INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGY LAW IN SINGAPORE: AN INTRODUCTION
The study of information and communications technology (“ICT”) as an area of law is relatively new and follows the development of the Internet and World Wide Web (“WWW”) for general use in the 1980s. In the beginning, ICT-related law was merely treated as an extension of existing areas of law. Hence, for example, the law on intellectual property (“IP”) had to evolve — copyright law, in particular, had to rebalance the interests of copyright owners, users and technology providers — because the way digitised materials were used and shared had changed dramatically with developments in ICT.
Also, the role and function of search engines and data aggregators as well as the design of the webpage interface and its functionality on the WWW (for example, the use of domain names, frames and hyperlinks) all had copyright and trademark implications that needed to be addressed. Further, competing policy interests (such as the development of e-commerce and free flow of information) required accommodation under the law, even as it was clear that IP protection had to be strengthened to deal with issues arising from peer-to-peer (“P2P”) file-sharing and online streaming and time-shifting technologies.
As the rate of Internet penetration and connectivity expanded, and bandwidths grew, so did the issues of control over IP rights and IP enforcement generally.
Wireless access and the introduction of portable smart devices like tablets, pads and phones that allow for multiple methods of remote communication further provided challenges, particularly for law and regulations relating to content, such as media law (for example, the law on defamation and sedition as well as broadcasting and telecommunications regulation). Another area of law that evolved was transactional law, such as the law on contracts and commercial transactions — to legitimise the electronic medium and to deal with the idiosyncrasies of electronic transactions generally, and e‑commerce in particular. Jurisdictional rules over Internet transactions that transcend borders also had to be developed.
Meanwhile, new rules were required to deal with the domain name system under the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) that provided a user-friendly and convenient address system and gateway to the WWW, as well as the country-specific regimes that developed in its wake. Entirely new laws also emerged with time, such as the law on computer crimes (for example, unauthorised access and modification of computer material as well as the denial or obstruction, and the use or interception of, computer services). Furthermore, as personal and proprietary data became ever more integral to the new economy, privacy and data laws (such as personal data protection regulations) and the law on confidential information and trade secrets also had to develop in tandem with the development of new industries, in particular the sharing economy, which is largely data-driven.
WHAT IS INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGY?
Information Technology: Modern forms of information technology involve the collection, organisation, storage and use of many different types of data. Technology enables information to be created and stored in, or converted to, a digital or electronic format. Such data is used for social and professional interaction, commercial transactions and the creation of new industries. It is also increasingly used for governance (such as policing and investigation), and in the provision of public services.
Communications Technology: The changes to the way we communicate through new types of technology are also important as they have given rise to new media and modern forms of mass communication. They make it easier and faster for organisations (especially businesses) to transact and users to interact with one another. They have also developed different forms and levels of “publication” that simplify the user experience but add complexity to the technological layers in communication, and changed the speed and method of information transfer or dissemination. The empowerment of the individual through various forms of “user-generated content” (“UGC”) is a direct result of this, as is the shift to digital marketing, electronic products and services as well as methods of online distribution of content.
THE EVOLUTION OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGY
The Internet and WWW that we are familiar with today emerged in the mid-1980s to the 1990s. What is generally referred to as “Web 1.0” covers this period of evolution when the initial users became more technologically savvy (for example, learning to use Hypertext Markup Language or “HTML”, the code used to organise a webpage and its content) and the WWW operated more as an information portal limited to such uses as blogs, chatrooms and e-mail. Rudimentary search engines and e-commerce websites and various forms of online advertising intermediaries vied for Internet users (through business-to-consumer (B2C) business models). There was also limited interaction between website operators and users, with the former mainly providing access to or sending information to the latter, who remained largely passive recipients.
“Web 2.0” refers to the period when data became “interactive” as it coincided with the boom for social networking and other participative platforms (for example, Facebook, Wikipedia and YouTube), and the rise of the “sharing economy” through the development of data sharing and data storage technology that promoted UGC and online dissemination. It was a period that heralded the development of “disruptive technologies” that spawned a “data economy” and the birth of a whole industry of new “Internet intermediaries”. In this environment, users or consumers are empowered to share their opinions and to transact directly with one another through “sharing industry” platforms and applications (or “apps” in short) that remain active in the background. Examples of these include ride-hailing (for example, Grab and GoJek), home-sharing (for example, Airbnb), consumer-to-consumer business models (for example, Carousell and eBay), electronic payment services (for example, Paypal) and food and home delivery services (for example, Deliveroo and Ninjavan). New models for content distribution — such as legitimate music libraries (for example, Spotify and iTunes) and movie streaming services (for example, Netflix and HBO Go) — emerged to challenge the prevalence of the unlawful sharing of data during an era of P2P revolution, in tandem with a series of prominent court decisions globally (in particular the US, Canada, the UK and Australia) to restrict the use of such technology.
At the same time, the social impact of the empowered user and greater user interaction also required new laws to address privacy concerns that emerged, including online harassment, cyberstalking and cyber-vigilantism (for example, through doxxing). The veracity of information in the midst of the sheer volume, velocity and variety of data generated on the WWW (all features of “big data”) was also of great concern, particularly for governments globally.
There is now talk of a “Web 3.0”, although there is no consensus as to what this encompasses. Indeed, the features of this level of Internet evolution remain controversial. In the 2010s, buzz words such as “big data analytics”, the “Internet of Things”, “blockchain technology” and “artificial intelligence” (“AI”) have emerged as the focus of legal studies, with added attention to the ethical issues surrounding the development and use of these technologies as well as their privacy, data protection and cybersecurity concerns. The immediate future of ICT law will undoubtedly concern the study of these issues as well as the impact they have on society and the global economy.
