Product News 2 min. read

How to Gain Unrestricted Access to News Sites in Singapore

How to Gain Unrestricted Access to News Sites in Singapore

Do you frequently catch up with current news events? Is there a particular news website that you visit to read all of the latest stories? Well if you’re in Singapore—or any other country that blocks certain online content for that matter—you may not have access to your favorite site.

Access is denied notice on a notebook

Singapore’s Policy

In May, Singapore introduced its new Internet policy that aims to limit the amount of news outlets that report local affairs. These News Sites are required to obtain specific individual licenses to continue running on the web through the government’s Media Development Authority (MDA).

The MDA also requires a bond of 50,000 Singapore dollars—roughly 39,000 US dollars—from all annual sites and insists that any “prohibited” content will be removed within 24 hours.

The Internet Giants’ Reaction

Let’s just say that Singapore’s decision to introduce this new online-news licensing rule did not go unnoticed—although they probably wish it did. Major Internet giants such as Google, Facebook, eBay, Salesforce.com and Yahoo, in fact, communicated their extreme dissatisfaction with this order of news regulation.

The combined forces, also known as the Asia Internet Coalition (AIC), as reported by Yahoo News on Wednesday, sent a letter stating their concerns to the government last month. The AIC claims that this new system “could unintentionally hamper Singapore’s ability to continue to drive innovation, develop key industries in technology space and attract investment in this key sector.”

The decision about whether this action is a reasonable government policy or rather detrimental to Singapore’s development is not up to me to decide. However, I can offer you a solution to this issue.

The Solution: Your own VPN (Virtual Private Network)

Using this simple product, not only can you visit your favorite blocked news sites, but you can also gain access to other sites such as your favorite music, movies, social media, etc. The VPN, essentially, allows you to bypass Internet restrictions such as Singapore’s news site filters by acting as a host to a private IP address. Nobody knows who you are, where you are from, or what you are doing!

Aside from protecting your personal identity, a VPN also secures your passwords, credit card information and banking information from hackers or eavesdroppers. Whether you are living in Singapore, traveling to Singapore, or just want to protect yourself, a VPN is an easy and simple solution to protecting and saving your personal Internet freedom.

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