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Malaysian Government Wants Internet Filtering

Posted by Soulskill on from the it's-fashionable-these-days dept.

adewolf tips news that the government of Malaysia is looking into the development of an internet filtering program. According to a Reuters report, "A vibrant Internet culture has contributed to political challenges facing the government, which tightly controls mainstream media and has used sedition laws and imprisonment without trial to prosecute a blogger." The Malaysian government insists that such a filter would only be used to block pornography, though critics of the plan expect it would be wielded as a political tool, censoring websites that are critical of the current administration. "An industry source says the government could impose the filters late this year or in 2010, coinciding with the rollout of a high-speed broadband network run by Telekom Malaysia. Malaysia aims to increase broadband penetration to half of all homes by 2010 as part of its drive to boost economic efficiency."

113 comments

  1. ipv6 by girlintraining · · Score: 1

    Is it too late to note that none of these problems would occur if we adopted ipv6? "Mandatory encryption", being the most obvious benefit.

    --
    #fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
    1. Re:ipv6 by ScytheBlade1 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Erm, there is no mandatory encryption with IPv6.

      The change from v4 that you're thinking of is IPSEC being a first class citizen to the protocol, as opposed to a backported second class citizen in the networking world.

      Not that it doesn't work fine with v4, mind you.

    2. Re:ipv6 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ironically, a high-level Malaysian minister had talked about IPv6 research and adoption as an important milestone for the country's progress. (Can't remember who, that was many years ago.) He was chided for merely parroting technical stuff without knowing what they mean.

    3. Re:ipv6 by venkat20 · · Score: 1

      I appreciate this post..Nice Decision by singapore Government..I have Found the Internet speed test site named as http://www.ip-details.com/

  2. Religion and Internet Filtering by reporter · · Score: 5, Interesting
    Together with Iran and Turkey, Malaysia will soon be filtering its Internet content. The common thread among all 3 countries is that the majority of their citizens are Muslims.

    Approaching this matter from another angle, we see that Vietnam, China, and North Korea censor the Internet. The common thread among all 3 countries is that the majority of their citizens subscribes to Confucianism. Confucianism is a quasi-religion. In it, you are told how and what to think.

    Is there a causal relation? Do the governments of countries inhabitated by strongly, religious people tend to filter Internet content?

    Note that Russia, despite its brutal form of government, does not filter the Internet. You can write whatever you want in an Internet forum. The Kremlin censors mainly television.

    1. Re:Religion and Internet Filtering by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

      Together with Iran and Turkey, Malaysia will soon be filtering its Internet content. The common thread among all 3 countries is that the majority of their citizens are Muslims.

      but what about china and australia.

      thats 5 countries and the internet is still kinda young. this is a trend that is just getting worse.

    2. Re:Religion and Internet Filtering by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Seems to me the "common thread" between all 6 of the countries you mention is their governments fear dissent. There are plenty of Muslim and Confucian majority countries that do not censor the Internet.

    3. Re:Religion and Internet Filtering by basementman · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I think the reason they don't censor the internet in Russia is because the government knows it would get it's ass handed to them by the good citizens of the internet if they did.

      --
      A Magic the Gathering Article and Forum Aggregator
    4. Re:Religion and Internet Filtering by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      You must admit, though, that religion provides a convenient and inexplicably politically-correct excuse for fostering repressive government and xenophobic belligerence.

      For example, we should thank The Family and those like them for the downfall of America.

      Yours in trolling,

      --Ethanol-fueled

      captcha: descends

    5. Re:Religion and Internet Filtering by moon3 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      It has nothing to do with religion. The bigger the country the stakes for government (of any kind) and the involved individuals are higher, the exposure for them is higher, so the urge for control and filtering comes along with it.

    6. Re:Religion and Internet Filtering by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Or just that porno is not acceptable to some cultures.

    7. Re:Religion and Internet Filtering by cmseagle · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      Is there a causal relation?

      CORRELATION != CAUSATION

    8. Re:Religion and Internet Filtering by martas · · Score: 1

      russia doesn't filter the internet, they just assassinate anyone who writes anything that's too troublesome. oh, i'm sorry, i should've said "anyone who writes anything that's too troublesome dies in an accident or under other circumstances completely unrelated to their political stance".

      in soviet russia, only someone with no ability to detect patterns and "coincidences" whatsoever doesn't see the atrocities committed by the government.

      --
      weinersmith
    9. Re:Religion and Internet Filtering by clarkkent09 · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Which Muslim countries do not censor the Internet?

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Internet_blackholes.svg

      --
      Negative moral value of force outweighs the positive value of good intentions.
    10. Re:Religion and Internet Filtering by gullevek · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Erm, Germany is doing this too. Every country will do that. With the reason of Porn, Child Porn or whatever. But at the end it is just to protect the aristocracy, the ruling class, the dictators we always vote for.

      --
      "Freiheit ist immer auch die Freiheit des Andersdenkenden" - Rosa Luxemburg, 1871 - 1919
    11. Re:Religion and Internet Filtering by techno-vampire · · Score: 1
      Do the governments of countries inhabitated by strongly, religious people tend to filter Internet content?

      AFAIK, Italy has no interest in censoring the Internet and it's certainly inhabited by strongly religious people. The same goes for Israel, I might add.

      --
      Good, inexpensive web hosting
    12. Re:Religion and Internet Filtering by SupremoMan · · Score: 1

      What about Germany and Australia... The only common thread between all these countries is the government wants to control its citizens.

    13. Re:Religion and Internet Filtering by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ...The only common thread between all these countries is the government wants to control its citizens.

      ding! ding! ding! ding! ding!

    14. Re:Religion and Internet Filtering by mo0s3 · · Score: 1

      For what it's worth, Brunei, Niger, Mali, Mauritania, Western Sahara, Guinea Bissau, Guinea, Gambia, Djibouti, Lebanon, Kosovo. I know some of those probably don't have the resources to implement heavy censortship but just thought I'd respond to the question. Also there are others that are classified by that as "Under Surveillance" (like Australia) and others classified as "Some censorship" like the USA and the UK. From a cursory glance at that map it seems there are about eight Muslim countries classified as "under surveillance", , and around the same number classified as "black holes". Most of them seem to be classified as "Some censorship," like most of Europe. Two countries in Europe that have "no censorship" are Kosovo and Bosnia. There are 57 Member states in the Organisation of Islamic Conference, although as far as I am aware not all of them have Muslim majorities.

