Food for thought...if it can be done in Burma it can be done anywhere!


What a scary situation. So is it easy to shut down the internet in a country?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/burma/stor...179427,00.html

Mark Tran and agencies
Friday September 28, 2007
Guardian Unlimited

The Burmese government apparently cut internet access today in an attempt to staunch the flow of pictures and messages from protesters reaching the outside world.

An official told the Agence France-Presse news agency that the internet "is not working because the underwater cable is damaged".

In Bangkok, in neighbouring Thailand, an official at a telecommunications firm that provides satellite services to Burma said some internet service inside the country had been cut.

The London-based blogger Ko Htike said: "I sadly announce that the Burmese military junta has cut off the internet connection throughout the country. I therefore would not be able to feed in pictures of the brutality by the brutal Burmese military junta."

5.30pm
Internet access cut off in Burma

Mr Htike said he would try his best to feed the Burmese junta's "demonic appetite of fear and paranoia by posting any pictures that I receive though other means ... I will continue to live with the motto that 'if there is a will there is a way'."

The US criticised the junta's move, with the White House spokesman, Scott Stanzel, saying: "They don't want the world to see what is going on there."

Only 1% of the population in Burma has internet access, but protesters have managed to send out videos, photographs and messages to keep the outside world abreast of the dramatic events unfolding in Burma for the past week.

Many images have been picked up by mainstream news organisations, because protesters have captured pictures that no one else has been able to, helping to fuel public outrage at the government's crackdown.

When Burma's opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, who is under house arrest in Rangoon, stepped outside her home to greet marching monks and supporters last week, the only pictures were posted on blogs and later picked up by news organisations.

The Burmese junta has been caught unawares by the ingenuity of bloggers - mainly university students - who have been sending their material to Burmese exile websites in Thailand and India.

But in recent days they have turned their attention to preventing material collected by protesters and dissidents from getting out, shutting down internet cafes and now allegedly cutting internet links with the outside world. Journalists from Reuters, the Associated Press and AFP are still continuing to operate in Burma.

Even a partial internet shutdown in a country where service is sporadic at the best of times could reduce the number of photos and videos of the crackdown that have been transmitted.

According to Reporters Without Borders, Burma ranks 164 out of 168 states on press freedom. The group says: "The Burmese government's internet policies are even more repressive than those of its Chinese and Vietnamese neighbours ... It keeps a very close eye on internet cafes, in which the computers automatically execute screen captures every five minutes, in order to monitor user activity."