The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) has instructed Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to redirect Domain Name Service (DNS) traffic that uses third-party DNS servers back to their own DNS servers

MCMC has blocked a total of 24,277 websites between between 2018 to Aug 1, classified into various categories, which are online gambling (39 per cent), pornography/obscene content (31 per cent), copyright infringement (14 per cent), other harmful sites (12 per cent), prostitution (two per cent) and unlawful investments/scams (two per cent).

“It has been falsely claimed that the measure undertaken by MCMC is a draconian measure. We reiterate that Malaysia’s implementation is for the protection of vulnerable groups from harmful online content.

  • Possibly linux@lemmy.zip
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    7 days ago

    Good luck blocking DNS over https. Doing so would require a lot of work. It is sad to see countries going the authoritarian route. This is just the start and it will get worse.

    Maybe Tor would be better

    • pHr34kY@lemmy.world
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      8 days ago

      I have configured my home router to redirect all plaintext DNS traffic through it. I did it because Chromecasts try to sidestep DNS and go straight to Google.

      While doing that was a couple of lines of nftables config, blocking DoH would require an actively maintained list. Even then, it would be trivial to host your own by renting some server space.

  • stuckgum@lemmy.ml
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    8 days ago

    Some time ago the Malaysian government denied access to Steam over one religious video game. Yes the whole platform over one game. So this looks like a case of the government being dumb as usual.

  • kbal@fedia.io
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    8 days ago

    It has been falsely claimed that the measure undertaken by MCMC is a draconian measure

    While it may be unclear exactly what kind of Internet traffic laws Draco would’ve written, allowing only the major landowners to run DNS servers does seem to be in keeping with the spirit of “aiding and legitimizing the political power of the aristocracy and allowing them to consolidate their control of the land and poor” as his laws are said to have done.

    • Annoyed_🦀 🏅@monyet.cc
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      8 days ago

      I use VPN, can’t be bothered with DNS anymore because i know they will pull this move.

      Also it’s really just a mask for easier censorship, as Malaysia had tried it before, censoring site like news site that report on government scandals, news site that focus on LGBT reporting, Fanfic, Medium, and even Steam.

        • sunzu2@thebrainbin.org
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          8 days ago

          Always has been.

          Why would you accept paying some telco merchant for service only to have them sell your data for more money 🤡

          At some point people got to start punishing parasites. Hurt their profits 🐸

  • GolfNovemberUniform@lemmy.ml
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    3 days ago

    It has been falsely claimed that the measure undertaken by MCMC is a draconian measure. We reiterate that Malaysia’s implementation is for the protection of vulnerable groups from harmful online content.

    You don’t need to ban privacy reapecting DNS services to ban specific websites. It’s made just for spying.

  • sunzu2@thebrainbin.org
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    8 days ago

    How is this different from US ISP bootstrapping peasant grade internet?

    The sun will run this headline for Malaysia but nobody run these headlines for the US.

    I wonder why

    Edit: if you are going to downvote at least explain if you got a counter point, otherwise it seems y’all just butthurt haha

    • trevor@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      8 days ago

      Yes. The US is also authoritarian. Yes, there is a clear media bias when it comes to the headlines that western media outlets are willing to run. In particular, painting non-western countries as more authoritarian than the US (which is sometimes true).

      It’s valuable to point this out. Dog knows the shitty media bias bots used in other communities won’t.

      However, the overall tone of your comment seems to suggest that it’s okay for non-western governments to do authoritarian bullshit, just because the US does. I trust that wasn’t the point of your comment, but I assume that’s why some may not take kindly to it.

      For what it’s worth: my instance disables down votes, so I literally can’t down vote posts I disagree with.

      • sunzu2@thebrainbin.org
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        8 days ago

        As an American I found it clown to see UK sun run this trash when my own ISP is doing something similar and took me extensive research to figure wtf was going on few years back.

        I don’t support some clowns in Malaysia doing their but it doesn’t matter to me, what matters to be is that 1) my corpo daddy is colluding with daddy Sam to do do it; and 2) my fake news would never run such a headline.

        Point of my post is to educate mostly US and western audiences that our dearest regimes are doing this to do today.

        Tone is an artistic touch, it is provocative maybe it will get people going and start asking questions.

        It is only shot post so I understand why people would push back and that’s good, conversion is being had on the topic.

    • Buelldozer@lemmy.today
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      8 days ago

      Edit: if you are going to downvote at least explain if you got a counter point, otherwise it seems y’all just butthurt haha

      Okay.

      How is this different from US ISP bootstrapping peasant grade internet?

      1. Whatabout-ism is annoying AF.
      2. How is nationwide re-configuring of DNS to enable censorship different than “bootstrapping peasant grade internet” is a dumb question on it’s face.
      3. I’m sitting in the middle of Wyoming sending this comment via a 2Gb/s fiber optic connection. This is not “peasant grade”.

      So basically you are getting downvoted because your comment is irrelevant 'Murica bashing.

      Now you know.

      • sunzu2@thebrainbin.org
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        8 days ago

        My internet being bootstrapped by ISP is very much relevant especially considering that most of Lemmy is US based and likely doesn’t know what their ISP does

        But thanks for being honest

        • Buelldozer@lemmy.today
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          8 days ago

          My internet being bootstrapped by ISP…

          Seriously, what does “bootstrapped” mean in this context?

          • sunzu2@thebrainbin.org
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            8 days ago

            ISP will hijack unencrypted DNS request made by your router for your “safety”

            In practice they log your DNS queries and sell this data.

            • Buelldozer@lemmy.today
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              8 days ago

              Okay that I’m aware of but I’ve never heard of it referred to as “bootstrapping”. Thanks for the explanation.

  • MigratingtoLemmy@lemmy.world
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    8 days ago

    These guys ever heard of Mozilla and good old ECH along with DoH? Just lol at these noobs.

    And if the Malaysian government wants to try fucking with American tech they’ll get what’s coming for them

    • refalo@programming.dev
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      8 days ago

      Actually they’re smarter than you… they know they don’t need to brainwash every single citizen, only the ones gullible enough to fall for it, which is the vast majority of the population.

      Only even 5% of the world population has objectively good computer skills according to OECD.