Debated in Parliament on 21 Oct 2013.
Mr Pritam Singh asked the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs (a) to date, how many requests for non-public user data has the Government made to Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, Twitter and Facebook without the knowledge of these users; (b) what are the types of information that the Government has asked to obtain, including the number of requests for substantive content, such as emails and Internet chats; (c) whether the Ministry can provide a breakdown of the reasons for requests of user data; (d) if the requests relate to matters not concerning criminal investigations, what are these matters; and (e) what are the safeguards and procedures that the Ministry has put in place so that requests for user data from Internet service companies without the consent of such users are done for legitimate and proper purposes.
As part of the evidence gathering process provided for under the law, law enforcement agencies in Singapore may request information from persons or organisations that will help in their investigations into criminal cases. This may include requests for information to internet companies. Such requests can only be made after an investigation has commenced and the internet company will be informed what offence is under investigation. The request will be properly documented and the information provided by the Internet company will form part of the investigation documents for the case.
Requests for information made to Internet companies by law enforcement agencies are made as and when necessary, in the course of criminal
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investigations and law enforcement. These requests, which follow due process as mentioned earlier, are no different from other requests made in the course of investigations into other organisations or persons, and we do not specifically keep count of these requests. Based on quick checks with the relevant agencies, the number of requests they made to Google, Facebook and Microsoft for the period 2010 to 2012, was a combined total of about 600 requests a year.
These requests were specifically for the purpose of investigations into criminal matters. The majority of the requests were for Computer Misuse and Cybersecurity Act offences, and the rest were for offences such as corruption, terrorist threats, cheating, theft, gambling and vice.
The requests made during the period 2010 to 2012 were all for non-content data, such as account-related data and login details. However, under the law, the agencies may also request for content data if this is required for investigating offences.
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