4/08/2019

How important is fake news to our govt?

The length and time spent on this fake Bill could sum up how important is fake news to the govt. No issue in Parliament has had such an extensive discussion and coverage in the main media. Think of the time and manpower expended to explain this bill, the cost involved has been quite staggering.
 

What is the outcome of the debate so far? Govt’s power in fake news Bill not absolute, govt must make first call but there is legal safeguard for those who disagree with the decision. This is the headline in thenewpaper. Also in the same paper is a comment by a former US Secretary for homeland security, Michael Chertoff who said, ‘when it comes to laws against fake news but there are no easy answers’. It was also reported that ‘he refrained from commenting directly on the draft laws Singapore introduced on Monday to combat fake news, he said it was useful to draw a distinction between a “clear falsity” and opinion.
 

Was it out of respect or caution that this former US secretary refrained from commenting on our fake news Bill? Americans are well known for shooting their mouths with no respect for anyone or country when they think something is not right. Freedom of expression is a core American value that would not be easily challenged or cast aside. But he did said that one has to be careful about a clear falsity and to respect or recognize opinions if I read him correctly.
 

Chertoff was quoted to have said, ‘Rather than debate aspects of misinformation that are outright deceptive – such as impersonation and intervention by foreign entities – the harder question to answer is what constitutes fake news.’ Not difficult at all when Singapore is concerned. In Singapore, fake news is when chenghu said it is fake news. Period. If you don’t agree, go to court, provided you have the money to pay for expensive legal fees.
 

Another taken for granted fake news is political propaganda and agenda in the main media. These are accepted as the conventional truth without the need to question where it is coming from, especially when it came from the Americans or the West. Our silly bananas would swallow them hook, sinkers and line as the gospel truth. In Singapore, the official position is that main media never lies, never spread fake news. So, other than chenghu said so, what you read in the main media are by professionals, all well researched, verified and documented and must be real, including from foreign journalists and wildlife. There is no need to question what is printed in the main media, only question the suspected social media that are supposed to be telling lies and spreading fake news, like mysingaporenews.
 

Ok, this is my opinion, just my opinion.

33 comments:

Ⓜatilah $ingapura⚠️ said...

@ RB

All the young fuckers weren't born when the PAP had anti fake news campaign in the 1960s. Oldies will remember the "Don't Spread Rumours Campaign". Fear mongering as usual in the time where there was no social media.

The govt made sure that everyone feared a communist take over. There was still fighting going on at the Thai-Malaysian border and in Borneo against "communist insurgents".

Then in the 1980s the govt came up with a "Marxist Conspiracy", more bullshit. Many people were rounded up detained and tortured.

If you know about our past, this shit happening now is the same-o-same-o just "updated" for the modern era in which we live.

Just continue to speak your mind lah. Fuck this law aside. It is BAD LAW.

Anonymous said...

@All,

S'pore's anti-fake news law is more good news for cybersecurity, spyware, cyberespionage, IT network companies.

Dumb sinkies here will only KPKB about it.

But smart sinkies will do smart investing, and then KPKB just for fun.

Anonymous said...

In my opinion, this Fake News Bill is more to protect the aristocrats rather than to protect the peasants . . .

Virgo49 said...

Aiyo, just be the Fourth Monkey of the Three Monkeys.

Hear Nothing,See Nothing and Talk Nothing.Now cannot even said Anything.

You want to be haul up and spend 5 to 10K to say yours is True News.

Lose some more sell backsides.

The Court takes six months to one year to hear (and tortue) you with your case and you have sleepless nights.

Have to meet liars every now and then and paid retainer fees.

Liars charged you enormous paper works and photostated documents and you have to ask temple to feed your children and wives.

Go Court kena scanned and searched like charged guilty people.

Why be so stupid to post and open.your mouths. Might as well go to the City Above The Clouds and have some gaming.

Use your 10 to 20K for Gaming. Maybe returns 100K.

Cheers

Ⓜatilah $ingapura⚠️ said...

@ Patriots: Defend the nation, not the government who are servants of the nation:

The sg.gov is going to use all is hot shit tech tools like data mining, and Watson, the IBM AI who does a lot of the govts work now. AIs with natural language capabilities can read millions of tweets and Facebook pages in just a few minutes and “understand” them.

