ask: internet freedom in SG

• sp-kenny

  6 Nov 07, 10:59

  Hi from Jakarta, Indonesia!
  
  I would like to ask questions regarding (internet) freedom of speech, legalities and rules that apply in Singapore.
  My GF is an indonesian studying in SG; brought a laptop from indonesia (with a copied version of win OS). Because she forgot to switch off the automatic update feature, her win OS was detected as non original. Since she was living in SG, she literally panicked that if she continued using this copy, someday the police would come knocking on her doorstep & arresting her. I simply told her to relax & re install. But she insisted on purchasing an original version & thats exactly what she did.
  I know the grim reality of my advice was wrong, but here in Indonesia where everything pirated & knock offs prevail its somewhat "not a big deal" to use these things...
  
  My questions are:
  Did my GF over react?
  
  Here in jakarta, there are many buy&sell internet sites that offer varied (either legal or illegal) items; Either branded knock offs, internet pay site passes, original merchandise meant for export, adult ent, soft&hardware, glasses, tv series, electronics, sportswear (last week i bought an adidas jacket for about SGD 25 ), etc: virtually anything CHEAP ! Is this also happening in SG?
  
  The online media in Indonesia is really open, many news sites offer real time news; good or bad, which the government has little to none control of. I ask again, is this also what its like over there?
  
  Is it ok if i were to share my knowledge websites of anything cheap (either legal or illegal) for example recorded motivational dvds?
  
  Thank You and I hope not to offend anyone, just looking to find out info regarding SG internet life...
  
• kiss_my (_i_)

  6 Nov 07, 11:08

  Originally posted by sp-kenny:

  Hi from Jakarta, Indonesia!
  
  I would like to ask questions regarding (internet) freedom of speech, legalities and rules that apply in Singapore.
  My GF is an indonesian studying in SG; brought a laptop from indonesia (with a copied version of win OS). Because she forgot to switch off the automatic update feature, her win OS was detected as non original. Since she was living in SG, she literally panicked that if she continued using this copy, someday the police would come knocking on her doorstep & arresting her. I simply told her to relax & re install. But she insisted on purchasing an original version & thats exactly what she did.
  I know the grim reality of my advice was wrong, but here in Indonesia where everything pirated & knock offs prevail its somewhat "not a big deal" to use these things...
  
  My questions are:
  Did my GF over react?
  
  Here in jakarta, there are many buy&sell internet sites that offer varied (either legal or illegal) items; Either branded knock offs, internet pay site passes, original merchandise meant for export, adult ent, soft&hardware, glasses, tv series, electronics, sportswear (last week i bought an adidas jacket for about SGD 25 ), etc: virtually anything CHEAP ! Is this also happening in SG?
  
  The online media in Indonesia is really open, many news sites offer real time news; good or bad, which the government has little to none control of. I ask again, is this also what its like over there?
  
  Is it ok if i were to share my knowledge websites of anything cheap (either legal or illegal) for example recorded motivational dvds?
  
  Thank You and I hope not to offend anyone, just looking to find out info regarding SG internet life...
  

  so ur point is?
• sp-kenny

  6 Nov 07, 11:12

  My point? Im asking questions duhh
• kiss_my (_i_)

  6 Nov 07, 11:18

  Originally posted by sp-kenny:

  My point? Im asking questions duhh

  looks like u quite familiar with here
• sp-kenny

  6 Nov 07, 11:35

  out of topic: A few days ago my friend in SG told me about this great forum
  Enough about me, how about helping me answer my curiosity
• aHGer^83

  6 Nov 07, 12:01

  u want cheap things in SG? than it can't be legal... duh...
  from my experience, legal/illegal windows, it doesn't matter so long u are not being caught while buyin the illegal one...
  and er... if she d/l stuffs like movies/songs, that's illegal....
  and er.. i dun actually get ur point....
• ndmmxiaomayi

  6 Nov 07, 12:07

  Originally posted by sp-kenny:

  Hi from Jakarta, Indonesia!
  
  I would like to ask questions regarding (internet) freedom of speech, legalities and rules that apply in Singapore.
  My GF is an indonesian studying in SG; brought a laptop from indonesia (with a copied version of win OS). Because she forgot to switch off the automatic update feature, her win OS was detected as non original. Since she was living in SG, she literally panicked that if she continued using this copy, someday the police would come knocking on her doorstep & arresting her. I simply told her to relax & re install. But she insisted on purchasing an original version & thats exactly what she did.
  I know the grim reality of my advice was wrong, but here in Indonesia where everything pirated & knock offs prevail its somewhat "not a big deal" to use these things...
  
