Internet Filtering

This must be one of the most discussed topics in China and Malaysia these days.

I don't know in what way is "Green Dam" any green, but it has failed, for now, to emerge in China due to domestic and international pressures. So if China has failed to do it, what makes the Malaysian government thinks it can do it?

The idea of an Internet-filtering program is laughable. If the whole program is installed in a user's system, there are tons of ways to get rid of it. Even if all else fail, formatting the computer will do. And then there is also HIPS that can be employed to block the filter from running. Lots of countermeasures.

Implementing Internet filtering at the ISP isn't going to work well too. We know there are ways to bypass a filter, and it's pretty simple. Using proxy servers is one of the more common ways. Of course, the government can block websites providing proxies, free or paid. However, that isn't going to stop people from using proxy software (which is installed into and runs in the computer). And then there are things like TOR and JAP that also use proxies but in a more complicated way. Various programs out there can also help us access blocked websites.

It's pretty pointless in my opinion. There are always IT experts in the world constantly utilizing their knowledge and skills to the greatest extent in the battle against Internet censorship. Even the (in)famous Great Firewall of China is being bypassed at every moment, as long as an Internet user knows the ways.

Usually we would like to think that if a government tries to restrict the people's access to websites, it's always for political reasons, no matter what excuses the government offers. That's what we like to think. The Malaysian government says that it's for the good of our children because if Internet filtering is ever implemented, it's only to block access to pornography so that our children will not be affected.
"For the good of our children"? "So that our children will not be affected"? Funny. Internet is not the only source of pornography. What about CDs and DVDs? MMS? Books? Magazines? Even if they filter websites, what about pornography circulated in e-mails? What about P2P networks? All these sources have tons of sexual content: general pornography, child pornography, hentai anime and manga and games, lolicon stuff, you name it. As long as any one of these routes is available, children can still get in contact with sexual content if they want to.

Does the government really mean what it says? To protect children from pornography? If even I know Internet filtering isn't going to achieve that, how would they not know? Anyway, there is still a long way to go for Internet filtering, as long as various groups and organizations as well as the people as a whole fight against it.
Filtering the Internet should and must really be frowned upon. It's too difficult to achieve anything good, but too easy to achieve anything bad.