Monday, September 9, 2024 Malaysia’s regulator defends a plan to reroute web traffic through local DNS servers, aiming to protect users from harmful content, raising concerns over censorship. Malaysia’s communications regulator has defended a new directive requiring local telecommunications companies to route web traffic through their own domain name system (DNS) servers. The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) stated that the measure, set to take effect on September 30, is intended to safeguard users from harmful online content.
The announcement has raised concerns, even among some members of the ruling party, over the potential for increased online censorship and its possible impact on Malaysia’s burgeoning digital economy. DNS, a system used to translate website domain names into numerical addresses that computers use to locate websites, plays a crucial role in how internet users navigate the web. While many internet service providers (ISPs) operate their own DNS servers, some users prefer public DNS servers, like those provided by Google or Cloudflare, to improve internet speeds or access content blocked by local ISPs.
Under the new plan, user requests directed to public DNS servers will be rerouted to those operated by Malaysian ISPs. The MCMC has denied claims that the move is overly restrictive, insisting that the goal is to protect vulnerable users from harmful content, including online gambling, pornography, copyright violations, phishing,.