Malaysia seeks to ban sites for illegal downloads

Thousands of Malaysians joined an online protest June 12 against a government effort to block access to 10 popular websites often used to illegally download movies, TV shows and music.

It is the biggest move to curb Internet entertainment piracy in Malaysia, which has long been accused by industry officials of not cracking down hard enough on the rampant sale of bootleg DVDs and CDs. The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission, a government regulatory body, said Friday that it wanted Internet service providers to block 10 websites that violated copyright laws. More than 6,500 people have since joined a Facebook page slamming the decision, with some saying the government had reneged on its pledge not to censor the Internet.