    15. Re:Religion and Internet Filtering by clarkkent09 · · Score: 1

      For what it's worth

      Not much really since those countries are unrepresentative of the Muslim world, and most, as you said, are mostly small and poor and don't have much internet access or facilities to censor it. Kosovo is arguably not a country as only a minority of the world's countries recognize it and it is under international (UN but in reality NATO) rule so it's not up to them, while Bosnia can't be called a Muslim country as only one third of the population are Muslims. On the other hand most of the *major* Muslim countries (not counting the occupied Iraq and Afghanistan) are classified as either black holes or under surveillance. Funnily enough, Australia is the ONLY non-Muslim and non-totalitarian, country that falls under either of those two classifications. Something to think about for you Aussies out there.

      --
      Negative moral value of force outweighs the positive value of good intentions.
    16. Re:Religion and Internet Filtering by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Interesting

      You gotta love how - say - the USA and pretty much all of Europe are partially censored, while, say, Mexico and most of Africa aren't.

      Says a lot really...

    17. Re:Religion and Internet Filtering by donaldm · · Score: 1

      Together with Iran and Turkey, Malaysia will soon be filtering its Internet content. The common thread among all 3 countries is that the majority of their citizens are Muslims.

      It is not just Muslim countries but so called Christian countries as well. The usual excuses are "We want to protect you from child porn", " We need to protect children and young adults (WTF) from inappropriate material" and the best one "Think of the children". Surprisingly if you investigate the people who propose some sort of censorship they will normally be people who genuinely believe they are doing the right thing.

      Two quotes come to mind when I hear about any type of censorship are "The road to hell is paved with good intentions" and "Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely". The only way to combat this infringement of what to me is a fundamental human right is have these people who want censorship investigating a wall covered with graffiti or other such obscene art that people are using for target practice at the time :).

      --
      There ain't no such thing as proprietary standards only proprietary formats. Standards are by definition open.
    18. Re:Religion and Internet Filtering by donaldm · · Score: 1

      Australia is the ONLY non-Muslim and non-totalitarian, country that falls under either of those two classifications. Something to think about for you Aussies out there.

      I have heard some of the people who want this speak, they are very eloquent and I think they genuinely believe they are doing the right thing. The problem is they keep harping on about the evils of child porn to get their point across to the point where you start to look for that monocle or small moustache.

      --
      There ain't no such thing as proprietary standards only proprietary formats. Standards are by definition open.
    19. Re:Religion and Internet Filtering by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      As you can see, not all of them (Check Algeria and Morocco)

    20. Re:Religion and Internet Filtering by kevingolding2001 · · Score: 1

      we see that Vietnam, China, and North Korea censor the Internet. The common thread among all 3 countries is that the majority of their citizens subscribes to Confucianism.

      I think a more relevant 'thread' among these 3 countries is that they are all communist (just as Russia isn't, referring to your last paragraph.)

      So we have religious nut-job countries censoring, and communists censoring! But Australia is also trying to bring in censorship (neither particularly religious or communist).

      Maybe the "causal relation" is just any government without appropriate checks and balances?

    21. Re:Religion and Internet Filtering by JockTroll · · Score: 0

      O RLY? Italy has filtered plenty of gambling sites and doesn't like you watching sports on the internet. Their new laws will make bloggers responsible for each and every comment made by users, too, which will expose each and every loserboy blogger to heavy fines and imprisonment.

      Government do not *like* dissent, they *have* to tolerate it because it doesn't look good if you call yourself a democratic country and then explode heads on live TV. But they will not allow the internet to remain an anarchic medium with (almost) total anonymity and worldwide reachability. They'll turn it into digital TV and there's absolutely nothing you can do to avoid this, because you never bothered to fight your battles in the real world, which is the only one that matters.

      You, the nerds, the losers, the trekkie pedophile geeks, you who thought the 'Net would be your oyster. You, who dreamed of "leading the revolution" with your hollow pursuits, who believed against all reason that the "digital world" would be an alternative to the real one, all the while masturbating in your own feces while watching kiddie porn, are to blame for this.

      That's why we will hunt you down one by one, beat you up and shit on your faces.

      --
      Geeks are so full of shit that "beating the crap out of them" takes a whole new meaning.
    22. Re:Religion and Internet Filtering by janwedekind · · Score: 1

      In Germany this is called "Salamitaktik" (salami attack). Use terrorism (or now child porn) as a litmus test to scare of any opposition. Undo some civil rights. Once the public indignation has dissipated the next hardliner comes forward to implement the next step.

    23. Re:Religion and Internet Filtering by mo0s3 · · Score: 1

      For what it's worth Not much really since those countries are unrepresentative of the Muslim world ... On the other hand most of the *major* Muslim countries (not counting the occupied Iraq and Afghanistan) are classified as either black holes or under surveillance.

      Black holes: Tunisia, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Heavy Surveillance: Syria, Libya, Yemen,Bahrain, UAE, Malaysia, Tajikistan. Fair points about Kosovo and Bosnia, but I don't know what you mean by 'unrepresentative' with respect to the previously listed countries. If by 'major' Muslim countries you mean the ones that make it to the news in the West, then fair enough, they are very restrictive, but if you look at the religious values espoused by the inhabitants of these countries and try come up with which ones are 'representative', you would have to exclude Saudi Arabia and Iran and Bahrain since they follow minority sects and there are wide discrepencies between their beliefs and those of the rest of the Muslim world. Most of the other countries attempt to restrict religious practice in addition to the internet; In Libya and Egypt the type of religion practiced by the people may well be representative of the rest of the Muslim world, but in Libya the government is known to suppress traditional religious scholarship, similar stories in Egypt and Syria, where religious organisations are under heavy surveillance eg all congregations have to register and sermons have to be approved. The Turkic countries are very secularised; beards were forbidden in Turkmenistan, though I think they may have recently lifted that, and most Muslims there do not regularly attend mosques. Uzbekistan is similar in the level of religious practice of its population. In Tajikistan girls in government schools are forbidden from wearing headscarves, and many Mosques have been taken down or converted to other types of buildings. In Tunisia the government restricts the wearing of headscarves by women in public office, and discourages it among the general population. I think a lot of those countries restrict the internet for similar reasons to China; mainly to control the news that gets to their people and cover up injustices by the government.

