GE13 Censorship of Online Media in Malaysia
Monitoring of online censorship during Malaysia's 13th General Elections in Malaysia
- Type
- Monitoring and documentation
- Status
- Closed
| Start Date | 2013-05-02 |
| End Date | 2013-05-10 |
Project Activity Details
This page is being constantly updated with information on blocked urls and workarounds for users. Last update: 2013-05-05 07:35
User Guide by Brian Ritchie on several ways to workaround net censorship:
FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/notes/brian-ritchie/update-bypass-malaysian-internet-censorship-step-by-step/10151556028437141
Webpage: http://brianritchie.me/devops/bypass-my-internet-censorship-step-by-step
YouTube
When you try to view a YouTube video, your browser will make 3 requests to stream the video from different servers. It will usually start playing from the fastest servers. If the server is on a network controlled by an Internet Service Provider (ISP) employing content filtering, then you will not be able to view the video.
- Sinar Project analysis
- Colin Charle's blog post listing threads at LowYat.net
- LYN Uncovered the Truth; Our internet is monitored, BN BLOCKING SOME PKR/DAP RELATED STUFF! https://forum.lowyat.net/topic/2795754
- LYN YouTube Deep Packet Inspection https://forum.lowyat.net/topic/2794929
Workarounds
- The packet filtering is not 100% effective at the moment, and after a period of 90-120s the videos will sometimes start. This may change at any time.
- Enter the URL into ProxFree http://www.proxfree.com (make sure the YouTube link is http and not https when submitting into the input box)
- For more technical users, using a VPN or proxy on unaffected networks which may be getting results from different uncensored YouTube servers will work. Currently those on P1 and TIME networks are not affected.
Known list of blocked urls
- 505 Blackout - 47% PM, PLEASE RESIGN. EC, PLEASE RESIGN https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=EtVgzCQ5x9E
- PRU13: Tragedi Flashmob berdarah di Ipoh https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qurP_8XkFZY [Working alternnative links: http://vimeo.com/65459579 , raw footage of incident not blocked yet https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7e-qhBIDd0]
- Malaysiakini - Isteri PI Bala: Kami betul-betul macam pelarian - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVWxB4AWOxc
- Malaysiakini - Isteri PI Bala: Apakah salah berkata benar? - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHTz22bTBRw
- VideoDAP -Dalang sebenar Mei 13 dibongkar oleh Dato' Mohd Tamrin Ghafar - http://www.youtube.com/watch?&v=uI7xB3d2rNA (Source Lowyat.net Forums)
- 《Go By Heart》- Kepada Penyokong Barisan National, Sila Dengar & Tengok dengan Hati - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KfA4U8h1_aw (Source: Lowyat.net)
- Ubah VS Big Mama 乌巴大战阿Jib Gor https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jQuCRcdbVM
Packet filtering
Similar to the videos, packet filtering is being applied to check for text such as hostname headers, video ids and urls to block/delay access to sites. This filtering is done on unencrypted http requests (http not https in your browser).
Known list of blocked urls
- DAP Malaysia - http://www.facebook.com/DAPMalaysia (Multiple sources)
- We Fully Support DAP/PKR http://www.facebook.com/supportprdap (Source: LowYat.net Forum post by doiwl)
- We Want to Change http://www.facebook.com/wewantochange (Source: LowYat.net Forum post by doiwl)
- 忠政快讯 http://www.facebook.com/zzkuaixun (Source: LowYat.net Forum post by doiwl)
- 民主行动党 http://www.facebook.com/DAPMalaysia.zh (Source: LowYat.net Forum post by doiwl)
- Ubah.tv
- pru13.info
Workarounds
- Secure https requests are not being blocked at this time. Enable secure mode for FaceBook
- Install HTTPS everywhere for your Firefox and Chrome browsers https://www.eff.org/https-everywhere
On-line Media
- Malaysiakini has been under various form of denial of service measures http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/228203
- Semparuthi.com Tamil News site has been under DDOS [Currently redirects to their official FaceBook page as workaround measure]
- Utusan.com.my (May 8th) not accessible by an ISP except TMNet (in Malaysia)
Workaround
- Access using secure https://www.malaysiakini.org or http://www.mkini.co
- Visit their FB page as source of news updates.
Other sources of information and workarounds
http://brianritchie.me/devops/bypass-my-internet-censorship-step-by-step including listing of several VPN services you can subscribe to bypass ISPs and use an encrypted connection from outside Malaysia.
