Thursday August 28, 2008 MYT 1:52:27 PM
SKMM admits ordering ISPs to block Malaysia Today
By ROYCE CHEAH
PETALING JAYA: The Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission ( Suruhanjaya Komunikasi dan Multimedia Malaysia or SKMM) has confirmed that it had instructed the 19 Internet service providers (ISPs) in the country to block the Malaysia Today website.
When contacted, SKMM chief operating officer Mohamed Sharil Mohamed Tarmizi, who is currently overseas, confirmed the order but declined to elaborate, saying a press conference would be held to explain why action had been taken.
It is understood however that this is not the first time SKMM has ordered a website to be blocked.
It was reported on Thursday that notices to the ISPs were sent out on Tuesday in accordance with Section 263 of the Communications and Multimedia Act.
Section 263 falls under the National Interest Matters part of the Act which states that an SKMM licensee would prevent their facilities from being used in, or in relation to, the commission of any offence under any law of Malaysia.
It also states that upon written request of the SKMM or any other authority, the licensee would assist to prevent the commission or attempted commission of any offence under any written law of Malaysia, including but not limited to the protection of public revenue and the preservation of national security.
Malaysia Today editor Raja Petra Kamaruddin responded by saying that blocking access to his portal was a breach of the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) charter and that he would turn it into "a big issue."
Under MSC Malaysia's 10-Point Bill of Guarantees, it is stated that that Government promised to “ensure no Internet censorship” as part of its commitment to ensuring the success of MSC status companies.
It is understood that only TMnet, the nation's largest ISP, has complied with SKMM's instructions. Other ISPs contacted by The Star have declined to comment.
TMnet users can still access Malaysia Today through a mirror website however.
In the event that MCMC decides to further implement a full blocking of websites or blogs not friendly to UMNO/BN, the followings can be used as an effective way to circumvent internet censorship:
ReplyDelete1. Accessing a mirror site
2. Using a non-censoring DNS-server
3. Using a non-censoring proxy server
1. Access a mirror site
For instance, Malaysia Today can still be accessed at this moment at http://mt.harapanmalaysia.com . Using mirror sites may not be effective as they may start blocking these sites too.
2. Using a non-censoring DNS-server
Change your DNS to OpenDNS server 208.67.222.222 or 208.67.220.220 .
Click http://www.opendns.com for more info on how to set DNS.
3. Using a non-censoring proxy server
(i) Proxy Sites
More effectively, this blocking can be circumvented by surfing through a proxy sites, such as:
http://proxychina.org
http://proxy4china.com
There are many proxy sites available, just google for them.
(ii) Proxy Tunnelling Software
Another better and most effective way to circumvent internet censor is by using Ultrasurf. It is developed by the people against internet censorship in China. It enables users inside countries with heavy Internet censorship to visit any public web sites in the world safely and freely while it automatically searches the highest speed proxy servers in the background.
Download Ultrasurf software from:
http://www.ultrareach.com
http://www.wujie.net/downloads/ultrasurf/u.zip
Then extract the file and run, that's it.
If you are using browser other than IE, then you have to manually change your proxy IP address to 127.0.0.1 with port :9666 .
(iii) TOR and TOR based browsers
For those who are more IT savvy, they can try TOR. TOR based browsers are also available, such as xb Browser and OperaTor. But TOR solution tends to give slower internet surfing experience.
Say NO to internet censorship.