KUALA LUMPUR, Thurs. - Local Internet Service Provider Jaring hopes to curb online abusers with the introduction of the Code of Ethics expected by the end of the year and says it has no intention of scanning the content of web pages visited by users.

The code is currently in draft by the Communications and Multimedia Commission and will provide guidelines to ISPs on abuse management policies which need to be implemented.

Mimos Berhad, which is on the commission, had on Sept 9 submitted a draft of what it hopes the Code will look like.

Its technology development vice president Dr Mohamed Awang-Lah said the code of ethics is vital as the proper ISP setup needs to be established to deal with the abuses.

Undernet, one of the world's largest Internet Relay Chat networks imposed a ban on all Malaysian users after it claimed to have detected 182,000 abuses by local users in the past few months.

There are over 500,000 ISP subscribers in Malaysia, with over 230,000 registered with Jaring. Seven ISPs have been issued with licences, but only two, Jaring and TMnet, are in operation. Currently, 1.5 million Malaysians access the Internet.

Apart from a Code of Ethics which would act as a guideline to ISPs, Mohamed said subscribers were also bound by user terms and conditions.

In a series of measures implemented after the Undernet ban, Jaring has sent e-mail to its users reminding them to configure their server software properly.

Jaring is also scanning all equipment connected to its server to ensure they are secure. Mohamed said subscribers had been notified, and that a certain software would enable the user to know that his equipment was being scanned.

Apart from abuses committed against IRC networks like Undernet, spamming, or the distribution of unsolicited e-mail advertising is also a major problem.

Mohamed said that Jaring had even received spamming complaints against a local tourism promotion organisation. He urged users who have received the offending e-mail to submit a complaint to

In its efforts to curb spamming, Mohamed said Jaring was keeping an e-mail audit trail among its subscribers.

Mohamed said the abuses are not criminal acts unless the hacker steals information from another system, in which case the Computer Crimes Act 1997 would come into play.

He assured users that Jaring has no intention of peeking into the content of web pages visited by users. He said Jaring does not divulge the content of web pages visited by users unless there is a request by law enforcement agencies or the court.

Mohamed said this applies to pornography, covered under existing laws which make it illegal in any form.