So I say, to beat the AI, go Old Skool. In the old days, people used to spread opinion on the wet markets, kopi tiams, hawker centres...anywhere and everywhere Singaporeans used to congregate to conduct their normal lives in the public space. So the govt used to deploy ISD cocksuckers out in the field to “monitor” conversations of the public. They also tapped telephones of “suspects”, without warrants. Go talk to the old Barisan people who are still alive lah, or their children. Old Lee was fucking paranoid of political competition.

But now the govt will concentrate its resources on electronic media. So IMO, go Old Skool, use the postal service, not email or IM. Use face to face conversation in private spaces. Anyway it's about time we got more personal and human in our communication instead of doing everything by electronic channels and tech devices. Bring back the old Kampung Spirit lah. Take the power from IBs. Make them obsolete.

In the old days when people talk shit at kopii tiams, they were naturally vigilant on eavesdropping ISD cocksuckers. The moment the presence such idiots were detected, someone would blow the whistle. This is the Kampung Spirit I'm talking about. We need to have each other's backs. They'd no other way to fight this.

Ⓜatilah $ingapura⚠️ said...

@ personal electronic security

War Stocks Guy is spot on. All this surveillance is very good business for firms involved. They will grow and earn like crazy. So many of their public shares will also be good buys. There's nothing to keep you from making money from these shares as well as securing your own privacy and freedom.

Remember, these firms are engaged in an arms race. The moment they create some type of invasive tech, another firm (or maybe the same firm) will create “countermeasures”.

As soon as the legislation is passed (only a matter of time) govts will engage in OFFENSIVE security. This means the govt can legally deploy MALWARE to keep track of citizens or to disable their devices or control their devices and snoop at the contents on their devices. And add expected, there will be countermeasures created to combat these “legal” intrusions.

Ⓜatilah $ingapura⚠️ said...

...so go ahead. Make money lah! Play both sides!

Anonymous said...

@Matilah,

Old school too late ... now got AI & facial recognition & ubiquitous CCTVs & hidden cams all over the place. Can pick out your face in a crowd of 100,000 within couple of seconds. Even if totally cover your face, AI can also point you out based on your body language, how you walk & move etc. Also can lip read whatever shit you're telling your kakis in the kopitiam or street corner.

Back in the 50s & 60s, post office were given names of persons & addresses for flagging out letters and parcels. Special Branch & later ISD were able to open the letters and parcels to examine first, before sealing & pasting back for post office to continue processing.

Anonymous said...

These r juz censorship laws created to prevent the garmen of the day from being attacked by anyone in the world la. Ash they like it, ask to take down then do so, if not face the moozik..

Anonymous said...

Comming soon not allow to sell fake flowers.

Body parts soon.

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

I just stood in front of the TV watching CNA for a few minutes, seeing 4 angmohs talking about fake news. Two men attacking Russia for using facebook to spread fake news. The women, I think one is from facebook trying to defend facebook, replied that that other countries also spread fake news in facebook and other social media but deliberately avoid mentioning the biggest spread news producers, ie the USA.

Why would they be so liberal to name Russia as the culprit when the biggest culprit are the AMERICANS?

Luckily they could not attack China as facebook is banned in China and Chinese don't use facebook or not too fluent in writing in English.

So instead of admitting that they are the worse culprits in spreading fake news, they simply pointed the fingers at the Russians. The Americans are so innocent, so pious, do not such evil things.

Anonymous said...

Do forgive for an off-topic comment.
Worshippers do take precaution this Qingming Festival to avoid and prevent
Heat Stroke,
Dengue due to MOSQUITO bites.
Respiratory complications due to joss-burning offering.
Food poisoning due to exposures to open air, sunlight, flies, stale consummables due to early and mass productions of the Seasonal Offerings and delayed consumptions.
As reported, Dengue is over 3 times compared to the Same Period Last Year/2018.
Tuberculosis is also on the rampage and maybe beyond traceability or OUT OF REIN.
There is also need to be careful of lightnings.
Carry umbrella, use raincoat/wear and avoid getting chill.
Do be mindful and take care folks.

