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Singapore’s protest group against new rules for online news reporting promises further action

Free My Internet protestSingapore’s Free My Internet movement against new rules to regulate online news reporting saw an estimated 2,500 people turn out to protest on Saturday, the group is claiming.

The movement, backed by Singapore’s blogging community and free-press group The Online Citizen, said this is the first step in opposing the new regime, with further action to follow in an awareness campaign targeted at the government and public.

The Online Citizen said in a statement: “The trust that was broken by the hasty introduction of the Licensing Regime can only be restored by the withdrawal of the Licensing Regime. A government that doesn’t trust its people is a government that will lose the trust of its people. We hope our government will keep their faith with all Singaporeans.

The group says 4,000 people have signed its petition against the rules – which mean that high-traffic websites that report on Singaporean issues must have a license and pay a ‘performance bond’ – and 150 bloggers participated in blog blackout.

The protest comes the day after an opinion piece on Mumbrella suggested that the new rules make little difference to how online news reporting in Singapore currently operates.

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