13 August 2009

TODAY
Xin.sg
MediaCorp’s News Reporting Team
Channelnewsasia.com
MediaCorp Website Content

Dear Editors,

Response to MediaCorp broadcasts and Today report on "Personal data on search directory" (News, p g 6, 12 Aug 2009)

We refer to your news article 'Personal data on search directory', published in TODAY, News, page 6, dated 12 August 2009. A similar report was broadcast on 11 August 2009, on News 5 Tonight, Channel 5 and World Today, Channel NewsAsia, and a similar article can also be found online on the Channel NewsAsia website at http://www.chan
n elnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/448207/1/.html.

Rednano.sg provides the People search service, just as many other print and online directory providers do, to enable Singaporeans to extend their visibility, socially and professionally. Our online service also aims to help small local businesses at no cost to them. Other than some key particulars, we allow users to add or subtract from the details listed. Property agents, for instance, who specialise in certain districts, and have their offices nearby, will want to be listed with their office address as well as their contact details. Small business owners operating from SoHo units can also use our People search service for free.

We would point out that when CNA journalist Imelda Saad contacted us for comments on the matter on 11 August 2009, she refused to provide us with the name of the single person whom she spoke to for her TV and print reports about his previous listing in the People search section of rednano.sg. And this was despite our several requests for the same. This refusal prevented us from fully investigating the matter and handicapped our ability to respond to he r queries.

Now that we finally know who she spoke to, it should be noted that while Mr Chua Kim Cheng appeared upset in Ms Saad’s report about his particulars being available online through Rednano, he did not appear to highlight or complain that his name, telephone number and address were (and still are) freely accessible elsewhere, online as well as in print. Or if he did, Ms Saad did not report this, and neither did she check out other websites or print sources which carry Mr Chua’s name, telephone number and address. If she had done so, she would have realised that these details are available via these other sources and that there was nothing confidential about Mr Chua’s particulars, as is alleged in her news reports.

While it may be true that common law rules may protect the confidentiality of an individual’s personal data, this can only be true if the information is in fact confidential. If the individual’s personal data is already in the public domain, it ceases to be confidential, and the individual’s consent to use the data is also not required. We would therefore dispute the accuracy and completeness of her quote from MICA that “a company would be breaching common laws covering privacy if it did not get the individual’s consent to make public his or her personal particulars”.

We would therefore ask that you address and correct the matters referred to above by way of publishing this letter via the appropriate media.

Thank you.

Yours sincerely
James Ong

Marketing Communications Manager
SPH Search Pte Ltd