    24. Re:Religion and Internet Filtering by Lakitu · · Score: 1

      Russia doesn't censor what you write, it just censors the people who write. After the fact. With a gun.

      what are you talking about?

    25. Re:Religion and Internet Filtering by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Muslim countries like Australia and New Zealand.

      It was the Christian-fundamentalist "Family First" party in Australia that pushed for internet filtering.

    26. Re:Religion and Internet Filtering by cpghost · · Score: 1

      Russia doesn't censor what you write, it just censors the people who write. After the fact. With a gun.

      The real joke went like this (back to Soviet Russia times). A Russian and an American meet at an international conference in Switzerland. The Russian boasts: "In the Soviet Union, we have freedom of expression." The American replies: "In the West, we have freedom after we've expressed ourselves."

      Well... how long we'll enjoy that kind of freedom in the West with increasingly draconian copyright, libel/slander etc... laws, I prefer not to elaborate.

      --
      cpghost at Cordula's Web.
    27. Re:Religion and Internet Filtering by cpghost · · Score: 1

      Porn is supposed to be more fun when it is forbidden... Why do you think some cultures oppose it so vehemently?

      --
      cpghost at Cordula's Web.
    28. Re:Religion and Internet Filtering by cpghost · · Score: 1

      For what it's worth, Brunei, Niger, Mali, Mauritania, Western Sahara, Guinea Bissau, Guinea, Gambia, Djibouti, Lebanon, Kosovo.

      Western Sahara is not an independent country and as such doesn't have an own internet connection. It is being administered (or owned, depending on the perspective) by Morocco, which does provide the only internet connection through their national telecom IAM. And yes, Morocco does implement internet censorship sporadically, ironically mostly to block a couple of pro POLISARIO sites... though not every effectively. Should you visit Laayoune, feel free to test the (rather slow) connection there.

      --
      cpghost at Cordula's Web.
    29. Re:Religion and Internet Filtering by Pseudonym · · Score: 1

      You must admit, though, that religion provides a convenient and inexplicably politically-correct excuse for fostering repressive government and xenophobic belligerence.

      The fear of terrorism is far more convenient, don't you think? Greater atrocities were committed in the last decade in the name of "freedom" and "democracy" than most religious fundamentalists could ever accomplish.

      --
      sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f(q{sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f});
    30. Re:Religion and Internet Filtering by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No TRUE Muslim will believe that Allah will abuse Jews or Christians or communities via Quran.

    31. Re:Religion and Internet Filtering by jawahar · · Score: 1

      It has nothing to do with religion.

      It has everything to do with irrational beliefs.

      --
      Slashdot = Sarcasm
    32. Re:Religion and Internet Filtering by nwks · · Score: 1

      According to the map legend black signifies Heavy surveillance. Effective censorship, and splitting hairs I understand. But I live in the USA, so I'm more concerned that my country is not a solid blue. Anyway can we really expect governments, and those private enterprises who's profits depend on placating governments not users to be forthright to the extent of surveillance or out right censorship?

  3. Malaysian Government achieves filtering. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Answer: Google(R).

    So long as I am the filter, they can filter all they want.

  4. Re:Burn, karma, burn. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    What? Malaysia is merely thinking about mandary filtering?
    In Singapore, we already have mandatory filtering since (roughly) 1996!

    (Goodbye, Karma...)

  5. How does that work, again? by NewbieProgrammerMan · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Malaysia aims to increase broadband penetration to half of all homes by 2010 as part of its drive to boost economic efficiency.

    Yeah, I'm sure you'll see a lot of economic efficiency coming from the introduction of an "internet" that's so crippled that you can't find any criticism of the government on it.

    --
    [b.belong('us') for b in bases if b.owner() == 'you']
    1. Re:How does that work, again? by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 3, Insightful

      As much as I'd like to agree with you, it seems to be working out OK (for the moment at least) for China.

      The world would be a much nicer place if it were true; but there seems to be room, with the right techniques, to capture a fair slice of the benefits(quite possibly not all; but a decent portion) with comparatively little of the freedom.

    2. Re:How does that work, again? by Frosty+Piss · · Score: 1

      Yeah, I'm sure you'll see a lot of economic efficiency coming from the introduction of an "internet" that's so crippled that you can't find any criticism of the government on it.

      I'm not sure I see that censoring political criticism will effect Internet commerce... Educate me.

      --
      If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
    3. Re:How does that work, again? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      You're kidding right?

      I've got this strange feeling you've never been to china, or know people living there and definitely haven't used their internet. Considering how big it is, how central it is and it's growth, the internet there is terrible. Especially if you go to access a site hosted there from outside the country.

      Although this is a generalization, I've been to China several times (and I'm a nerd so I'm always online), and I've several friends and family that live there. I know "OK" is a relative relationship, but I would not call their internet, "OK".

    4. Re:How does that work, again? by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 1

      "OK" refers to economic efficiency, not quality of internet access(about which I have no direct experience; but no trouble believing that it sucks). My point was that in spite of considerable censorship of the internet, China seems to be realizing a decent slice of economic advantage.

    5. Re:How does that work, again? by raju1kabir · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Well, in the most obvious way in Malaysia, it prevents people from calling attention to all the problems caused by the corrupt relationship between the government and monopolist Telekom Malaysia. TM provides remarkably bad connectivity at remarkably high prices and manages to maintain iron fist control over the wired last mile for 98% of the population due to a weak regulatory agency (SKMM/MCMC) that spends its time sucking TM's dick instead of doing its job. If people can't shine light on this state of affairs due to political censhorship - and mark my words, that is the single and only purpose of the filtering proposal, porn is a red herring - then there's no hope for change.

      This has already driven away the much-hoped-for internet economy that Cyberjaya was built, at billions of ringgit in taxpayer expense, to host.

      Then there's the simple fact that a filtered internet is a slow and erratic internet. It's true in China and Saudi Arabia and Iran and it will be true here.

