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Malaysia Digital Free Trade Zone

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Re: Malaysia Digital Free Trade Zone

#5

Post by walrus01 »

You only need to google "Malaysia internet sharia law" to understand why it would be a very poor idea to invest in datacenter/telecom infrastructure in Malaysia, domestically. The government is going the same direction as Turkey recently.

https://www.google.com/search?q=malaysia+internet+sharia+law...

In my opinion it's ethically the same as deciding to operate a datacenter in mainland China and sign up for all the government laws, regulations and oversight that goes with it: You can do it from a technical perspective, but many US based companies have explicitly chosen not to do so based on their own ethical standards.

Re: Malaysia Digital Free Trade Zone

#6

Post by contingencies »

walrus01 wrote: post #5

You only need to google "Malaysia internet sharia law" to understand why it would be a very poor idea to invest in datacenter/telecom infrastructure in Malaysia, domestically. The government is going the same direction as Turkey recently. https://www.google.com/search?q=malaysia+internet+sharia+law... In my opinion it's ethically the same as deciding to operate a datacenter in mainland China and sign up for all the g…

I agree about Malaysia: it is extremely corrupt and abuses of power are the norm rather than the exception. That said, US and UK government interventionism and surveillance is really not that different to China. The UK is actually worse in many ways. For example, the UK is reported to record all internet traffic and have the most concurrent media gag orders in operation of any nation.

Re: Malaysia Digital Free Trade Zone

#7

Post by walrus01 »

contingencies wrote: post #6
walrus01 wrote: post #5

You only need to google "Malaysia internet sharia law" to understand why it would be a very poor idea to invest in datacenter/telecom infrastructure in Malaysia, domestically. The government is going the same direction as Turkey recently. https://www.google.com/search?q=malaysia+internet+sharia+law... In my opinion it's ethically the same as deciding to operate a datacenter in mainland China and sign up for all the g…

I agree about Malaysia: it is extremely corrupt and abuses of power are the norm rather than the exception. That said, US and UK government interventionism and surveillance is really not that different to China. The UK is actually worse in many ways. For example, the UK is reported to record all internet traffic and have the most concurrent media gag orders in operation of any nation.

The UK is at this point far worse than the US. At least in the US you can publish very nearly anything on your own servers, fully self hosted, and not get it taken down unless it is explicitly making terroristic threats or hosting child porn. There's a huge amount of first amendment precedent set for parody, satire and generally offensive things (Hustler Magazine parodying Jerry Falwell, for example) that meets the criteria for being protected by the first amendment.

The UK at least pays lip service to being a secular society. Where it gets scary to me is politicians in religious countries actively implementing sharia law in relations to internet/telecom to appease a fundamentalist base.

I agree that the UK is going a very worrying direction, forcing retail ISPs to operate a "porn filter" and have it enabled by default, and so forth.

Re: Malaysia Digital Free Trade Zone

#8

Post by contingencies »

danielvf wrote: post #2

Is this just a normal free trade zone with "digital" tacked onto the name?

Cynically: No, it's "Cyber" prepended to "jaya" (used to mean "city" in Malaysia, but apparently derived from Sanskrit for 'victory', ie. a place where a battle was won) - ie. a rebranding of "The city at the place of the victory of the battle of Cyber" to "digital free trade zone".

Realistically: Maybe in part. It looks like in part they are trying to challenge Singapore for air freight logistics. Unfortunately KLIA is miles from KL and nobody really lives out there, so even though you get "express freight handling" the only major nearby markets accessible by road are Singapore and KL (plus some second-tier peninsular Malaysian cities) and in the former case you have to pay to cross another border.

Amusingly: On their promotional video they tout the future as being "borderless" - quite funny as KL is known to be a global center for forged, modified and stolen passports and other identity documentation.

Re: Malaysia Digital Free Trade Zone

#9

Post by toomanybeersies »

walrus01 wrote: post #5

You only need to google "Malaysia internet sharia law" to understand why it would be a very poor idea to invest in datacenter/telecom infrastructure in Malaysia, domestically. The government is going the same direction as Turkey recently. https://www.google.com/search?q=malaysia+internet+sharia+law... In my opinion it's ethically the same as deciding to operate a datacenter in mainland China and sign up for all the g…

It's not even just the government.

I wouldn't store any confidential/secure data in a country that you can bribe cops for relatively trivial sums in. That does end up writing off most of the world for storage, admittedly.

Re: Malaysia Digital Free Trade Zone

#10

Post by mark_l_watson »

re: first video on page: I like Jack Ma and often agree with him, but his view on globalization is I think incorrect. Sure globalization has helped lift many people in the world out of poverty (good thing!) but I can't buy into giving up countrys' rights to have their own laws and I think preserving local culture is important.

So, globalization is a 'mixed bag.'

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