According to SKMM’s website, the Commission has the power to “implement and enforce the provisions of the communications and multimedia law”, “regulate all matters relating to communications and multimedia activities not provided for in the communications and multimedia law” and to recommend reforms to existing law.

SKMM is clearly a powerful organization and if a document uncovered by Wirawanweb.com is authentic (and it appears to tick all of the necessary boxes), its considerable muscles have just been flexed against online copyright infringement.

The memo, titled ‘Request For Action Under Section 263(2) of The Communications and Multimedia Act CMA 1998‘ (the legislation that gives SKMM its powers) appears to order all of Malaysia’s ISPs to immediately block a number of high-profile file-sharing related sites, as listed below:

- http://www.warez-bb.org
- http://thepiratebay.org
- http://www.movie2k.to
- http://www.megavideo.com
- http://www.putlocker.com
- http://www.depositfiles.com
- http://www.duckload.com
- http://www.fileserve.com
- http://www.filetube.com
- http://www.megaupload.com

“The above-mentioned URL/Web Address has been found by Ministry of Domestic Trade, Co-Operative & Consumerism (KPDNKK) to be in contravention of law in Malaysia,” says the memo, which is signed by Acting Senior Director of the Digital Security Services Division, Eneng Faridah Iskandar.

Breaches of Section 41 of the Copyright Act 1987 are being cited by SKMM as the grounds for the blocks, legislation which has been used against a number of Malaysia-hosted file-sharing sites in the past.

During 2008 and 2009, SKMM ordered webhost Shinjiru to take several torrent sites offline due to Section 41 breaches including Superfundo, LeechersLair, Extremebits and Rapthe.

The memo’s content and particularly its timing appear to have come as a shock to many Malaysian Internet users. Speaking at the 1st Malaysian-ASEAN Regional Bloggers Conference in April 2011, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak vowed that his administration would never censor the Internet.

However, SKMM has previously made it clear that in their opinion there is a difference between censorship and upholding the rule of law.

“The Malaysian legal system provides that there is no censorship of the Internet by virtue of Section 3 (3) of the Communications and Multimedia Act (CMA) 1998,” the organization said in an earlier statement.

“However, the SKMM would like to remind all Internet users that content that is illegal offline is also illegal online and other laws in Malaysia are applicable regardless of platform and can deal with the various types of offences which are committed via the Internet or any other mobile applications.”

As part of SKMM’s ‘Vision and Mission’ statement, they promise to provide “transparent regulatory processes” so hopefully a full statement on the blocking decision will be delivered in due course.

Despite the memo being dated 30th May, not all ISPs have initiated the block of the sites in question.

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.

Earlier in the week we reported on the plight of LeechersLair. Launched in 2006, the BitTorrent tracker has around 20,000 members who enjoy all the usual content.

Not at the moment though since the Content, Consumer and Network Security Division of the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (SKMM) ordered Shinjiru, LeechersLair’s webhosting provider, to close down the site citing a breach of Section 41 of the Copyright Act 1987. Shinjiru complied immediately and took the site offline.

And now they’ve shut down SuperFundo too. As an open indexer, SuperFundo doesn’t have a tracker of its own, so perhaps this is a more unusual target for the anti-pirates. Nevertheless, the claims are that SuperFundo breaches the Copyright Act 1987. The site admins weren’t exactly given long to take action either;

You are required to resolve the illegal activities issues within 1 hour after this warning notification. TMNet has the right to block this IP if there is not any notification from your side within this one-hour timeframe.

Plenty of time to sort everything out, then. But never fear, admin at SuperFundo told TorrentFreak that the site will be back, asap. LeechersLair will be back too, as soon as they have secured another host in a different country.

In the meantime the message is pretty clear – Malaysia shouldn’t be on the top of anyone’s torrent hosting list.

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.

When BitTorrent sites get into legal trouble or other pressures force a move to a new location, the speculation begins on the safest place to go.

For instance, would a site bail out of the Netherlands and move to Canada? Is Canada too dangerous now, and would a move to Sweden be more appropriate? What about moving to Ukraine-based hosting like Demonoid or further afield – China or Russia maybe? Inevitably, discussions usually involve ideas of moving sites east, to countries like Malaysia. Fairly high-tech countries like this seem an attractive proposition, particularly given their government’s track-record in failing to do much about piracy.

Given this background, BitTorrent tracker admins with their sites hosted in Malaysia were confronted by a very unpleasant surprise today. An administrator from a well known tracker contacted TorrentFreak this morning with worrying news, he told us: “Malaysia’s government suddenly forced all torrent websites to shut down today until further notice, a complete surprise to torrent admins and the offshore hosting companies in Malaysia.”

The news was given to this and other site admins, via an email from their hosting provider, which indicates the action has been ordered down from a high level. The email informs the admins that their servers have been suspended by the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs, under the Copyright Act 1987. As the request came from the government, the host makes it clear they had no choice but to shut down the site. Among the affected sites are Extremebits, Rapthe, Superfundo and several others. According to sources, although torrent sites have been taken offline, other sites dealing in pirate material have also been suspended after the government decided to act on mounting copyright-related complaints.

Prominent Malaysian host Shinjiru confirmed the closures, telling TorrentFreak: “We can confirm that this is accurate. We had enforcement officers from MDTCA visiting the office to confirm the closure of BitTorrent sites hosted on our network. We will comply to all shut down instructions from the local authorities or agencies with warrants or documents.”

Update: Contrary to comments from a site admin, sources close to the situation are saying the shutdowns are limited to a small number of sites and aren’t necessarily part of a wider crackdown, despite government involvement.

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.