The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) seems to have confirmed reports that it has been quietly working with ISPs to redirect traffic from alternative DNS providers back to local DNS servers, preventing users from accessing web sites blocked by the MCMC.
Last week, the Internet Monitoring Action Project (iMAP) claimed in a report that Malaysian ISPs had implemented transparent DNS proxy, which redirects DNS queries to Google Public DNS and Cloudflare back to local DNS servers.
According to the report, data collected by Sinar Project via the Open Observatory of Network Interference (OONI) app, as well as DNS query results, ”confirmed that a few Malaysian ISPs were implementing a transparent DNS proxy that redirects DNS queries to Cloudflare and Google DNS servers, and these ISP servers are transparently returning MCMC block server address instead of those served by Google and Cloudflare.”
The iMAP report specifically names Maxis and Time as using Transparent DNS Proxy to prevent access to alternative DNS services. A followup report by news site Soya Cincau found that U Mobile, CelcomDigi and Telekom Malaysia’s Unifi are also using Transparent DNS Proxy to force redirection to local DNS.
The result: users cannot use Google Public DNS and Cloudflare to get around censorship of web sites blocked by MCMC.
The MCMC issued a statement on Thursday that did not specifically mention the iMAP findings, but did say it is “working closely with local service providers to improve and strengthen prevention and protection measures, including in the Domain Name System (DNS) management aspect.”
The MCMC reiterated that it is authorised under the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 (AKM 1998) to block access to web sites that violate Malaysian law and “protect the people, especially those vulnerable to online harm”.
The MCMC also said it has blocked a total of 10,423 web sites deemed illegal between January 1, 2022 and August 1, 2024. The regulatory agency also said that 95.7% of those sites were involved in activities such as online gambling, pornography, copyright infringement, online scams and prostitution.
The MCMC also said that restricting access to web sites also helps to combat “human trafficking, child abduction, the sale of prohibited substances such as drugs, and other organized crimes.”
However, the MCMC has also been criticised for temporarily blocking websites unrelated to such activities, such as election results site Undi.info, investigative journalism website Sarawak Report and blogger site Medium.
According to Soya Cincau, the MCMC’s latest DNS move “has raised concerns and criticism as it could be seen as potential censorship and restriction of freedom of speech if such measures were to be abused.”
The DNS proxy reports also come just as the MCMC has proposed a new framework that requires social media and OTT messaging services in Malaysia with more than 8 million users to obtain a class licence for application service providers.
The MCMC says the licencing scheme is necessary to combat the rise of scams, online gambling, cyberbullying and deepfake videos on social media sites. Social media companies and civil society have expressed concerns about the government potentially abusing the framework for political purposes.
