iMAP Report: Continued blocking of Murray Hunter Substack by MCMC
A new iMAP report released on August 6 confirms Murray Hunter Substack is still illegally blocked by the Malaysian Communications and Multi-Media Corporation (MCMC). This comes only just after a day where the prime minister was widely reported to say after Meta censored him;
“This country is a democratic country, freedom must be given to people to voice their views, whether they agree, criticise or oppose.”
- Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim
The primary reason Murray Hunter Substack is being continuously blocked is because this website has been reporting the activities around the Shah Alam Stadium Project, which is now demolishing the iconic stadium for a RM 3.28 billion project, Selangor state cannot afford. The chairman of the MCMC Salim Fateh Din is also a shareholder and director of MRCB, which is involved in the Shah Alam project.
Censorship is a tool to coverup corporate/government dealings in Malaysia.
There are now a wide number of local and overseas websites blocked by the MCMC to prevent criticism of the prime minister and his government.
The full iMAP report is reproduced below (link also here):
Internet Censorship Update: Transparent DNS Proxy Implemented by Malaysian ISPs on Cloudflare and Google Public DNS Servers
Transparent DNS Proxy Implemented by Malaysian ISPs on Cloudflare and Google Public DNS Servers
6th August 2024, Transparent DNS proxy redirecting DNS queries to Google and Cloudflare public DNS has been implemented by two Malaysian ISPs Maxis and Time, leading to users now unable to access websites officially blocked by MCMC through alternative DNS servers.
Initial findings
It was detected through automated and manual testing on 5th August, that transparent DNS proxy redirecting DNS queries to Google and Cloudflare public DNS servers has been implemented by two Malaysian ISPs Maxis and Time. Users that have configured their Internet settings to use alternative DNS servers, would have found that they are now unable to access websites officially blocked by MCMC and getting a connection timeout error.
Summary:
On Maxis, DNS queries to Google Public DNS (8.8.8.8) servers on ip address are being automatically redirected to Maxis ISP DNS Servers; and
On Time, DNS queries to both Google Public DNS (8.8.8.8) and Cloudflare Public DNS (1.1.1.1) are being automatically redirected to Time ISP DNS servers.
Instead of the intended Google and Cloudflare servers, users are being served results from ISP DNS servers. In addition to MCMC blocked websites, other addresses returned from ISP DNS servers can also differ from those returned by Google and Cloudflare.
Securing DNS services
Users being redirected to unauthenticated websites and services that are different from that intended can pose a security risk and result in unexpected technical issues. Standard DNS queries are also unencrypted and addresses requested by users can be viewed and logged.
Users that are affected, can configure their browser settings to enable DNS over HTTPS to secure their DNS lookups by using direct encrypted connection to private or public trusted DNS servers. This will also bypass transparent DNS proxy interference and provide warning of interference.
Firefox Web Browser
Users using Firefox web browser and enable DNS over HTTPS via Settings and the Privacy & Security Tab. Enable Max Protection to use DNS over HTTPs when browning all sites.
Firefox Browser Security Settings for DNS over HTTPS
Chrome Web Browser
Users using Chrome Web Browser can enable DNS over HTTPS via Settings and the Security tab. Enable Use secure DNS and then select one of the public DNS servers such as Google or Cloudflare.
DNS Query and OONI network interference data
DNS Query Results
These test measurements from OONI and DNS query results confirmed that a few Malaysian ISPs (internet service providers) were implementing a transparent DNS proxy that redirects DNS queries to Cloudflare and Google DNS servers, and these ISP servers are transparently returning MCMC block server address instead of those served by Google and Cloudflare.
The data on OONI was collected through the OONI Probe App by Sinar Project and various volunteers. A confirmed blocking on OONI shows that there has been DNS blocking on the website whereby the DNS had been tampered to redirect to MCMC’s IP address: 175.139.142.25. For this case, the DNS service serving these blocked IP addresses are erroneously shown as those from Google or Cloudflare due to transparent DNS proxy being implemented by ISPs.
Call for testing
Sinar Project is calling for volunteers to help with the continuous monitoring and testing of internet censorship. Further information can be found here or our Telegram group.
For monitoring this particular implementation of Transparent DNS Proxies by ISPs in Malaysia, we encourage our volunteers to configure their DNS to 8.8.8.8 or 1.1.1.1 prior to OONI testing.
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It is said, to really know a person you give him power.
Anwar has failed the test miserably. He has cast aside the reforms he was shouting for during his period in the political wilderness and while being incarcerated.
Going by Meta's response non-response to MacMullah of MacDani' post on Haniyeh, a normal observer would see Meta just gave it's standard reply (late) to MacMullah's complaint. There wasn't any apology nor any promise that MacMullah's rant would not be tossed out again in future.
In other words, MacMullah is just another nobody to Meta. I can't blame Meta for that, it is just another private enterprise and under no obligation to treat MacMullah's rant even if it is brought down the mountain in the form of two stone tablets.
Chasing after Meta for any explanation is a waste of energy and time. Worse still, hiding the acute embarrassment of getting no apology while making a big deal out of accepting the non-apologetic standard reply is poor circus.
If MacMullah of MacDani can read the actual meaning in Meta's (slow) response, the message is "So what?" and Fcuk Off!!!
MacMullah of MacDani runs a state censorship bureaucracy and wants to license only those who would say nice things about him and his regime to be allowed to speak, so why take issue with Meta at all just to be honoured with a glorified Fcuk Off!!!