      --
      "Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all other countries because you were born in it." -- GBS
    6. Re:How does that work, again? by MichaelSmith · · Score: 1

      This has already driven away the much-hoped-for internet economy that Cyberjaya was built, at billions of ringgit in taxpayer expense, to host.

      Gee I remember driving past that place when I was in KL the first time in 2000. Recently I had to research radiotherapy services for my father in law, who is from Ipoh. I noticed that a lot of equipment is made in Malaysia for export, but it rarely gets used there. I am sure the Government wants their people to be nice productive manufacturers, but to not ask too many questions.

      Over the years I have noticed places which should have taken off big time (Palau Langkawi is one which comes to mind) are not growing much at all. There should be more thinking outside the box.

      My wife's dad, when he was a teacher could never get a passport to travel. His family assumed that this was because he earned money from the Government and they didn't want him to take it out of the country. Maybe it had more to do with not wanting their teachers to be too worldly....

      --
      http://michaelsmith.id.au
    7. Re:How does that work, again? by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 1
      Sites *inside* China are blindingly fast. I went to a lot of trouble to learn specialized Chinese characters (which are rather useless in daily conversation) just to be able to read Chinese bittorrent sites. The government slows down traffic going overseas to make foreign sites less attractive. And don't tell me it's because of infrastructure or distance from the Pacific...BS, Hong Kong and Japan have very well-homed facilities where the only impediment is the speed of light.

      As far as the GP poster's "OK" goes, well censorship is working "OK" to keep the citizenry ignorant of issues that they don't need to know about. For historical comparisons, try wartime censorship in the USA during WWII (i.e., why are we devoting 90% of our effort to fighting Germany when Japan is the one who attacked us?)

      --
      Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
    8. Re:How does that work, again? by raju1kabir · · Score: 1

      China's economic growth is built directly on unprecedented rape of the environment, and on well-precedented rape of its labour force. Both situations are unsustainable; the latter is just part of the same cycle that led to the cultural revolution last century and similar upheavals as you go backward throughout Chinese history. They never lurch that far forward before consuming all their progress in violence and chaos, and there's no reason to believe the present lurch will be any different.

      The internet is at best a triviality in this grand epic context.

      --
      "Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all other countries because you were born in it." -- GBS
    9. Re:How does that work, again? by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 1
      Rape of the labor force led to the Cultural Revolution? WTF dude? The CR was caused by Mao Zedong losing control of the CCP and trying (successfully) to regain control.

      If you actually read any Chinese history, you discover that they regulary destroy themselves. This makes sense when you realize that China is not and has never been an expansionist power. Heck, even Zheng He (that admiral dude before Columbus) only went to see other nations not for colonization, but so that the heathens could be collected so as to properly pay respect to the best nation in the world.

      The only way they have to get free from the past is to destroy their own history. During the CR, priceless Buddhist relics were destroyed, temples razed, university education was denounced as right-wing (and therefore punishable by death penalty, or reeducation camp [which was pretty much the same thing]), and class enemies such as writers and intellectuals were 'airplaned' for the entertainment of the public.

      China's historical reserves, artifacts and sites of interest suffered devastating damage as they were thought to be at the root of "old ways of thinking". Many artifacts were seized from private homes and often destroyed on the spot. There are no records of exactly how much was destroyed. Western observers suggest that much of China's thousands of years of history was in effect destroyed during the short ten years of the Cultural Revolution, and that such destruction of historical artifacts is unmatched at any time or place in human history.

      from Wikipedia English edition, which is not blocked while I'm in America. I'm going right now to save a copy of the Chinese edition of this page, for seditious use when I go back to China. ;)

      --
      Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
    10. Re:How does that work, again? by techno-vampire · · Score: 1
      (i.e., why are we devoting 90% of our effort to fighting Germany when Japan is the one who attacked us?)

      This was because Germany was viewed (and rightly, IMO) as the bigger threat, and the policy was well publicized as "Get Hitler First."

      --
      Good, inexpensive web hosting
    11. Re:How does that work, again? by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 1

      Threat to what, exactly? To the continential United States? That the Wehrmacht would somehow come out of nowhere on landing craft and invade New York City? This when they couldn't even get across 22 miles of water to invade England! So the USA was in mortal danger? As if!!!

      --
      Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
    12. Re:How does that work, again? by raju1kabir · · Score: 1

      Rape of the labor force led to the Cultural Revolution? WTF dude? The CR was caused by Mao Zedong losing control of the CCP and trying (successfully) to regain control.

      Take a step back. The cultural revolution was the culmination of a movement which was able to gather critical mass because the labor force had been so miserably treated under the incumbent feudal regime. I used the word "rape" figuratively of course (though it does apply literally as well).

      --
      "Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all other countries because you were born in it." -- GBS
    13. Re:How does that work, again? by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 1

      Huh? The 'incumbent feudal regime' was deposed in 1949, decades before the CR. Right-wingers (and suspected right-wingers) were regularly imprisoned and executed. The movement was nothing other than Mao getting back into power using the only lever available to him, the Red Guards (i.e. stupid youth who knew nothing other than what's fed to them...for modern examples see apeish idolation of Eminem, N.W.A., G.W. Bush's religous police who condemned American citizens to Gitmo, Last Poets, Run DMC, etc. The only ones 'raped' during the CR were the workers themselves, who suffered horribly. Funny thing, that: the workers have to die to extirpate the sins of the educated - ever seen that trope before?

      --
      Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
    14. Re:How does that work, again? by BitZtream · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I love how apparently no one can communicate without the Internet.

      You realize people dealt with this soft of problem before the Internet existed right? People actually ... talked to each other ... rather than twiting it up or facebooking.

      Contrary to popular belief, the Internet is not a requirement to life, you can live without it and do pretty much everything you need to do.

      I don't want filtering either, but you're just pushing your own political agenda rather than actually caring about the problem.

      --
      Persistent Volume manager for Kubernetes - https://github.com/dwimsey/openshift-pvmanager
    15. Re:How does that work, again? by techno-vampire · · Score: 1

      No, Germany was the biggest threat to our allies Britain and Russia. And if you don't think Germany could ever have defeated Britain, consider the Battle of The Atlantic. Don't be more of a fool than you have to.

