Beware - Malaysia to have law that violates privacy - that allow others to monitor our internet activity

Beware the Malaysian government is going to enact a law that will be affront to one's right of privacy - they will be monitoring all internet activity, and this obligation is going to be placed on Internet Service Providers(ISP) - and they will most probably be monitoring all our activities on the internet, and this is certainly very wrong.

They want to put an end to 'illegal' downloading of music, etc from the net -  but really what do you mean by 'illegal' downloading - Do we now have to find out whether things available on the internet are legal or illegal to download? This is absurd - Music companies can always monitor the net and 'kill' sites that are allowing for 'illegal' downloading if they want to but surely they should never be given the legal right to be able to monitor people's activity on the net - which will be an invasion of privacy.

As far as I can see, music companies, etc are all making money - and thus I do not understand why the government is spending a lot of people's monies and resources protecting these companies.... When it come to monitoring compliance of labour laws and/or Occupational Safety and Health regulations, we find that the government rarely is interested. 

As it is, most likely government and other 'security' based organizations are already monitoring our computers, internet activity, phones, etc - and this is a violation of privacy. To now have Acts empowering others to violate our rights of privacy is certainly wrong. Hope those Opposition MPs and BN back-benchers would oppose these kind of laws - that look 'reasonable' but is really very invasive. So, what  - will our internet accounts be terminated for downloading stuff from the internet - which some say are 'illegal' - 

Some music and films, and computer programs are available on the internet to be downloaded - so how really will we know which is which. It is not our duty to try and identify which can be downloaded or bought - consumers should never be prosecuted. Those selling should be penalized - and that too should really by a civil action by the rights holder (or the relevant music/song company) and governments should be wasting their resources protecting business and profits of some companies.

KUALA LUMPUR: The free-and-easy days of illegal downloading of music and movies may soon be over. A proposed new law will enable Internet Service Providers (ISP) to suspend or terminate the Internet accounts of P2P (peer-to-peer) users.

This new law called the ISP Liability act, will be tabled in Parliament next month, according to Recording Industry Association of Malaysia (RIM) chairman Norman Halim.

RIM has been lobbying the Government for an ISP Liability act for the past 5 years as illegal online downloads have been cannibalising the legitimate sales of music, worldwide.

“The act makes the ISPs responsible for curbing online piracy. The ISPs will be fined if they don’t take action against illegal downloaders. The ISPs have the technology to track P2P users,” said Norman.

However, he said that the fine amount had yet to be determined.

ISPs will send two warning letters to illegal downloaders. Should the downloaders still persist, the Internet access will be suspended or even terminated.

“Other countries that have such an act have seen their respective music industries recover. One good example would be South Korea,” he said. - Star, 26/12/2010, New law to end illegal downloading of music and movies

AIDs Council rejects MANDATORY pre-marital HIV screening

Well, the Malaysian AIDs Council has come out against MANDATORY pre-marital HIV screening - and it would be good if the government-in-waiting could also come out with their position...or is it just the same as the BN government?

The Malaysian AIDS Council is against mandatory pre-marital HIV screening for all Muslim couples from next year, saying it would will further make HIV a disease to be feared and stigmatised and thus discourage individuals, especially those at risk of infection, from coming forward to be voluntarily tested.

It said while the pre-marital testing policy, meant to curb the rise in infections, would make HIV
testing more broadly available and worthy of praise, the MAC could not support a move to remove the voluntary nature of the tests.

“We would like to once again reiterate that mandatory testing all Muslim couples before marriage is not the solution,” its president Prof Dr Adeeba Kamarulzaman said in a statement today.

She gave four social and medical reasons for the council’s position:

» pre-marital testing is a one-off test while the risk of acquiring HIV is potentially life long. A negative test before marriage does not guarantee that the individual or his/her partner will remain negative thereafter if the person continues to put him or herself at risk of HIV through their sexual activities or injecting drug use. A negative HIV result at the time of marriage may lead to a false sense of security in both parties throughout the marriage.

» mandatory HIV testing has been shown to have a limited impact in controlling the spread of HIV infection without specific interventions being undertaken to prevent transmission of these infections.

» it is highly unlikely that the confidentiality of the test results can be guaranteed. Because of the high level of stigma and discrimination that exist against HIV positive individuals, those diagnosed with HIV and their families are frequently rejected and ostracised within the community they live.

» Disclosure of a positive HIV result must be followed up with proper counselling. It fears that those charged with implementing this policy nationwide, including the religious officers, and even health care workers have been adequately trained and prepared for this task.

In Johor Baru today, Health Minister Datuk Liow Tiong Lai said the compulsory screening was not meant to stop Muslim couples from marrying, but to ascertain their health standard. He said that with 80,938 HIV cases recorded until last year, the move was necessary to prevent its spread. - Sun, 21/12/2008 - AIDS Council rejects compulsory HIV screening

It really would be good if the Pakatan Rakyat do come out with their position on the various different matters - so that we, the people of Malaysia, would be able to consider the differences and the similarities with the present BN coalition government.

We would like to know what differences that we can look forward to when there is a change of the Federal government.