Online Life in Singapore · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Decent broadband Infrastructure and  familiarity with online technologies makes Singaporeans avid experimenters of emerging technological trends. It is not uncommon to find Singaporean blogger topping Technorati's listing once every couple of months and Singapore based meetup groups often have more members than the ones from bigger cities. Second Life, the three dimensional virtual world created by Linden Labs is fast becoming the new hangout of Singaporeans.  Rinaz, a Singapore resident on Second Life posted a video tour of her home in Second Life
Kevin at theory.isthereason wrote an introduction to Second Life in response to a post about Linden Lab's CTO visiting Singapore on Singapore's blog aggregator Tomorrow.sg.
I personally see these metaverses as the “New Web”. Since Second Life is ever-changing thanks to constantly user-generated content, SL makes the case where it exists as the most feature rich multi-user virtual environment (MUVE) I’ve seen so far. It’s applications have gone into the realm of education, research (e.g. sociology, psychology), business, etc. Still, SL isn’t the “be all end all”. Just as when Mosaic first gave us the means to experience the visual web, I see Second Life as giving us the first glimpse at a tangible online social space. There should be more competition in this genre in time to come.
Vantan blogs about and posts images from the first  “in-world” Singapore Second Life gathering.
Earlier this month, a teenager was charged in Singapore for using his neighbor's wireless internet connection. Unprotected wifi hotspots are so common in Singapore that people just log on the network they find.  Anglejean initiated a discussion on Tomorrow.sg
This is because piggybacking has been so common since the start of wifi-networking that everyone thinks that it is ok to piggyback – even from the bus stop while waiting for the bus! Now that prosecution has started, what constitutes “trespassing”? What kind of proof is needed then?
Izreloaded responds with a post that asks wireless network owners to secure their networks.
So now we know that we can get caught by the police if we piggyback. But three years jail for piggybacking? This is absurd. I don't think we need any more legislation regarding this matter. And the punishment doesn't fit the crime committed.
What we really need is education. People who subscribed to wireless internet access in their homes need to know the importance of securing their network. Many are just ignorant about this. Most don't even know that their networks can be secured or know how to do it. And when they find out that others are stealing their bandwidth, they get upset and in this case, complain to the police.
Residents in select areas of Singapore may not have to resort to piggybacking as the government itself plans on providing free wifi access for two years.