      --
      Good, inexpensive web hosting
    16. Re:How does that work, again? by raju1kabir · · Score: 5, Insightful

      You realize people dealt with this soft of problem before the Internet existed right? People actually ... talked to each other ... rather than twiting it up or facebooking.

      People can talk to the people they know, and the people in their community, sure. But that is very limiting:

      • No possibility for anonymity
      • Limited number of viewpoints
      • Limited access to externally verifiable information

      The internet has transformed politics in Malaysia, by bringing people all over the country together based on their shared views rather than based solely on whom they happened to live nearby. It's allowed people to have open, frank discussions that previously they would only be able to have with their closest confidants. It's allowed facts and evidence to be brought to general public attention which would previously have been squelched by the BN-owned mass media.

      Of course humans can survive without the internet. But in my mind there is no question that it has enabled a transformative level of communication which we are only beginning to see the full impact of.

      --
      "Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all other countries because you were born in it." -- GBS
    17. Re:How does that work, again? by raju1kabir · · Score: 1

      The cultural revolution was the crowning abuse in a tragic sequence that began with the rise of the communist party. The rise of the communist party is the consequence of the previous social order, an order which is rapidly being recreated today.

      I don't see the point of continuing this hair-splitting game in which every statement I make is attacked for not including ten paragraphs of context which should be obvious to anyone who has paid the remotest attention to China. Yes, you read some book or whatever, congratulations, I kowtow to you.

      --
      "Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all other countries because you were born in it." -- GBS
    18. Re:How does that work, again? by donaldm · · Score: 1

      I suggest you read some modern history on this. One of the main reasons that Nazi Germany never invaded England was he fact that Germany needed air superiority however they did not know how close they came to achieving it and the burning desire of Hitler to invade Soviet Russia above all else. The possible invasion of America was not even a priority although the German submarines had a field day with coastal US shipping in the early weeks just after the US entered WW2.

      Even the Japanese had no real intention of invading the US during WW2 since the main thrust of the Japanese attacks was to secure most of SE Asia including the Philippines and Indonesia as well as forcing the US to negotiate an end to hostilities which would be more favourable to the Japanese. Of course this did backfire but it cost many American and Japanese lives.

      --
      There ain't no such thing as proprietary standards only proprietary formats. Standards are by definition open.
    19. Re:How does that work, again? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Speaking as an impartial observer...

      1. You lost the debate.
      2. And it's not because of your lack of skills.
      3. You lost it on the facts.

      If I were you, I would just say, "I was wrong. My apologies."
      That will actually win me some respect. Going your, "yeah yeah you're partially right, big deal if you look at it this way I was more right" only makes you look bad.

    20. Re:How does that work, again? by raju1kabir · · Score: 1

      1. You lost the debate.
      2. And it's not because of your lack of skills.
      3. You lost it on the facts.

      I honestly don't see how. What's the fact that's in question here?

      Did, as I claimed, the feudal system set the scene for the communist revolution?

      Did, as I claimed, the communist revolution lead to an escalating series of atrocities, culminating with the most famous and easily identified, the cultural revolution?

      Is the Chinese economy today, as I claimed, heading back toward the same pattern of sharp divisions between owner and worker classes that kicked off the cycle most recently in the 1940s?

      If I were you, I would just say, "I was wrong. My apologies."

      If you look back over my long and dull Slashdot career, you'll see that I do say that when I'm wrong. I like to learn, and one of the best ways to learn is to confront your own mistakes. Here I simply don't see it. As far as I can tell, I am being vexed by a nitpicker who is so blinded by his desire to show off some irrelevant bit of knowledge he has (about the proximal rather than ultimate cause of the cultural revolution) that he is unable to see the context of my argument.

      If there's a reason I "lost", it's because I haven't let this go long ago, and keep responding in this thread like a nincompoop.

      --
      "Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all other countries because you were born in it." -- GBS
    21. Re:How does that work, again? by Wowsers · · Score: 1

      It's a cunning productivity drive. Without places to moan about the government, you have lots more time for your work, rather than posting to web forums.

      --
      Take Nobody's Word For It.
    22. Re:How does that work, again? by xaboo · · Score: 1

      Think in terms of public accounting and freedom of the press. Accounting - If investors have a more transparent view of the companies they want to invest in, they can minimise risk and increase investor confidence. Now, if the news is filtered, how does that effect consumer confidence and commerce? I for one will avoid the untrustworthy. freedom of the press - systems are improved through feedback (critical analysis). The free press can provide this feedback if unhindered by political agendas. Additionally, the press can expose corruption. Corruption undermines any type of free trade, Internet commerce included.

    23. Re:How does that work, again? by Lurkingrue · · Score: 1

      FWIW, I think you won, Raju. Your argument was pretty clear, and I think D-a-B was confused or something. S/He seems to think that Mao was somehow the cause of the CR without thinking how Mao was able to get that power in the first place. Sorta like saying a bullet was the cause of a murder, without looking at the person pulling the trigger.

      The AC spontaneously declaring victory was just... weird. Kinda like Bush stating "Mission Accomplished", when it obviously wasn't.

      Ok... well... er...

      Now what?

      I guess, let's all let it go?

    24. Re:How does that work, again? by Lurkingrue · · Score: 1

      I'm sure that the folks who didn't want to adopt the automobile over horses, and those who spurned the telephone in favour of older forms of communication espoused similar views.

    25. Re:How does that work, again? by raju1kabir · · Score: 1

      I guess, let's all let it go?

      Thanks, sounds good to me!

      --
      "Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all other countries because you were born in it." -- GBS
  6. they should try to filter the sky... by npgmr · · Score: 1

    as a first step towards world domination... and leave a mark on history to tell the rest of the world how someone spend another multi-million tax payer money on a project destined to fail on delivery.

  7. To all countries invovled in censorship... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Kiss my ass.

    1. Re:To all countries invovled in censorship... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Alternate Olympic Logo (NSFH - Not Safe For Health)

  8. Isn't this an oxymoron? by Artifakt · · Score: 4, Funny

    Seems kind of self contradictory - increased penetration and less pornography.

    --
    Who is John Cabal?
    1. Re:Isn't this an oxymoron? by martas · · Score: 1

      there comes a point when increased penetration turns pornography into smut. i've seen it. it ain't pretty.

