Indonesia Blocks PayPal and Gaming Services Over New Licensing Rules

KomInfo, the Indonesian Ministry of Communication and Information Technology, has banned and blocked popular websites, gaming services, and online portals for failing to register for the government’s new policy.

The Indonesian government has since issued an apology for blocking access to a bunch of electronic providers, including popular gaming services such as Steam, Epic Games, and Battle.net, with Semuel Abrijani Pangerapan, the Director General of Aptika, Ministry of Communication and Informatics, saying that it wasn’t the intention to put an end to gaming over the weekend.

So sorry friends, game players, I am also a game player, sorry for the time being there are still problems and they are completing and they are committed to registering immediately. We are waiting, hopefully they can register quickly

explained Semmy (as translated by Google)

KomInfo’s New Privacy Policy

While the new policy has been mostly affecting gamers, there was also a brief pause on payment services such as PayPal and Yahoo too. However, temporary access has been granted to PayPal for five working days and is expected to be open until 5 August so that citizens are able to withdraw their money to avoid any further problems.

The new policy in place is for companies that operate in Indonesia to register with Kominfo and comply with their regulations in order to continue business there. Many local and global civil rights society groups have urged authorities in Indonesia to review and repeal Ministerial Regulation 5 and Ministerial Regulation 10, both of which form part of the registration of private electronic systems operators that the government is asking private enterprises to undertake.

Protecting Digital Freedom in a World Where VPNs are Needed

Many have said that this could be a violation of privacy and may not be something that is just sorted out overnight, especially since there are rumblings of what could be an “authoritarian enforcement” of the regulations and put a halt on exercising individual online freedoms. There are also murmurings of challenges of free speech being discussed, and exposure of data, as per Michael Caster’s report on The Diplomat.

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