Public demand to whitelisting: Another alternative for more secure internet access

Abstract

Regulation which requiring all Internet Service Providers to apply negative content filtering based on domain name system in their services, known as blacklisting/blocking method such as Trust positive or Nawala, apparently is still considered less effective to support safe and productive use of the Internet in the community. A more accurate system is needed, and whitelist offered by the government can be an alternative to create more secure internet access. This study has surveyed total 810 internet users in the schools (junior/senior high level) and the boarding schools, targeting students and principals/teachers, and also parents in the household with non-probability sampling techniques. The findings are then discussed in Focus Group Discussion with stakeholders and experts. The results show that the whitelist system receives good response from the respondents. However, the implementation should be based on demand and reserved to segmented users, and not to be applied nationally since it potentially create a lot of noise from the society (procontra). And when it comes to the implementation stage, several challenges need to be considered in order to maximize its purpose. First is related to user information rights in order to remain protected, but not feel restricted. Furthermore, whitelist is also expected to be the answer to overcome largest channel of negative contents distribution based on internet usage profiles, which mostly access internet via mobile phone, and the activity is accessing social media/instant messaging through applications. Some other internet content managements can also be conducted and massively disseminated to complement the content filtering system.