      --
      weinersmith
    2. Re:Isn't this an oxymoron? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There is not much penetration when you're not interacting with other people.

  9. Malaysian government has already backed off by erice · · Score: 4, Informative

    http://www.reuters.com/article/companyNews/idUKKLR48361520090807

    1. Re:Malaysian government has already backed off by raju1kabir · · Score: 1

      Every year the government holds a meeting to plan its latest net censorship scheme, then every year the internet industry people leak it out to their big clients who create an uproar and then it gets quietly put away for a while.

      Sooner or later they'll adjust their strategy and sneak it through. Recently we had our first major political censhorship incident when SKMM tried to block heroic gadfly website Malaysia Today, but backed down after a couple weeks when it became clear they could not keep up with the flurry of mirrors that appeared, and when Malaysia Today's readership soared in the face of all the attention the ham-handed move caused. BN politicans tend to be quite stupid (the party's power dynamics select for it) but over time even the stupidest can succeed when backed up by enough force and enough deliberately under-educated voters.

      --
      "Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all other countries because you were born in it." -- GBS
    2. Re:Malaysian government has already backed off by Copernicus1234 · · Score: 1

      Good. I hope the Internet will always remain free and uncensored, but there are powerful interests out there that wants to censor it to remain in control of the information flow. They are going to say that its for the best interest of the people that the Internet needs to be regulated. That there is no way for regular people to know what information is trustworthy and which is not. Instead, they want to be the ones telling people what information to trust. I hope we never, ever, get there but there is a big risk we will. Corporations dont want anonymity on the web for example, its no good for them.

    3. Re:Malaysian government has already backed off by Viceice · · Score: 1

      I hate to tell you this, but they already have.

      For instance, if you compare Streamyx's DNS and another DNS, say OpenDNS, certain sites are stricken from Streamyx's DNS, which everyone is conveniently told to use.

      --
      Sometimes I wish I was a plumber, then I'd know how to deal with other people's shit.
  10. This is bad for everybody by CranberryKing · · Score: 1

    Filter content how? Just to their own end nodes or everything that passes through? There is no way to know how a government initiative to do this will be implemented. One would have to assume that if they thought certain content was inappropriate for their own citizens, they wouldn't want anyone else to access it either. When I am in Thailand, and connecting to someone in Indonesia, if my traffic routes through Malaysia, will they filter it?

    1. Re:This is bad for everybody by raju1kabir · · Score: 1

      Filter content how? Just to their own end nodes or everything that passes through? There is no way to know how a government initiative to do this will be implemented. One would have to assume that if they thought certain content was inappropriate for their own citizens, they wouldn't want anyone else to access it either. When I am in Thailand, and connecting to someone in Indonesia, if my traffic routes through Malaysia, will they filter it?

      In no case would it affect through traffic (e.g. from Indonesia to Thailand, though I doubt much of that traffic comes through Malaysia anyway; Malaysia's link to Thailand is puny and Thailand has direct connections to exchange points in Singapore and Hong Kong). Nobody who's not bound by Malaysian law would pay anything for transit filtered by Malaysia.

      From what I've heard behind the scenes, it would be implemented by ISPs and not affect corporate clients. There are multiple international links controlled by different companies (Telekom controls the cable landing stations but for technical reasons that's not an effective place to impose traffic filtering) so a decentralised approach would be necessary in any case.

      --
      "Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all other countries because you were born in it." -- GBS
  11. Hi kettle, this is pot... by DustoneGT · · Score: 1

    flag@whitehouse.gov - why apply blanket censorship when you can selectively harass the important opponents?

  12. There's a simple solution to this by oracle128 · · Score: 1

    Kill The Malaysian Prime Minister!

    1. Re:There's a simple solution to this by raju1kabir · · Score: 1

      Kill The Malaysian Prime Minister!

      He'll kill you first; that's the one thing he does well. He already had Altantuya Shaariibuu and Teoh Beng Hock taken care of; you don't want to be next.

      --
      "Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all other countries because you were born in it." -- GBS
    2. Re:There's a simple solution to this by oracle128 · · Score: 1

      But I bet he has no defence against Blue Steel.

    3. Re:There's a simple solution to this by raju1kabir · · Score: 2, Insightful

      We wouldn't know; that movie was banned in Malaysia.

      Of course the government has no problem with the endless movies that depict assassinations of other heads of state, but even a joke about Malaysia and the petulant UMNO children pulling the strings behind the censor's office go haywire. Ironically, in the process, they make Malaysia into more of a joke than ever.

      --
      "Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all other countries because you were born in it." -- GBS
    4. Re:There's a simple solution to this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The good news is, he did not learn everything from his father, who waged genocide back in 1969 in order to put pressure on the first Prime Minister (today, PM=Professional Murderer is more accurately discriptive, but i digress) to resign and pass the rulership to him.

    5. Re:There's a simple solution to this by oracle128 · · Score: 1

      Wow, talk about WHOOSH.

  13. Aww, c'mon... by Anachragnome · · Score: 1

    Could we just stick to submitting stories about countries that DON'T want to censor the internet?

    It would be a lot simpler.

    I'm willing to venture that most of the readers here pretty much assume they all want to anyways...

  14. Good old Telekom Malaysia by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 4, Informative
    I was on a project with Telekom Malaysia back in '01, went to Kuala Lumpur for a month. Random observations, in no particular order: Telekom is pretty good, other than falling for my company's crappy spiel about our product that barely worked and which could bring an E10000 to its knees with a load of 100 messages per minute. KL was a pretty modern place, with big buildings, good restaurants, shops, etc. The ringgit was set at 4.25 to the dollar (the explanation was that it had protected the Malay economy against George Soros' currency manipulation that helped to cause the Asian Financial Crisis.) This had the odd effect that all the prices were generally what I would expect in America, only 4.25 times less. A plate of [whatever] plus fries and drink at the mall food court would be 5.75, only in local currency, not in dollars (this was back when the USD was actually worth something overseas.) KL was also my first experience with Asian fake markets...hell yeah I came back with a suitcase full of CDs and Kung Fu VCDs (I didn't have a DVD player or DVD drive at the time IIRC.) The bars there sucked, but I suppose that comes with the territory, being an Islamic country and all. I mean, I wouldn't expect the bar scene in Cow's Asshole, Alabama to be thriving, either. There were ads in the newspaper for apartments and jobs, specifically listing the religions, ages, and sexes of the people eligible to apply. Seriously, the ads would say something like "30 sq meters, private bath, window with good view of sunset, unmarried Muslim girls 18-30 only, call 03-77445678." This was quite shocking to me coming from America, with its history of rigidly enforcing civil rights, at gunpoint if necessary. But Malaysia has rigid enforcement if its religious laws - every citizen's national ID card has a field where it says "religion". A friend of mine related this anecdote: he was in Malaysia to visit the factory, at some restaurant somewhere with the factory people. The factory manager got a tap on her shoulder from the waiter, and she had to go up to the front of the restaurant. She was gone for some time, which caused my buddy to become concerned. She returned in due course, explaining that the JAWI (religious police) came into the restaurant, and she had left her ID card in her car. She had to go all the way out and get it, to prove that she was a Hindu, and therefore not subject to jail for eating during daytime (it was Ramadan at the time of his visit). The JAWI apologized and said that she looked Muslim.