  My questions are:
  Did my GF over react?
  
  Here in jakarta, there are many buy&sell internet sites that offer varied (either legal or illegal) items; Either branded knock offs, internet pay site passes, original merchandise meant for export, adult ent, soft&hardware, glasses, tv series, electronics, sportswear (last week i bought an adidas jacket for about SGD 25 ), etc: virtually anything CHEAP ! Is this also happening in SG?
  
  The online media in Indonesia is really open, many news sites offer real time news; good or bad, which the government has little to none control of. I ask again, is this also what its like over there?
  
  Is it ok if i were to share my knowledge websites of anything cheap (either legal or illegal) for example recorded motivational dvds?
  
  Thank You and I hope not to offend anyone, just looking to find out info regarding SG internet life...
  

  1. Your GF did over react. That doesn't mean I support piracy either. The police won't come knocking on her door. Neither will MS crash her Windows. At the most, she can't receive certain updates if her computer crashed.
  
  2. Not that I know of. But I doubt if any wants to shop there either. For the security of their bank accounts.
  
  3. There's only 2 major local news sites here. Not very open, but about what you need to know about the local news. However, international sites on SG news are quite open, you can visit them. There's no restriction on that. Physically, some are banned here, but online, they are not.
  
  4. If you want, you could. I got my sources, I don't mind adding.
• BrUtUs

  6 Nov 07, 12:14

  Originally posted by kiss_my (_i_):

  looks like u quite familiar with here

  x2.... the usual clone...
• Where Is God

  6 Nov 07, 12:22

  I believe you are mistaken.
  
  There's no internet in Singapore.
• kramnave

  6 Nov 07, 12:28

  Originally posted by sp-kenny:

  Hi from Jakarta, Indonesia!
  
  I would like to ask questions regarding (internet) freedom of speech, legalities and rules that apply in Singapore.
  My GF is an indonesian studying in SG; brought a laptop from indonesia (with a copied version of win OS). Because she forgot to switch off the automatic update feature, her win OS was detected as non original. Since she was living in SG, she literally panicked that if she continued using this copy, someday the police would come knocking on her doorstep & arresting her. I simply told her to relax & re install. But she insisted on purchasing an original version & thats exactly what she did.
  I know the grim reality of my advice was wrong, but here in Indonesia where everything pirated & knock offs prevail its somewhat "not a big deal" to use these things...
  
  My questions are:
  Did my GF over react?
  
  Here in jakarta, there are many buy&sell internet sites that offer varied (either legal or illegal) items; Either branded knock offs, internet pay site passes, original merchandise meant for export, adult ent, soft&hardware, glasses, tv series, electronics, sportswear (last week i bought an adidas jacket for about SGD 25 ), etc: virtually anything CHEAP ! Is this also happening in SG?
  
  The online media in Indonesia is really open, many news sites offer real time news; good or bad, which the government has little to none control of. I ask again, is this also what its like over there?
  
  Is it ok if i were to share my knowledge websites of anything cheap (either legal or illegal) for example recorded motivational dvds?
  
  Thank You and I hope not to offend anyone, just looking to find out info regarding SG internet life...
  

  We are only restricted to some pornographic websites as the government wants to that it does not stand for that.
  
  Singapore did have widespread piracy concerns in the past but we have kept it under control. Piracy in computer related software had in the past helped us to gain knowledge that would otherwise be rather unaffordable for many. However our society is more affluent now and Singapore wants to be knowned to protect intellectual property rights and being an anti-pirate assists in the formulation of Free Trade Agreements. Thus most forms of piracy widespread.
  
  We hardly get knockdowns (illegal or otherwise) due to our stance against piracy and we don't have brands like Nike setting up sweatshops in our country as labour costs are considerably higher.
  
  No we do not have police knocking on our doors due to illegal softwares on our PCs. Businesses do however get into trouble when someone blows the whistle on them. Whistleblowers get rewarded by software developers
• mancha

  6 Nov 07, 12:47

  Originally posted by sp-kenny:

  ...
  
  My questions are:
  Did my GF over react?
  
  ...
  
  

  Yes.
  
• AndrewPKYap

  6 Nov 07, 12:49

  Originally posted by ndmmxiaomayi:

  1. Your GF did over react. That doesn't mean I support piracy either. The police won't come knocking on her door. Neither will MS crash her Windows. At the most, she can't receive certain updates if her computer crashed.
  
