Curtailing Free Expression, Opinion and Information Online in Southeast Asia Malaysian internet service providers, including State-owned Telekom Malaysia. A week before, the MCMC had submitted a request to the blog to remove an article by ‘Sarawak Report’ on its page for alleged violation of section 233 of the CMA – which ‘Medium’ refused.414 In February 2016, the MCMC issued a decision to indefinitely block public access to independent news portal, ‘The Malaysian Insider’ (TMI), for alleged violation of sections 233 and 263(2) of the CMA. The decision was linked to a TMI report that had reportedly quoted an anonymous source from the advisory panel of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), which had remarked on corruption claims relating to then-Prime Minister Najib Razak – contradicting official statements of the MACC.415 Philippines In the Philippines, as earlier noted, penalties for offences relating to defamation or libel and sedition have been extended to the online sphere through the Cybercrime Prevention Act which was enacted to “protect and safeguard the integrity of computer, computer and communications systems, networks, and databases, and the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of information and data stored therein, from all forms of misuse, abuse, and illegal access by making punishable under the law such conduct or conducts.”416 Section 4 of the CPA lists, under “Punishable Acts”, the offences of “illegal access”, “illegal interception”, “data and system interference”, “misuse of devices”, “cyber-squatting”, “computer-related forgery, fraud and identity theft”, “cybersex”, and “child pornography”. However, the criminal acts that fall under its purview extend far beyond these specific cyber-related crimes.417 Sections 6 and 7 of the CPA dictate that “all crimes defined and 414 Medium Legal, ‘The Post Stays Up’, Medium, 27 January 2016, Available at: https://blog.medium. com/the-post-stays-up-d222e34cb7e7#.5v2jvdhuf; Judith Balea, ‘Despite being blocked in Malaysia, Medium stands by Sarawak Report’, Tech in Asia, 27 January 2016, Available at: https:// www.techinasia.com/medium-stands-sarawak-report-blocked-malaysia 415 Steven Thiru, ‘Misuse of the Communications and Multimedia Act must end’, Malaysia Kini, 1 March 2016, Available at: https://www.malaysiakini.com/news/332239; Aizyl Azlee, ‘Minister justifies TMI block, says due to contradictory report on MACC panel’, Malay Mail, 26 February 2016, Available at: https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/2016/02/26/minister-justifies-tmi-blocksays-due-to-contradictory-report-on-macc-panel/1068543 416 CPA, section 2. 417 CPA, sections 4(a), (b), (c)(1), (c)(2). Notably, in 2014, the Supreme Court declared void and unconstitutional sections 4(c)(3) (which penalizes posting of unsolicited commercial communications), 12 (which authorizes the collection or recording of traffic data in real-time) and 19 (which authorizes the Department of Justice to restrict or block access to data). See ICJ, ‘Supreme Court Decision re. Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012’, 21 February 2014, Available at: 111