KUALA LUMPUR: The Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 may guarantee that Internet access in Malaysia is not censored, but it does not mean that punters can gamble online without facing the consequences.

According to Section 3 (3) of the Act, nothing contained in it shall be construed as permitting the censorship of the Internet.

So, if that is the case, should it not be illegal for the authorities to filter football gambling websites from being accessed by the public?

Unfortunately where punters are concerned, the answer is no.

Police cyber and multimedia crime specialist Deputy Superintendent Victor Sanjos said the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission had the power and the authority to block sites that have the potential to cause harm or be a threat to the stability of the community and the country.
"Regulations can be put in place to enforce Internet Service Provider security.

"The government can ask the providers to filter certain URLs, such as those known to be gambling websites, using their powerful firewalls.

"They can put these sites on the banned lists. Once this is done, subscribers have no chance of accessing these sites," he said, adding that this was what China did to control the access of information in the country.

The problem with this method of enforcement however is that bypassing it is as easy as eating pie. All the syndicate has to do is change the name of the site and the whole cycle starts again.

"The syndicates always change their modus operandi. They always change their locations. They always change their servers. It's a headache for law enforcers to tackle them."