    I'm not surprised a country like this has decided to join China by firewalling the outside world. They have a lot to lose (by their standards) and little to gain (again, by their standards) by allowing unfettered access. And since post-modern thought says that there is no truth, only differing points of view, who can disagree with this decision? No matter how you come down on the censorship debate, there is always another equally valid point of view on the opposite side.

    --
    Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
    1. Re:Good old Telekom Malaysia by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Gee...thanks a lot. Now I know who to blame for our shitty internet connections here. You peddle rubbish while our ISP (who has a monopoly on the market) is too stupid to know any better.

    2. Re:Good old Telekom Malaysia by raju1kabir · · Score: 4, Interesting

      The bars there sucked, but I suppose that comes with the territory, being an Islamic country and all. I mean, I wouldn't expect the bar scene in Cow's Asshole, Alabama to be thriving, either.

      FWIW, the bar scene in KL is much better these days.

      JAWI (religious police) came into the restaurant, and she had left her ID card in her car. She had to go all the way out and get it, to prove that she was a Hindu, and therefore not subject to jail for eating during daytime (it was Ramadan

      There was a funny article in the newspaper a few years back where they interviewed (and showed photos of) a bunch of Chinese people who looked sort of Malay-ish, getting them to share their stories of being harassed during Ramadan. Some said they just gave up and ate indoors, others wore giant crucifixes, others turned around and got pre-emptively aggressive with the lunch police.

      --
      "Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all other countries because you were born in it." -- GBS
    3. Re:Good old Telekom Malaysia by gnapster · · Score: 1

      And since post-modern thought says that there is no truth, only differing points of view, who can disagree with this decision?

      Anyone who does not accept post-modern thought as sound and infallible.

  15. Following AU's disappointing lead, here...? by ivi · · Score: 1

    Australia went through an embarrassing run up the filtering road "to protect children"

    Lots of silly examples of inadvertantly (or intentionally, you decide) blocked safe sites
    have already been published, arising from that boondoggle..

    Now, nearby Malyasia wants to follow in AU's dusty trail...?!?

  16. Openness and the underdog by mcrbids · · Score: 1

    In any competetive environment, it's often to the advantage of a sitrong underdog to support open standards at the expense of a strong, closed competitor. Microsoft is all about compatibility in a field when they aren't top dog.

    Russia is in a similar position - they are not a leader in Internet technology, unless you include their legendary mafia, where they excell. Why would they want to regulate when they stand to profit by bilking the wealthy Americans?

    Perhaps even more than in America, the Russians have institutionalized corruption

    --
    I have no problem with your religion until you decide it's reason to deprive others of the truth.
  17. HELLO HI by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    HI AM CHEIF TECHNOLOGY MINISTER
    for small nation state who is looking for expertise in helping establish a internets watchering protocol for wathcing our people in their peacful democratic lives. we hope that this internets filtering technology
    can integrate with our bedroom CCTV technology we have installed such that we can have uploads of CCTV bedroom footage as they go about their peacful tranquil democratic.
    we also want to migrate our nantional government it infrastructure to 'distributed storage' on your distributed service you call conflicker.
    i would like to to know how to download footage from our nations fornication justice system onto my ipod
    i ask slashdot community it to help in using ask.slashdot to get the community to help. because out technology experts not so good we couldn't figure out ask.slashdot so we asking posting
    anonymousely.
    you will help our democracy advice and such.

  18. This would be true if..... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ...had the prime minister not made a statement the next day assuring the country that such steps would NOT be taken.

    http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/8/7/nation/20090807143305&sec=nation

    KUALA LUMPUR: The Government will not censor the Internet as such a move will be ineffective in a borderless world where information flows freely, said the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

    He said that it would also lead to dissatisfaction among people.

    He was responding to reports that the Information, Communication and Culture Ministry had called for a tender for an Internet filtering system.

  19. Racial discrimination in Malaysia ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    There are other reasons why the Malaysian governement want to filter Internet traffic. To stop what they might consider to be embarrassing news getting out.

    Here is an excerpt of an e-mail recently sent to me by a Malaysian friend. The word "bumis" mentioned several times in the e-mail refers to Bumiputras - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bumiputra - basically Malays, as opposed to other (non-Malay and usually non-Muslim) Malaysians.

    --- excerpt begins ---

    Discrimination of Non-Malays in Malaysia

    Plain racists as PAS said. .

    This list is a common knowledge to a lot of Malaysians, especially those non-Malays (Chinese, Ibans, Kadazans, Orang Asli, Tamils, etc..) who have been racially discriminated against.

    Figures in this list are merely estimates, so please take it as a guide only. The government of Malaysia has the most correct figures. Is the government of Malaysia too ashamed to publish their racist acts by publishing racial statistics?

    This list covers a period of about 48 years since independence (1957).

    List of racial discriminations ( Malaysia ):

    (1) Of the five major banks, only one is multi-racial, the rest are controlled by Malays.

    (2) 99% of Petronas directors are Malays.

    (3) 3% of Petronas employees are Chinese.

    (4) 99% of 2000 Petronas gasoline stations are owned by Malays.

    (5) 100% all contractors working under Petronas projects must be of Bumis status.

