This surprises me - "this has been a condition placed on hosts...". Could you enlighten us as to which [and I'll try to be precise here] other IETFs had a condition where the content accessible by the IETF network was markedly different from the content of say the network at a local Starbuck's equivalent wifi hot spot just down the street from the IETF and where that was mandated by the hosts and/or local laws?
A basic issue that seems to distinguish a number of venue concerns is whether constraints are state-imposed or are only the choice of the local site operator. Negotiating variations for site-imposed constraints is fundamentally different and fundamentally more problematic (or impossible) than for state-imposed ones.
As far as I'm aware, Beijing has been the only venue where Internet access issues ran into state-imposed restrictions.
If I've heard folk correctly, that distinction seems to be the essence of what is being expressed against Singapore.
d/ -- Dave Crocker Brandenburg InternetWorking bbiw.net