the coast of Indonesia. We taught the English language to the children, played different games with them and even helped to clean and paint the walls of their bedrooms. What struck me the most throughout the trip was when a 6 year-old boy by the name of Richy started singing the Christian song “give thanks”. The lyrics go something like this “give thanks with a grateful heart.. let the weak say I am strong, let the poor say I am rich because of what the Lord has done for us.”

Although I doubt that at such a young age he would have known what the song really meant, he taught me a valuable lesson that day. If an orphan can be thankful for the little that he has, surely I can be grateful for everything that I have.

(252 words)

Essay Draft 1

Main problem:  Social media such as facebook as a platform for anonymous vigilante groups in Singapore to target political groups and popular social media influences. In the past year, these vigilantes have overstepped their boundaries by exposing private details such as the home addresses of their target victims.

Affected target group/stakeholder: Government, political leaders, social media influences

Agent of change/stakeholder: Educational institutions, the government ( in the form of legislation and law), social media platforms.

Solution 1: Protection from Harassment Act 2014 to protect online users from cyber-harrasment.

Evaluation 1: Vigilante’s garner support from the masses through their ability to empathise with their struggles. They give ordinary people a platform to voice their opinions about political or social issues that otherwise will not be heard. As such, placing a restraining order on these groups does not stop their supporters from continuing the harrasment online. It is not possible to place a harrasment act on such a large mass of people. Also, the protection order does not require vigilantes that are anonymous to reveal their identities, meaning these groups of people are able to set up multiple social media accounts to attack their victims without getting caught or punished for it.

Solution 2: Perhaps what the government needs to do is to implement laws that criminalizes the posting of other’s private details without their consent. They can also work closely with social media organizations to monitor the content of what these vigilantes post on their social media platforms. Any violation of rules should result in punishments.

Implication/Conclusion: This may however stir anger amongst the vigilante groups supporters as they feel that they no longer have the freedom to voice their opinions online.This may result in an even bigger issue such as protests or supporters taking things Into their own hands

Thesis: Social media platforms have increasingly become a platform for anonymous vigilante groups to attack political groups and popular social media influences in Singapore. Cooperation between the government and social media companies are needed to combat this growing problem.

Reader response draft #3

"The perils of over-sharing in social networks" by Emm (2014) is against the increasing dependency society has on the internet. In the article, Emm shares about his concerns over "government snooping" which allows authorities to spy on personal e-mails, text messages etc. He discusses the impending dangers that an over reliance on social media poses on people. For example, the jeopardization of our personal lives when confidential details land in the wrong hands. These information can be manipulated in different ways such as to find out our bank accounts or our home addresses, putting the safety of our money and family in danger. The author also believes that the over-sharing of private information can have adverse effects on companies that users work for. The authors opinions reflect my own to a certain extent. Like the author, i believe that the internet is not an entirely safe place for the sharing of personal details. However with proper safety precautions, it can bring about positive effects. 

The author states that the Internet “exposes the minutiae of our daily lives”. Putting personal information online such as posting pictures or tweeting about our current location makes us easy targets to cyber-criminals. A popular social media platform “AskFm” allows strangers to ask users questions. Increasingly, anonymous characters have used this medium to convey abusive and sexualized content to its victims. Askfm has been linked with some of the worse cases of cyber bullying and has been the reason for several suicide cases. (Younger, 2013) Just as Emm puts it, what is seemingly harmless can quickly turned into an avenue for crimes to take place.

The author also believes that over-sharing on the Internet can “jeopardize the security of the organization we work for”. Sharing of confidential details online can result in rival companies attaining vital information required to sabotage an organization. In addition to Emms point, the over-sharing of information on the Internet not only compromises the security of a company but also it’s reputation. In 2012, director Amy Cheong of the National trade union congress (NTUC) was fired after posting racist comments about the traditional Malay wedding on her personal Facebook account. (Durai, 2012) The incident caused an outrage amongst the online community. Netizens were upset that NTUC would give authority to someone who publicly displays racism. NTUC’s Facebook page was bombarded with angry comments demanding explanations. Needless to say, the incident tarnished NTUC’s reputation as being a wholesome organization. As such it is clear to say that over-sharing on the Internet can affect both the security and reputation of the companies we work for.

Emm also voices his worries over “government snooping” on the Internet. The ability of institutions and the government to “intercept emails, text messages etc.” leaves users with barely any privacy. However "government snooping" does have some positive impact on society in that it combats terrorism to a certain extent. The National Security Agency (NSA) gathers phone data and online communications in order to sieve out potential threats. In the US alone, The National Security Agency's "controversial intelligence-gathering programs" have helped to prevent 13 terrorist attacks from taking place. (Kelly, 2013).

As such, the internet is most definitely not a safe place to share personal details of our lives due to the many possible dangers. It does however have its positive impacts as well such as providing convenience and helping countries to combat terrorism. Like the author states, safety measures such as being vigilant or using safety softwares are therefore needed to ensure that users are able to reap the benefits of the internet without falling victim to cyber crimes.

References:

Durai, J. (2012, October 8). The Straits Times. Retrieved from http://www.straitstimes.com/breaking-news/singapore/story/ntuc-assistant-director-sacked-racist-remarks-20121008

Kelly, H. (2013, August). CNN. Retrieved from http://edition.cnn.com/2013/07/31/tech/web/nsa-alexander-black-hat/

Younger, S. (October, 2013). Tweenus. Retrieved from http://www.chicagonow.com/tween-us/2013/10/facts-about-ask-fm-parents/