Gerald Giam on building an inclusive and safe digital society
Singapore is at a critical juncture in the battle against scams and its actions will reflect its commitment to protecting its citizens in the digital age, said MP Gerald Giam in Parliament on Wednesday (Jan 10). He said banks must significantly increase their responsibility towards consumer protection, including reviving the use of physical tokens. He called on the Monetary Authority of Singapore to take a more active role in ascertaining accountability and supporting consumers, instead of delegating the process to banks. He also pointed to a “discrepancy” in the levels of punitive action taken against banks for service outages versus scam cases. Mr Giam added that tech companies must be held more liable for securing their platforms and devices against scams. For example, all handsets sold in Singapore should be required to disable side-loading of apps by default and make it difficult for users to override critical security features. Social media platforms should be required to have processes in place to remove fraudulent posts soon after being notified. Mr Giam asked that the Online Criminal Harms Act be fully operationalised without further delay. Finally, he said a central anti-scam agency should oversee and be ultimately accountable for the Government’s anti-scam efforts.
Singapore is at a critical juncture in the battle against scams and its actions will reflect its commitment to protecting its citizens in the digital age, said MP Gerald Giam in Parliament on Wednesday (Jan 10). He said banks must significantly increase their responsibility towards consumer protection, including reviving the use of physical tokens. He called on the Monetary Authority of Singapore to take a more active role in ascertaining accountability and supporting consumers, instead of delegating the process to banks. He also pointed to a “discrepancy” in the levels of punitive action taken against banks for service outages versus scam cases. Mr Giam added that tech companies must be held more liable for securing their platforms and devices against scams. For example, all handsets sold in Singapore should be required to disable side-loading of apps by default and make it difficult for users to override critical security features. Social media platforms should be required to have processes in place to remove fraudulent posts soon after being notified. Mr Giam asked that the Online Criminal Harms Act be fully operationalised without further delay. Finally, he said a central anti-scam agency should oversee and be ultimately accountable for the Government’s anti-scam efforts.
