The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) announced that they have blocked a total of 10,423 websites for violating various laws from 1 January 2022 to 1 August 2024, to help curb crimes such as human trafficking, child exploitation, the sale of banned substances like drugs, and other organised crimes.
Bernama reports that 95.7% of these blocked websites fell into five primary categories: online gambling (4,484), pornography (3,271), copyright infringement (1,654), scams or illegal investments (316), and prostitution (249).
The MCMC highlighted that the highest number of website blocks for harmful online content was recorded in 2021, with 6,571 blocks.
However, this number has shown a downward trend, with 2,127 blocks recorded up to August 2024.
To ensure the effectiveness of these blocks and keep up with technological advancements, the MCMC is committed to working closely with local service providers to enhance and strengthen preventive and protective measures, including Domain Name System (DNS) management.
“MCMC’s collaboration with service providers ensures a safer online environment, thereby safeguarding users across all levels,” MCMC said.
A few days ago, we reported that Sinar Project found out that Maxis and TIME are redirecting DNS queries intended for Google and Cloudflare public DNS servers, preventing users from accessing websites blocked by the MCMC.
Sinar Project cautions that such redirection can pose security risks, potentially leading users to unauthenticated sites and resulting in the possibility of data interception.
But MCMC stated that these efforts align with the 10 National Policy Objectives under the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998, which include ensuring information security, reliability, and network integrity.
The MCMC also stressed that a whole-of-nation approach is required to avoid bypassing available protection mechanisms, which could negatively impact individuals and families, particularly teenagers and children.
