Today I was reading an article on The Star titled “Internet users upset over Govt’s filter attempt“. Wow, we always seem to take 2 steps backward for every baby step we take forward. Nice one.

Here is what the report says:

Online and wire agency reports that the Government is mulling an Internet filtering system similar to China’s controversial “Green Dam” project has got the local online community in a huff, while technology experts questioned the viability of the project.

Basically the government wants to implement a system that would block “undesirable websites”. I wonder what would they consider as undesirable. Given the immense popularity of the internet media, I doubt this would go down well with the general public.

The report also mentions that the Information, Communication and Culture Ministry also plans to “secure direct control over the content and monitoring division of Malaysia’s Internet regulator, Reuters quoted a source as saying”. So what this essentially means is that the ministry would effectively know every single move you make on the internet. Instead of making such a drastic move, why can’t the government actually educate people on the harms and ill effects of those “undesirable websites”? After all, every person has the right to make a choice! Are we such immature people that we cannot think for ourselves and our government has to treat us like school children?

Ok let’s say the system does have its merit and is in place, I’m very sure that the situation is going to actually become worse. First of all our “super fast” internet is just going to become worse with all the backend monitoring of data to and fro the servers. Instead of improving the services, the system is actually going to deteriorate it. Not only that, I wouldn’t be surprised if the legitimately good websites are blocked instead of “undesirable websites” – such is the efficiency of any system in Malaysia. Imagine not being able to surf wikipedia but some XXX site instead? That would be hilarious. But not far from reality though.

Shouldn’t the internet medium be uncensored and open? I wonder if blogs with criticisms against the government would be shut down or censored. Blogging has become such a powerful tool that such an action would only backfire if not anything else. There are so many internet filtering software around that users can actually install on their PCs if they are worried about their children surfing porn or other undesirable websites. But this is a choice that people should be allowed to make and not forced down their throat.

In my opinion, this will never work. People are going to be really vocal about this and the government is going to become unpopular with this action. After all, Malaysians are now getting exposed to the latest technology available and almost every single person has a blog, twitter account and a facebook account. Not to mention the numerous chatrooms available as well. This is probably going to be another futile attempt at trying to shut people up which is definitely not going to work. What are your thoughts?

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