Court papers can be served through Facebook, Skype or Internet message boards on defendants who cannot be reached in person, the High Court has ruled.

The first reported case of such a ruling here goes a step further from previous clearance to serve suits via e-mail with the court’s approval.

It happened last month in the case of a professional online gamer who was unable to serve court papers on an Australia-based company director being sued for copyright breaches.

” If the cornerstone of substituted service is efficacy at bringing notice, then a court must be open to substituted service through electronic means other than e-mails,” said High Court Assistant Registrar Zhuang Wenxiong in his judgment grounds.

Substituted service refers to a method of delivering a court document to a person other than in person, such as by publication in a newspaper, posting to an address or via e-mail as approved by the court or authorised by statute.

There did not appear to be any local authority on service through Skype, Facebook and an Internet message board, the assistant registrar noted in explaining his grounds.

The court spat centred on a virtual planet, Planet Arcadia, within an enormous multiplayer game, the Entropia Universe.

Mr David Ian Storey, a professional online gamer and freelance software developer had sued Planet Arkadia, a Singapore firm that develops computer games, its managing director David Dobson and a third company director.

He is alleging copyright breaches of his works that were used both promotionally or in-game without his permission. He also claims there was a breach of contract.

Mr Storey obtained the court’s permission to serve the court papers abroad, but was unable to serve them on Mr Dobson personally at his last known address in Australia.

His lawyers, Andy Leck and Cheah Yew Kuin, then applied to the court for substituted service through e-mail, Skype, Facebook and an Internet message board.

They provided evidence that Mr Dobson operated a Skype account, a Facebook profile and an Internet message board administrator account, in addition to two e-mail accounts.

The Skype and message board accounts showed he was very recently online and the court accepted this as the required evidence for allowing substituted service.

Mr Zhuang said the fear that using such means of service may not be effective in bringing notice to the person to be served “should not be overblown”.

He added that the risk of not receiving notice in substituted service can be curtailed by the court imposing certain requirements.

He said the Rules of Court provided for substituted service to be effected through electronic means and other countries – such as Australia, Britain and South Africa – allowed substituted service through electronic means other than e-mail.

He added: “I construe electronic means to include WhatsApp and other smartphone messaging plaforms linked to mobile phone numbers. “

Lawyers said the judgment grounds showed how the courts have moved on the use of electronic means for substituted service.

“The judgment is a practical one that takes into account technological developments,” said lawyer Choo Zeng Xi.

This article was first published on Jun 10, 2016.
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A 59-year-old woman who was allegedly killed by her maid on Tuesday was a kind boss and an easygoing person, said people who knew Madam Seow Kim Choo at her wake yesterday.

The press was not allowed into her home in Telok Kurau, where her husband was also allegedly stabbed by 23-year-old Indonesian Daryati, who was arrested on Tuesday night.

Mr Ong Thiam Soon, 57, was discharged from hospital and was seen mingling with mourners yesterday. He declined to comment.

A 58-year-old woman living nearby, who gave her name only as Madam Ong, said Madam Seow, whom she had known for over 10 years, was easygoing.

A young woman who came to pay her respects said Mr Ong and Madam Seow were her bosses at a logistics company.

She described both as good bosses and said Madam Seow “takes care of us very much”, in ways such as buying food for staff.

A housewife in her 50s, who said she lived in the house behind Madam Seow’s, described her as friendly. She said they did not know each other well, but would exchange greetings over the wall.

“I would see them in the back, and my flowers would grow over the wall. So I would say, ‘Sorry, I haven’t cut them’. She would say, ‘Oh no need to cut, my maid appreciates your flowers a lot.’ She was very bubbly and nice.”

This article was first published on Jun 10, 2016.
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The first person to volunteer not to have any direct Internet access on his work computer was Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

He took on the challenge at the beginning of the year after security experts advised that it was necessary to shield the public sector’s IT systems from cyber attacks.

Relating his experience yesterday to reporters in Myanmar, where he is on an official visit, PM Lee said: “It’s a nuisance, it takes some getting used to, but you can do it.”

Instead, he has two separate systems, one for e-mail and another for Internet browsing.

“So now if I see a link, see an article, what do I do?”

He would “go through the trouble” of copying down the link into a PDF file that he would “send to the other side” – that is, send to his work e-mail.

He would then access his work e-mail and call up the article.

If he wants to share it with his colleagues, he can forward it via e-mail on his work computer.

“I share it with my colleagues on PDF so that they don’t have to go through the opposite process, send it all the way back out again and then browse for it.”

PM Lee said that he decided to be “volunteer No. 1” in the new approach to fighting cyber attacks, because if he can do it, “then I think there’s a chance it can work” and if he could not, then it might not be a workable option.

From next May, civil servants will no longer have direct access to the Internet from their work computers. Instead, they will have to connect to the Web using a separate computer system. They can also surf the Web using their personal mobile devices.

PM Lee, in explaining the move, noted: “We have become completely dependent on our IT systems… and we have to make sure that our system is secure. We can’t get infiltrated, data cannot be stolen, somebody can’t come in and wipe out your data or cause some other mischief.”

He added: “We’ve decided to do it. Are we happy? I don’t think so, because it will slow us down in terms of day-to-day productivity. In terms of security, safety of our systems, safety of our citizens and information concerning them – it’s absolutely necessary.

“Otherwise one day you find all your NRIC numbers, addresses and income tax returns for sale on the Internet, one package 10 gigabytes. How will the Government explain?”

He said that other ministries, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Defence, already operate in this way.

“For the officers who need to do Internet surfing and track what’s happening in the world – MCI (Ministry of Communications and Information) particularly, but others too – they’ll have two computers and they’ll have to work like that,” he added.

This article was first published on Jun 10, 2016.
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