Analysis: Malaysia’s botched web rerouting plan shows it must be more transparent, ‘better prepared’ on new internet policies

Dr Shafizan acknowledged that the move was part of Malaysia’s broader goal of exerting its “internet sovereignty”, used to describe how many governments are trying to challenge the “western ideals” of a free and open internet.

“These governments mostly argue for the right to impose specific rules and regulations that shape the internet in a way that aligns with their cultural and societal values,” the communications lecturer said.

She noted that Malaysia might have opted for DNS redirection as a “less obvious” way of blocking access to certain websites, in that users trying to access these websites could have gotten a loading error instead of a censorship notice.

“From a liberal democratic perspective, it can be considered draconian because it allows the government to dictate what the public can and cannot access, infringing the basic rights of freedom of speech and information,” Dr Shafizan added.

“The government can effectively filter and block content, which enables them to shape public opinion by managing the information available to citizens.” 

PRIVACY AND SECURITY 

Project Sinar’s Mr Numan said Indonesia employs a similar method to block websites, especially those related to political dissent or content deemed inappropriate.

Indonesian ISPs intercept user queries and either redirect them to a block notification page or simply return no result, making the content inaccessible, he said.

While the technical methods used by different countries might vary slightly, they all have the same goal of disrupting free access to information, Mr Numan said.

“These blocks, whether through DNS hijacking or other techniques, can cause widespread disruption to legitimate online services, as seen in cases where major platforms and services like YouTube and GitHub have been blocked in Indonesia and India,” he said.

Mr Numan highlighted that DNS rerouting could also impact user privacy as it allows ISPs and governments to intercept and log users’ DNS queries, exposing their browsing activity and the websites they attempt to access.

“In addition, security risks arise from DNS tampering. Redirecting users to unauthorised or fake websites can lead to exposure to malicious sites designed to steal personal data or spread malware,” he added.

“This disruption of the integrity of DNS can lead to a breakdown in trust between users and the internet infrastructure they rely on.”

VPN WON’T BE BANNED

One internet user told CNA he is losing trust in how the government is handling moves to make the internet safer, calling the abandoned DNS plan “another short cut policy” it was trying to implement in haste.

Mr Khairi Zulfadhli, head of digital at a Malaysian search engine optimisation consultancy, said he found out about the move through social media after his clients who used Cloudflare servers experienced disruptions.

“One thing that made me very disappointed is that they (MCMC) left it to ISPs to implement the order without any guidelines, no stakeholder engagement, no manual, no discussion at all. Then, they tried to blame ISPs when (problems) happened,” he said.

Mr Khairi was giving his observations from attending an MCMC engagement session on Sep 9, which the authority said was held to correct perceptions and gather expert feedback on the DNS issue following the policy U-turn.