Wish Everyone Well.

Anonymous said...

The Best Way to go about fighting Counter Fake News Measures is
TO MAKE AS MUCH FAKE NEWS AS POSSIBLE,
HOWEVER,
DO ENSURE THEIR RELEVANCE AND USEFULNESS.
No regime in the World can have resources to deal with FAKE NEWS,
which need no tool and money to make.
So,
no worry about news makings be they factual, half truth and anywhere in between and or false and fake.
Only stupid authority believe they can control and contain news.
CAN ANY REGIME AFFORD THE INTELLIGENCE, JUDICIARY INCLUDING THE COURT, JAIL, ENFORCEMENT HARDWARE AND ALL OTHER EXPENDITURES TO DEAL WITH A DEBATABLE ISSUE THAT CAN BE LIKEN TO A RUNAWAY KILLER DISEASE?
THE END RESULT SHALL BE AGONIZING LONG SUFFERING OF CONFRONTATION, CHAOS AND COLLAPSE.
There cannot be another kind of ending.
THE ONLY IDEAL TRUCE
IS TO BE SINCERE.
NO FAKE NEWS
AND
NO PROPAGANDA AND PERSONAL/ORGANIZATION AGENDA.

Anonymous said...

Bad incident and stupid traffic accident will

Always more during ghost month.

Ⓜatilah $ingapura⚠️ said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Ⓜatilah $ingapura⚠️ said...

@ 947

>> Old school too late ... now got AI & facial recognition & ubiquitous CCTVs & hidden cams all over the place. <<

Aiyah, sangkut lah. Anyway, it was worth a shot.

I'm wondering, how many of those cams actually work? Govts have been known to deploy fake CCTV cams lah. HIdden cams? I haven't heard of their use in Singapore. Whenever I enter a new place, I always look for cams, then I wonder how many of them are actually for real.

Gait recognition can be hacked --- just place a small object like a pebble or a seed in your shoe. Your walk will immediately change. I dunno how to hack facial recognition. Lip reading is not 100% accurate. Especially for our bananas who like to slang-slang so what comes out is a HORRIBLE ROJAK of Americanized Singlish. I think that would cause the AI to be less accurate. 🤣

Too many unknowns lah!

Anonymous said...

Fake News from US President Donald Trump:

" Our Country is FULL! "

How can such a big country like the US - many times the size of Singapore - be full when our tiny city state is still open to foreigners, eyeing a population of 10 million !

jjgg said...

RB.. u better be careful ah.. in a country where parliament can be a court of law .. where "puff the magic dragon " sends a subliminal message of sex n drugs..where Lady Gaga n Ariana Grande conveys behaviour unbecoming..where Indian can become Muslim..etc you think your opinion cannot become fake news??

Anonymous said...

@All,

Ok for a break from all the fake news & opinions here, this just published by ST today:

MAS says DBS no "impropriety" in selling $500M Hyflux perpetual securities in 2016

The 3rd paragraph proves that Hyflux was collecting $$$$$$$ from retail ah kong & ah mah, in order to pay back another previous perpetual securities bought by accredited investors.

MAS also quoted to say in effect that DBS performed all the necessary legally correct steps, and investors should have opened their eyes big big.

After that, MAS quoted for ownself praise ownself in helping to educate ah kong & ah mah retail investors.

Not fake news horrr .... this one straight from Shit Times ... guaranteed double confirmed, chopped FACTS!!!

Anonymous said...

Hyflux lesson learnt - if the money raised is to be used to pay off previous debt, then it should be avoided like the plague.

S&P Global Ratings press release today -

SINGAPORE April 8, 2019--The credit horizon could be cloudy for the Singapore dollar (S$) bond market over the next 12-18 months. S&P Global Ratings said today that the default of a Singapore-based water infrastructure solutions provider, Hyflux Ltd. (unrated) could be first wagon in a train of financial-distress cases to come as lending conditions adjust to the economic slowdown and become less favorable.

