Malaysia Wants To Filter The Internet, But Swears It Won't Be Used To Stop Political Dissent
from the yeah,-sure... dept
Malaysia's government has had something of a love-hate affair with citizens and opposing politicians using blogs and other social media to protest the government -- and has even sent opposition bloggers they don't like to jail. So, you can imagine the concern when the government announced plans to install widespread internet filters modeled on China's fault "Green Dam" software. Not surprisingly, the government officials back the plan insist it won't be used against political targets, but just obscene material. Opponents find that hard to believe. Even if (and it's a big "if") that's the intent of the government, having it be so easy to "accidentally" start blocking opposition sites is probably too tempting for many.
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Malaysian Politics
Most Malaysian citizens I spoke with in late 2009 didn't feel that the government currently had too heavy of a hand in terms of controlling free speech, but were concerned that it wouldn't take much provocation for the government to start a crackdown on the Internet and bloggers. I got the impression people felt it was the government's duty to control "sin", and felt that giving up some freedom of speech was worth the cost if it could control the harm of the sex trade and pornographic material.
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Re: Malaysian Politics
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Backing Off?
The Register is reporting (last para) that the Government is now backing off after protests.
Amazing—democracy actually works, after all. :)
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Internet Filters
For example, they may install a filter at work to prevent "Cyberloafing". Or a parent may want to install and internet filter in order to keep their kids focused on homework instead of surfing the web. Also, filters are used to block porn
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