  2. Not that I know of. But I doubt if any wants to shop there either. For the security of their bank accounts.
  
  3. There's only 2 major local news sites here. Not very open, but about what you need to know about the local news. However, international sites on SG news are quite open, you can visit them. There's no restriction on that. Physically, some are banned here, but online, they are not.
  
  4. If you want, you could. I got my sources, I don't mind adding.

  x 2
• ndmmxiaomayi

  6 Nov 07, 13:10

  Originally posted by Where Is God:

  I believe you are mistaken.
  
  There's no internet in Singapore.

  
• Phaze

  6 Nov 07, 14:02

  What is the internet? Someone told me it's a series of tubes.
  
  But anyway, your gf over-reacted. But it's good that she bought the OS. Reduced functionality mode is not usable anyway.
• selfobliged

  6 Nov 07, 14:09

  as long she didn't get caught while buying pirated softwares, then it's ok.
• LatecomerX

  6 Nov 07, 15:08

  Originally posted by sp-kenny:

  Hi from Jakarta, Indonesia!
  
  I would like to ask questions regarding (internet) freedom of speech, legalities and rules that apply in Singapore.
  My GF is an indonesian studying in SG; brought a laptop from indonesia (with a copied version of win OS). Because she forgot to switch off the automatic update feature, her win OS was detected as non original. Since she was living in SG, she literally panicked that if she continued using this copy, someday the police would come knocking on her doorstep & arresting her. I simply told her to relax & re install. But she insisted on purchasing an original version & thats exactly what she did.
  I know the grim reality of my advice was wrong, but here in Indonesia where everything pirated & knock offs prevail its somewhat "not a big deal" to use these things...
  
  My questions are:
  Did my GF over react?
  
  Here in jakarta, there are many buy&sell internet sites that offer varied (either legal or illegal) items; Either branded knock offs, internet pay site passes, original merchandise meant for export, adult ent, soft&hardware, glasses, tv series, electronics, sportswear (last week i bought an adidas jacket for about SGD 25 ), etc: virtually anything CHEAP ! Is this also happening in SG?
  
  The online media in Indonesia is really open, many news sites offer real time news; good or bad, which the government has little to none control of. I ask again, is this also what its like over there?
  
  Is it ok if i were to share my knowledge websites of anything cheap (either legal or illegal) for example recorded motivational dvds?
  
  Thank You and I hope not to offend anyone, just looking to find out info regarding SG internet life...
  

  Your GF over-reacted.
  
  And, for your country, things are cheap, either legal or illegal. In Singapore, things are either free and illegal or expensive and legal. Open-source stands in the middle of both.
  
• sp-kenny

  6 Nov 07, 18:35

  thanks for the input guys
• wishboy

  6 Nov 07, 19:30

  aiyo over-reacted riaoz
  
  1 important reminder, dun download anime, such as bleach/d-gray man, thru p2p softwares, it is the easiest to get caught (or we call odex-ed)
  fines can be as high as SGD 10,000
  
  music, videos and such can be said to be quite safe to download, very little chances of getting caught
  
  also, it is advisable not to tap on others' wireless internet connection (other than the free Wireless@SG) as it is illegal and the police have taken action on these people
  
  and, dun watch prawns, bad for ur eyesight
• mancha

  7 Nov 07, 01:11

  Yea! a lot of Singaporeans watch prawns, that's why it is the spectacles capital of the world.
• LatecomerX

  7 Nov 07, 03:04

  Originally posted by wishboy:

  and, dun watch prawns, bad for ur eyesight

  Time to spoil your eyesight, again.
  
  *ALERT: Kids, please do not scroll down.*
  
  
  
  
  
• digicharat

  7 Nov 07, 05:59

  singapore no pirated stuff.
  we all use original because we are all so god damn rich.
• oOprinceOo

  7 Nov 07, 09:52

  Originally posted by digicharat:

  singapore no pirated stuff.
  we all use original because we are all so god damn rich.

  
• iceFatboy

  7 Nov 07, 10:10

  Your problem is with microsoft.
  
  if microsoft has a strong r/s with the local authorities, I believe you GF will be nailed sooner than later.
  
  but whether MS want to go after small fish like that is another problem.
  
  since you already know that you are using an illegal version, so how can you use the auto update?
  
  
• Urroh

  7 Nov 07, 10:17

  She over over reacted.. haa
• dangerboi

  7 Nov 07, 10:38

  The point is that each country has their own rules and regulations. If you wanna continuing living in that country, you have to learn to embrace the rules.
  
  For example, it's legal to smoke marijuana in Holland and it's legal for someone to have a handgun in some states of USA. Try mimicking this 2 acts in this country and you'll see what happens in a few months time