{"id":13849,"date":"2012-08-13T20:08:46","date_gmt":"2012-08-13T20:08:46","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2012-08-13T20:08:46","modified_gmt":"2012-08-13T20:08:46","slug":"Web-blackout-in-Malaysia-to-protest-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/?p=13849","title":{"rendered":"Web ‘blackout’ in Malaysia to protest law"},"content":{"rendered":"

Malaysia’s prime minister said he would review a legal amendment that critics claim threatens free expression online after they staged a one-day “Internet blackout” today.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Prime Minister Najib Razak, facing mounting pressure ahead of looming elections, said on Twitter that he had asked the cabinet to discuss the controversial new section of the Evidence Act.<\/p>\n

NGOs, bloggers and opposition politicians staged the protest earlier in the day by replacing their homepages with black screens featuring messages attacking the amendment<\/strong>, which went into effect in April despite widespread opposition.<\/p>\n

Critics say under the amendment any web host, provider of a wifi network, or ordinary user of a computer or mobile device can be found liable for any defamatory or harmful content sent via its systems<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Activists have called it an attempt by the ruling coalition government, which has been in power for more than five decades, to clamp down on the Internet<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Najib, who recently pledged to uphold a promise not to curb the web<\/strong>, must call elections by next year against a formidable opposition that gets most of its message out via the Internet due to a government stranglehold on traditional media.<\/p>\n

The government promised in the 1990s not to censor the Internet in a bid to draw in foreign high-tech investment<\/strong>, although authorities are accused of blocking some sites.<\/p>\n

The protest effort has been spearheaded by Malaysia’s Center for Independent Journalism (CIJ), <\/strong>which calls the amendment “a bad law passed in haste and does not take into account public interest and participation”.<\/p>\n

The CIJ and other critics — which have included some figures in the ruling coalition — have called for it to be scrapped or revised.<\/p>\n

The 24-hour blackout was to last until midnight.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Malaysia has long been known for its authoritarian rule but Najib, who came to power in 2009, has launched a campaign to repeal some repressive laws to gain voter support.<\/p>\n

However, the opposition and rights groups have dismissed the drive as a sham<\/strong>, saying that various laws introduced to replace the previous legislation have been little better than the old statutes.<\/p>\n

Can you imagine that here? Total revolution!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Source AP<\/em>
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