More than 150 Singapore websites and blogs blacked out their content yesterday in protest against the Government's controversial new rules for licensing online news sites. Under rules announced by the Media Development Authority (MDA) last week, sites which put up Singapore news regularly, and with at least 50,000 unique visitors from Singapore every month, have to apply for an individual licence and put up a $50,000 bond. Academic Director of SMU Executive Development Michael Netzley said the online community might be "a bit too quick to pull the trigger" in its protests. He said: "While I also share strong concerns about the excessively broad language of the MDA announcement, I do feel the authorities have made great effort to clarify and we should give them a chance to do what they say they are going to do." However, Dr Netzley lauded people's interest and expression of opinions, saying that “the alternative of civic apathy is far worse”.