It is impossible to require all Malaysian Facebook users to register with the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) as suggested by some people, said Communication and Multimedia Minister Ahmad Shabery Cheek.

 

“To register Facebook (accounts) is impossible because it is not registered here but in servers across the world. It is beyond our jurisdiction.

 

“It is impossible it do the registration, especially since we have 15 million accounts. To tell kids as young as eight years old to queue up and register with the identification (documents), that is quite impossible,” he said when met by reporters today.

 

He added that it is also impossible to ban the social networking website, and clarified that he or the government had never suggested that it should be banned.

Impracticalities aside, Shabery said he is not in favour of banning Facebook because most Malaysians and Malaysian businesses are already comfortable using it.

Nevertheless, he said he is compelled to study the issue when some groups lobbied for stricter internet controls, which would inevitably involve Facebook because most complaints of Internet abuse originate from there.

“I said, ‘Okay, but I have to ask for other people’s opinion first’ but when I do that, they interpreted it as though I was going to close Facebook.

“Sometimes it’s because they don’t understand, but sometimes reporters go around telling people ‘the government is closing Facebook’ and ask for their opinion. I think that’s irresponsible,” he said.

As part of that process, Shabery said his Facebook post asking for feedback garnered over 2,000 comments, about 54 percent are not in favour of the ban but some of them also asked for some form of control on the social networking service.

Another 24 percent are in favour of the ban, while the remaining comments are off-topic, he said.

Based on the comments that are against banning Facebook however, Shabery said he found that most of them apparently do not understand how the Internet and Facebook work, including one IT professor who suggested that Malaysian Facebook users should register with the MCMC.

“For example, they suggested that Facebook should be allowed but certain accounts should be blocked, or Facebook should be allowed by (users) have to register with the government.

“It shows that they do not understand, because if you accept Facebook, you would have to accept it in full.

“The government has no power to block certain accounts but can help lodge complaints to Facebook, but it is up to Facebook whether or not to take action,” he said.

He added that the Attorney-General’s Chambers is also studying to how to improve existing laws to better enforce it on cyberspace.

These include studying best practices abroad, studying the introduction of stiffer penalties as a deterrent, and studying possible changes to the Evidence Act to make it easier to prosecute cybercriminals.

‘Education remains the best answer’

However, he said education remains the best answer to Internet abuse, whether to parents or to schoolchildren.

For example, he said many parents do not supervise their children’s actions on cyberspace and are unaware of the range of parental control tools available to them.

Users are also unaware that websites such as Facebook and YouTube have complaint mechanisms that they could use if they find certain content offensive, he said.

Previously, Universiti Sains Malaysia Faculty of Communication Studies senior lecturer Mohamad Md Yusoff and Universiti Malaysia Sabah Faculty of Humanities, Arts and Heritage senior lecturer Saat Awang Damit had reportedly suggested that Facebook users should register with MCMC, saying that it is better that shutting down the website outright.

“At present, with cases such as insulting Islam, (Yang di-Pertuan) Agong and numerous baseless allegations made on Facebook, it is quite difficult to track down the culprits, especially when they can easily get away with excuses of account being hacked, fake account or outside server,” Bernama quoted Mohamad as saying.