The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) has confirmed that it is looking into monitoring technology for the internet. But what it’s for is the subject of considerable debate.
In the 1990s, when setting up what was then termed the Multimedia Super Corridor (which, applicants soon found out was not a corridor as depicted on the map in the lobby of the then headquarters of the MSC but rather some carefully selected “plots”) the Government included what it termed the Bill of Guarantees. Amongst them was “no censorship of the internet.”
That applied to companies registered as MSC status companies. The rest of the country did not enjoy the same privilege. But, because of the benefits of putting the technology in MSC approved premises, it turned out that the whole of Malaysia’s internet was managed through companies with MSC status.
But, and here’s a big but, MSC status lasts for ten years. And for many companies that ten years is coming to an end.
Read more on The Chief Officers’ Network.