" We believe more defaults could occur in Singapore as earnings may be slowing down and investors becoming more selective," said S&P Global Ratings credit analyst Bertrand Jabouley. "Due to very low rates and yields in the past five years, Singapore investors, both institutional and retail, have sometimes opted for riskier bonds, to increase cash returns. Lending appetite driven by abundant liquidity has allowed less-established, often smaller companies to tap the market. Such players are typically more vulnerable to economic up and downs."

Given the global trading environment may not be as supportive as it used to be, a marked slowdown of earnings looks increasingly plausible. This may be an issue in Singapore, where median leverage (debt-to-EBITDA ratio) is high at close to 6x.

We believe more distress situations are likely in Singapore. By our estimates, close to S$4 billion (US$3 billion) of Singapore-dollar corporate bonds are maturing by the end of 2019. That number climbs to some US$10 billion in 2020. A more cautious investor sentiment may exacerbate refinancing risk, in our view.

Anonymous said...

mrbrown, DJ Kimberly Wang among influencers tapped to promote government schemes

So mrbrown, DJ Kimberly Wang spreading real news ?? Why Mr RB not tapped ? Hmmn . . .

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

I concurred with 2:54pm, anything from ST are not fake news. Carefully researched, checked out and confirmed to be truths.

Quoting from the main media as the source is very safe.

Anonymous said...

@Anon 322pm

Coz RB not influencer enough? Plus he got the kiam par look -- how to promote?

Maybe PAPies will pay him to promote Oppo.

Anonymous said...

9.09am Matilar, u encouraged all to continue to speak their mind. U think u hide under Matilar they can not find you? U wanted us to Kena invited to lim Kopi is it. As other anons have said, lim Kopi sure Kena detained with Tua Kee. Lagi worst then Kena sodomized. We oldies assess can not take that kind of punishment lar so better diam diam Lor. For Matilar, u are used to be sodomized so u are ok but not us lar.

Anonymous said...

Legislation Against Fake News Is Open To Abuses - Financial Times Editorial

Laws on ‘truth’ can offer autocrats a route to online censorship.

Malign actors ranging from authoritarian states to extremist groups have been spreading “fake news” since long before the term was coined. The rise of social media has increased exponentially the speed and impact with which untruths can be disseminated. Yet plans like those unveiled by Singapore to impose direct penalties on purveyors of fake news are disturbing. Top-down approaches risk being abused and turning into censorship. The best way to tackle fake news is to teach consumers to identify and reject it.

Since the 2016 US general election, when fake news issues came to the public’s wider attention, the problem has mushroomed. The hegemonic struggle between Iran and Saudi Arabia in the Middle East is now also played out online. Mob lynchings in India were driven by WhatsApp rumours. A study of social media activity found the gilets jaunes protests in France have caused a surge in fake news on Facebook.

Social media companies were slow to acknowledge the problem, and have proved unable to deal with it. Even when they have intervened, for example through partnerships with external fact-checkers such as Snopes, they have been largely unsuccessful.

Apparently positive steps can backfire. After Facebook demoted publisher content in its news feed last year in an effort to reduce fake news and increase content from trusted sources, studies suggest it reinforced “filter bubbles” — sharing content, which may not be accurate, from family, friends and groups. It became more difficult for legitimate journalism to pierce such bubbles.

Now Singapore is joining countries including Germany, France and Malaysia in seeking to legislate — but taking more far-reaching steps. Its draft bill would allow authorities to publish corrections to claims about public institutions which they deem false. Publishing such statements with “malicious intent” could incur fines up to S$1m(US$740,000) or up to 10 years in jail.

Such sweeping government intervention is a mistake. Even institutions in open democracies have struggled. The German law has had problems differentiating misinformation and hate speech from satire. In France, legislation against anonymous political adverts led to the temporary blocking on Twitter of the government’s voter registration campaign.

There is a clear risk of a future in which governments dictate what is “true” to their populations. Leaders from US president Donald Trump to Russia’s Vladimir Putin are already trying to smear media coverage they dislike as “fake news”. Russia introduced a fake news law last month which allows authorities to call on sites to delete articles with which the government disagrees, or face being blocked.

Trying to control fake news from above can also fuel conspiracy theorists’ claims of victimhood. Conspiracy merchants such as Alex Jones of InfoWars have met efforts by Facebook and Twitter to reduce their influence with claims that the companies were trying to hide the truth. Governments can be accused of doing the same.

