THE Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) has defended its instructions to Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to redirect Domain Name Service (DNS) traffic that uses third-party DNS servers back to their own DNS servers.
But some political figures from the PKR are raising their objections to the DNS redirection.
Altimet or Syed Ahmad Syed Abdul Rahman Alhadad, the Selangor State Legislative Assembly member for Lembah Jaya tweeted that the instruction is draconian.
He added that there are other ways to protect vulnerable groups from online content, signalling possible significant adverse effects to the digital economy.
“We as a nation are trying to cultivate further. This is not the best way forward. I disagree with this decision,” he wrote.
1) it is draconian.
2) there are other ways to protect vulnerable groups from online content.
3) possible significant adverse effects to digital economy that we as a nation are trying to cultivate further.This is not the best way forward. I disagree with this decision.… https://t.co/oTUpPzuZgO
— Altimet.eth (@altimet) September 7, 2024
Nevertheless, the MCMC stated today that the claims of the measures being draconian were false.
“It is falsely claimed that this is a draconian measure. This is for the protection of vulnerable groups from harmful content.”
MCMC also said it is inaccurate to claim that it is a blanket ban.
Some sources are saying that legitimate websites have been made inaccessible because of DNS redirection.
“Websites are only blocked when they are found to host malicious content,” added MCMC.
As a commitment to protecting the safety of Internet users, MCMC has blocked a total of 24,277 websites between 2018 to Aug 1, classified into various categories, which are online gambling (39%), pornography/obscene content (31%), copyright infringement (14%), other harmful sites such as unregistered product sales, incitement and defamation crimes (12%), prostitution (2%) and unlawful investments/scams (2%). –Sept 7, 2024