MICA – Protection of Privacy Online

The modern lifestyle in Singapore has made Singaporeans more and more exposed. We are exposed not because we have less cloth on our clothes due to the hot weather, but because of the rapid changes in technology.

If you drive, whenever you drive past an ERP gantry, your vehicle’s IU number will be registered. When you stop at certain traffic junctions, there may be cameras capturing video footage. When you enter a carpark, the parking system again knows what time your car enter and leave the building. LTA is also reportedly looking at implementing a future ERP system using GPS technology.

If you travel by public transport, the contactless card system keeps tabs on the station or bus-stop you start and end your journey. When you make purchases using the same card, again the system keeps track of where and how much you spend.

When you go to certain sensitive areas or neighbourhood for lunch, your image may be captured by CCTV. At lunch, when your friend pulls out a smart phone to take photo of you and post on Facebook and Twitter, you can possibly find your own image shared to millions of Singaporeans online. When you sleep at work, the next thing you see could be a video of you snoring on YouTube.

This is how much these technologies have infiltrated our lives. However, Singapore online privacy laws are almost non-existent.

Recently, a young man in US by the name of Clementi, jumped to his death after unwittingly becoming the star of a video that was streamed online. Do we want to wait until a similar tragedy in Singapore before we start to consider online privacy laws?

I am of the view that it is time the Government introduce a privacy law in Singapore to protect the identity and privacy of individual Singaporeans. The law should also cover the use of personal data collected by various agencies and commercial institutions.