45K fine for possession

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X-Sender: vinnie@apple.com (Unverified)
Mime-Version: 1.0
Date: Wed, 25 Sep 1996 12:18:07 -0700
To: rah@shipwright.com
From: Vinnie Moscaritolo <vinnie@webstuff.apple.com>
Subject: 45K fine  for possession
Status: U

http://www.nando.net/newsroom/ntn/info/092596/info13_25205.html

Singapore fines first resident for Internet obscenity


Copyright (c) 1996 Nando.net
Copyright (c) 1996 The Associated Press

SINGAPORE (Sep 25, 1996 08:48 a.m. EDT) -- A Singapore resident has been
fined for downloading obscene pictures from the Internet, the first such
case since the government announced it will censor what people can see on
the global computer network.

Lai Chee Chuen, 41, pleaded guilty Monday to charges of collecting of
pornographic pictures from the Internet and of possessing Penthouse, a
magazine banned in Singapore, the Straits Times newspaper reported today.

It said Lai was fined $43,900.

In July, the government announced rules for censoring the Internet. By a
Sept. 15 deadline, the three local Internet providers installed powerful
computers blanking out some of the sites that showed prohibited pornography
or anti-government material.

Police seized the pictures from Lai's home in July 1995. Laws covering
computer pornography have yet to be drawn up, so the government prosecuted
Lai under a general law against possession of obscene visual images.

Lai's conviction served to demonstrate that the government's Internet
regulations are no idle threat. The Times, a pro-government newspaper,
published Lai's picture on the front page to emphasize the point.

Neither Lai nor police were available for comment.

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-----------------
Robert Hettinga (rah@shipwright.com)
e$, 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA
"'Bart Bucks' are not legal tender."
                -- Punishment, 100 times on a chalkboard,
                       for Bart Simpson
The e$ Home Page: http://www.vmeng.com/rah/

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                          SANDY SANDFORT
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C'punks,

On Wed, 25 Sep 1996, Robert Hettinga wrote:

> 
> --- begin forwarded text
> ...
> Lai Chee Chuen, 41, pleaded guilty Monday to charges of collecting of
> pornographic pictures from the Internet and of possessing Penthouse, a
> magazine banned in Singapore, the Straits Times newspaper reported today.

When I was acting for th--then government owned--Singapore
Broadcasting Corporation, another actor showed me a smuggled in
copy of the Asian edition of Penthouse.  It cost him S$30, about 
US$20.  As tame as it was, it was hot stuff as far as he was 
concerned.  Apparently, the law is only enforced selectively to 
make a point.


 S a n d y

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