I am really shocked after reading this article :
Malaysian Insider : Malaysia mulls ‘Green Dam’ despite China’s failure
Let's put it simply, filtering is a form of censorship. Censorship violates MSC Bill of Guarantees Article 7 that reads "Ensure no Internet censorship". Whether it is to filter pornography or so-called "undesirable websites", it can't be denied it would be considered as internet censorship. Besides, the term "undesirable" is a very vague and subjective term, similar to phrases like "excite disaffection"
Why do we need to study from India, Pakistan, Australia and Hong Kong when we can learn from Canada, Britain, France, Germany, Japan, South Korea ?
Even as we speak, Hong Kongers have begun a campaign against Internet filtering since last year. I'm really curious about the registration of bloggers part. From what I gather, many bloggers need to register themselves with respective free website providers before beginning their own writing.
Another point to take into context is, how does one define a blogger? One can be writing simple articles or music reviews over the net, does one have to register oneself? How about one that writes about cooking, but not in blogspot.com or wordpress.com? How about the other person that writes about drugs and fashion? How about a fellow that writes his opinions and letters on social matters and publish it all over the net?
Would they be considered bloggers too? Not music reviewer, writer, cooking reviewer, drug writer, fashion reviewer? If that is so, would it happen that perhaps people (including non-Malaysians) all over the internet will have to register with the Malaysian government in order for other Malaysians to view their work?
I am very sure people outside Malaysia will not do that for Malaysians.
This may be a serious deterrent to the growth of ICT industry in Malaysia.
Malaysians should be allowed to exercise their freedom in performing self-censorship. I believe it is not necessary for Malaysians to have a Big Brother / Parent Software deciding on what they should or should not view.
If one has sufficient religious conscience to perceive pornographic elements as negative, one would practise restrain from visiting pornographic sites.
As for other forms of "undesirable" sites, I believe Malaysians are able to read, judge and decide on the viability of the contents in those sites. Most Malaysian internet users have had sufficient education for performing such feat.