    (6) 0% of non-Malay staff is legally required in Malay companies. But there must be 30% Malay staffs in Chinese companies.

    (7) 5% of all new intake for government police, nurses, army, are non-Malays.

    (8) 2% is the present Chinese staff in Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF), a drop from 40% in 1960.

    (9) 2% is the percentage of non-Malay government servants in Putrajaya, but Malays make up 98%.

    (10) 7% is the percentage of Chinese government servants in the entire government (in 2004); a drop from 30% in 1960.

    (11) 95% of government contracts are given to Malays.

    (12) 100% all business licensees are controlled by Malay government, e.g. Taxi permits, Approved permits, etc.

    (13) 80% of the Chinese rice millers in Kedah had to be sold to Malay controlled Bernas in 1980s. Otherwise, life is made difficult for Chinese rice millers.

    (14) 100 big companies set up, owned and managed by Chinese Malaysians were taken over by government, and later managed by Malays since 1970s, e.g. UTC, UMBC, MISC, etc.

    (15) At least 10 Chinese owned bus companies (throughout Malaysia in the past 40 years) had to be sold to MARA or other Malay transport companies due to rejection by Malay authorities to Chinese applications for bus routes and rejection for their applications for new buses.

    (16) Two Chinese taxi drivers were barred from driving in Johor Larkin bus station. There are about 30 taxi drivers and three were Chinese in Oct. 2004. Spoiling taxi club properties was the reason given.

    (17) 0 non-Malays are allowed to get shop lots in the new Muar bus station (Nov. 2004).

    (18) 8000 Billion Ringgit is the total amount the government channeled to Malay pockets through ASB, ASN, MARA, privatization of government agencies, Tabung Haji etc, through NEP over a 34 years period.

    (19) 48 Chinese primary schools closed down from 1968 - 2000.

    (20) 144 Indian primary schools closed down from 1968 - 2000.

    (21) 2637 Malay primary schools built from 1968 - 2000.

    (22) 2.5% is government budget for Chinese primary schools. Indian schools got only 1%, Malay schools got 96.5%.

    (23) While a Chinese parent with RM1000 salary (monthly) cannot get school textbook loan, a Malay parent with RM2000 salary is eligible.

    (24) All 10 public university vice chancellors are Malays.

    (25) 5% of the government universities' lecturers are of non-Malay origins. This percentage has been reduced from about 70% in 1965 to only 5% in 2004.

    (26) Only 5% has been given to non-Malays for government scholarships in over 40

  20. Xbox was the underdog by tepples · · Score: 1

    Microsoft is all about compatibility in a field when they aren't top dog.

    Then why did Microsoft include a lockout chip in its original Xbox in an era when Sony was top dog and Nintendo was #2? A lockout chip reduces the compatibility of a platform with applications developed by students, hobbyists, and small businesses.

  21. Bill of Guarantee by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Im Malaysian. This new rule violates Malaysia's Bill of Guarantee no 7. http://www.mscmalaysia.my/topic/MSC+Malaysia+Bill+of+Guarantees

    They should amend this bill first before making new rule.

    1. Re:Bill of Guarantee by gnapster · · Score: 1

      Thank you for sharing that, but I hope that you do not stop at telling us: raise awareness in your own country, too!

  22. All governments want internet filtering. by John+Hasler · · Score: 1

    Fortunately, there are a few that can't have it.

    --
    Warning: this article may contain humor, sarcasm, parody, and perhaps even irony. Read at your own risk.
  23. not news by shentino · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Call me out of hibernation once we find a government OPPOSED to internet filtering...

  24. First, they came for ... by Zarluk · · Score: 1

    "First, they came for the pornogrphers...
    as I was no a pornographer, I didn't speak out..."

    I guess you know the rest...

  25. political challenges... by nurb432 · · Score: 1

    Is porno?

    Umm okie.

    --
    ---- Booth was a patriot ----
  26. This isn't just muslim or confucious countries by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Australia, the UK, Canada, and other countries have censorship systems in place, "just for pornography." But an effective system, once in place, will find uses nobody counted on.

  27. Pornography by HTH+NE1 · · Score: 1

    The Malaysian government insists that such a filter would only be used to block pornography, though critics of the plan expect it would be wielded as a political tool, censoring websites that are critical of the current administration.

    Yes, like they said: pornography.

    When you work without a definition, only knowing it when you see it, you can label anything that way.

    (Yeah, I know the original usage by SCOTUS was for defining obscenity.)

    --
    Oh, say does that Star-Spangled Banner entwine / The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's vine?
  28. How bout USA? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I don't see no filtering there...

    1. Re:How bout USA? by shentino · · Score: 1

      ...yet...

      We already have corporations playing favorites and giving p2p the shaft.

      The RIAA is already pushing for ISPs to police their networks, and lobbying for insane damages.

      If corporate interests get their way, what freedom we do have will evaporate.

  29. Stop giving governments power over us by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It is time to take government to the next level.

  30. nokia and siemens by shnull · · Score: 1

    did it for Iran so maybe they can get another phat contract there ... maybe siemens and nokia should just move to the middle east if they condone shit like that

    --
    beware he who denies you access to information for in his mind, he already deems himself to be your master (SMAC-ish)
  31. That is called .... by jotaeleemeese · · Score: 1

    ... progress ... errr, uhm, forget about it.

    --
    IANAL but write like a drunk one.
  32. I am Mexican.... by jotaeleemeese · · Score: 1

    .... and was requested several times to show my ID by the lovely Malaysian religious police while committing the hideous possible crime of eating a burger in McDonalds (I am not joking).

    --
    IANAL but write like a drunk one.
  33. You should be modded up. by jotaeleemeese · · Score: 1

    Other delicious tidbits:

    - Mosques get official funding while Chines temples or other religious buildings get none.

    - The government (Malay dominated of course) counts non Muslims in East Malaysia (check a map) as Bumiputra, which although ethnologicaly may be correct, it is a scam: native people in Borneo are not Muslim, but adding them to the Bumiputra population helps Muslims to claim they are the majority.

    - Although enshrined in Malaysia's constitution, freedom of religion does not exist: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lina_Joy

    Honestly, Malaysia is a place that George Orwell would have been proud to have invented...

    --
    IANAL but write like a drunk one.