SPs not restricting access to online portals, says commission

(THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) – Internet Service Providers (ISP) have not been restricting access to local online portals, according to the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC).

“Preliminary investigations indicate no such restrictions by ISPs as alleged by certain quarters,” it said in a statement on Thursday.

It said network congestion could have caused users to experience difficulties in accessing the sites, adding that there was an increase in traffic for election-related articles.

“There are several possibilities that could affect quality of service, such as issues relating to network routing and capacity constraints due to an increase in the number of people accessing those particular websites,” it said.

Online news sites such as Malaysiakini have alleged that their sites have been restricted by local ISPs, adding that users were unable to view their pages.

The news portal also claimed that it suffered from distributed-denial-of-Service (DDoS) attacks in recent weeks.

MCMC Head of Strategic Communications Sheikh Raffie Abd Rahman said that it received only one official complaint so far – from Umno Online on Apr 29.

He added that MCMC was still waiting for an official complaint from Malaysiakini on the matter.

He said MCMC was investigating the allegations and advised the public “not to jump to conclusions”.

The MCMC said ISPs could be charged under the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 if they were found to have unlawfully restricted access. It had advised ISPs to “step up” their network security levels two weeks prior to avoid service disruptions.