Over the past two days, conversation on Twitter has mostly centred around the Domain Name System (DNS) redirection order.
Many are angry and they did not mince their words in criticising the government’s latest move.
Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil who was on the receiving end of the bulk of criticism made a suprise announcement on Twitter today.
He has requested the Malaysians Communication and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) to halt the implementation of the DNS redirection.
Isu jenayah dalam talian termasuk akses ke laman-laman web perjudian, persundalan, pornografi dan seumpamanya amat membimbangkan dan memerlukan usaha penyelesaian yang menyeluruh.
Kerajaan tidak akan berkompromi dalam hal ini, demi menjamin keselamatan dalam talian buat rakyat…
— Fahmi Fadzil 🇲🇾 (@fahmi_fadzil) September 8, 2024
This was after he took into account the views expressed through MCMC’s official Twitter account’s engagement series as well as from the general public.
The order required all Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to use public DNS redirection.
“At the same time, MCMC will continue a series of engagements with all stakeholders to obtain views, suggestions and recommendations to ensure that the objective of a safer internet can be achieved together,” Fahmi said.
On Friday, Fahmi defended MCMC’s move which would have seen it being implemented by the end of September.
He told reporters that the rationale behind the DNS redirection was to prevent access to harmful sites, especially pornography and many online gambling websites, as reported by FMT.