The best approach to fake news lies in ensuring audiences question what they read. This means starting in school through long-term co-operation between teachers, journalists, social media firms and governments. Even then, it may be possible only in countries that are free and wealthy enough to allow such programmes. But democracies must be wary of introducing anti-fake news laws that could be misused, and provide cover for authoritarian regimes to take ostensibly similar steps with more malicious intent."

Ⓜatilah $ingapura⚠️ said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Ⓜatilah $ingapura⚠️ said...

@ The Unleashed Masses aka the rowdy non elites & willingly victims of perennial governmental anal rape:

I say again, dun worry about this fake news nonsense. Continue as per normal but change the way you say the things you want to say.

Fake news applies to people who make CLAIMS. If you don't make a claim, then the govt can't touch you. Oh yah, they'll try their usual intimidation tactics, that's guaranteed.

So if you use phrases like “in my opinion”, “I don't have proof, but my belief/ feeling is…”, “I suspect that….”.

If you have proof/ hard evidence / items and documents which are difficult or impossible to refute, submit to curators like Wikileaks, The Guardian, The BBC, New York Times before you go to the Straits Times. ie. The local media should be last, I'll leave you to figure out why because I don't need a libel suit against me. 😄

Libel. Ha. A favourite legal ploy by dirty-playing politicians. If you say “You are corrupt/ a liar/ a thief” you'd better have hard, verifiable evidence or you'll kena sue, guaranteed. Roy Ngreng's big mistake.

Be wise. Ask a question. “Are you telling the truth?” “In my opinion/ it is my belief/feeling...that you are not being truthful in this instance”. ie. There is a SKILL to “suggesting” an accusation without actually making a direct accusation.

Ⓜatilah $ingapura⚠️ said...

@ 417

Up to you lah. I'm going to continue to speak my mind. My asshole, my business lah --- I die, my problem ok? Happy now? Look after your own kachng lah, dun kapoh kaypoh so much

@ 254

Yah, if you buy securities, you better check properly. DBS business is to sell securities. You dun check, your fucking funeral lah.

@ 313

OOH! Shiok! Distressed assets. My mentor, well-known property developer now in his mid 80s once told me: "I only work once every ten years", which is about the time every global recession has hit. He and his kaki-nang would travel to world to pick up hotels, buildings all sorts of DISTRESSED prime city real estate placed in "bankers boxes" (the title deeds to property) --- assortment of property used to secure loans from banks, now in default when corporations owing the money have gone BUST. They'd sit on the properties for a few years and when the markets boom again, THEY SELL and pocket a huge PROFIT. All of them are Singaporeans, BTW.

So bring it on lah. Distressed assets, distressed debt, distressed property...come to daddy!

Anonymous said...

matilar, well said but if u continue to be pain in the ass to them, then irrespective how u are saying it, they will still catch you legally like though u did not say it, a good lawyer can put words in your mouth. Then since you are pain in the ass to them, they will make sure sure u pay for it through your ass. That is u Kena sodomized by tuakee.

Anonymous said...

In this Internet and Hi-tech Era,
it is impossible to control spread of news, be it true, false and fake.
News travel like wild fire and happen like tsunami.
To cut it short, it is futile to control dissemination of news.

Ⓜatilah $ingapura⚠️ said...

@ 1021

I think you need to go some kinda course to update the way you think lah. Maybe that will also improve your job prospects, give you a better view of real life.

It is not against the law to be a “pain in the ass”. It's against the law to LIBEL people, especially people in govt who will 1000% sue you. Very soon it'll be illegal to spread “fake news”, whatever the fuck it means. However it's still not illegal to criticise the govt, provided you don't tamba fake news or libel anyone.

Since we all make our own feelings, your feelings are beyond my control. If what I say offends or annoys you, that's your motherfucking problem lah.

Dun worry about me lah. I tell you like I tell everyone, be SELFISH, only concern yourself with what your best self interests are.

You die, your fucking business lah. 🤣

Anonymous said...

Fake means something not true or not real.

News is not a something.is truth seeking.

Two put together means-something not true(fake)

and need to be verified.(news) That's all it means. Simple.

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