Computer crime

Computers and microprocessors (collectively, called computers) are so much a part of daily life that many fraud crimes are committed using computers or with the aid of computers.

The Singapore government recognised the importance of info technology and passed a statute, the Computer Misuse Act in 1993, despite a nominated Member of Parliament writing an article that argued against any special legislation on computer crime. Instead, he argued, existing laws should be modified or interpreted to cover computer crime.

My view on the other hand is that specialised laws were needed for several reasons -

• to make the laws on this area easy to understand,
• to save time and problems in trying to deal with non-purpose drafted laws, and
• to send a signal of the government's strong stance against computer crime.

Later posts will deal with issues of computer crime.