In This Article
30-Second Summary
Headline: Burma protests, Burmese authorities shut down Internet
History: 1988 anti-government protests
The Internet: Burma's experience, how Burmese authorities shut down the Internet, how the internet works
Related Links: China blocks sites, how the Internet works, and blocked blogs in Burma
Reference: The power of monks, Burma vs. Myanmar
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Burma’s Military Government Shuts Down Internet to Silence Protest
by
findingDulcinea Staff
On Sept. 28, 2007, the government of Burma closed down internal access to the Internet; Burma relies on two Internet service providers, one of which is state-owned.
30-Second Summary
At a time of heightened media interest in the fate of citizens in the Burmese uprising, the military government stated that a problem with an undersea cable had disabled the country’s Internet service.
The authorities gave the same explanation during the four-day Web blackout of May 2006.
That earlier shutdown coincided with the military’s alleged attack on the Karen, an ethnic Christian minority indigenous to Burma.
Out of a Burmese a population of four million, 78,000 to 300,00––approximately less than one percent of the population––have access to the Internet.
Despite their relatively small number, the Web users in Burma have been an important source of information on the recent protests. “Citizen journalists” have been feeding the world images and information on the military’s attacks on protesters.
The most visible demonstrators have been Burma’s Buddhist monks who have taken to the streets in the thousands.
The monasteries are an integral part of Burmese society and the second most important political force after the military.
In Burma, it is common for young men to join monasteries for several years; the monks have widespread acceptance and influence among the general public.
The recent weeks’ protests are the first major civil demonstrations since 1988. That previous uprising ended with the military killing 3,000 anti-government protesters.
The authorities gave the same explanation during the four-day Web blackout of May 2006.
That earlier shutdown coincided with the military’s alleged attack on the Karen, an ethnic Christian minority indigenous to Burma.
Out of a Burmese a population of four million, 78,000 to 300,00––approximately less than one percent of the population––have access to the Internet.
Despite their relatively small number, the Web users in Burma have been an important source of information on the recent protests. “Citizen journalists” have been feeding the world images and information on the military’s attacks on protesters.
The most visible demonstrators have been Burma’s Buddhist monks who have taken to the streets in the thousands.
The monasteries are an integral part of Burmese society and the second most important political force after the military.
In Burma, it is common for young men to join monasteries for several years; the monks have widespread acceptance and influence among the general public.
The recent weeks’ protests are the first major civil demonstrations since 1988. That previous uprising ended with the military killing 3,000 anti-government protesters.
Headline: Burma protests, Burmese authorities shut down Internet
According to exiled dissident groups in Thailand, up to 10 satellite phones and many computers were seized in Burma within the last week. These lines of communication were considered some of the last available since Burmese authorities shut down the Internet and blocked cell and fixed-line telephones. The British and U.S. embassies in Rangoon, which were available by telephone until late last week, have become unreachable from outside the country.
Source: The Guardian
Protests, initially led by veteran leaders of the 1988 student rebellion, began in reaction to a sudden and drastic increase in fuel prices. Initially, only a few monks participated in the protests, but after the military shot over their heads during a peaceful protest, thousands more joined the protests. The first mention of pro-democracy motives of the protest came from a previously unknown monk group, All Burma Monks' Alliance, who called on people to “struggle peacefully against the evil military dictatorship.”
Source: The Economist
The Democratic Voice of Burma states that as many as 1,900 monks, nuns, students and civilians have been detained in a government compound in Insein, Burma and may be moved to a hard-labor prison camp.
Source: Democratic Voice of Burma
This is the second time in eighteen months that the Internet has been shut down in Burma. In May 2006, the Internet was out of action for four days; this overlapped with the Burmese government’s alleged attack on the Karen, an ethnic Christian minority in Burma.
Source: Burma Net
History: 1988 anti-government protests
A year after the 1988 anti-government riots, during which three thousand protesters were killed, Burma was renamed Myanmar by the military led government. In 1990, a landslide victory for the pro-democracy opposition party, NLD, was ignored by the military, which has continued to rule. The BBC covers these two years among its detailed coverage of Burma’s history from 1057 to Oct. 2007.
Source: The BBC
The Internet: Burma's experience, how Burmese authorities shut down the Internet, how the internet works
Citizen journalists have provided major news outlets, such as the BBC and CNN, with images of the violent attack on protesters through their blogs, online photographs and even cell phones. As Ellana Lee, the managing editor of CNN Asia Pacific, explains, "When traditional methods and professional journalists can't provide footage, and personal safety allows, citizens rise to the challenge time and again, often with remarkable material.”
Source: The Wall Street Journal
According to John Palfrey, the executive director of the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard Law School, the military control the two main Internet service providers in Burma and have engaged in a pervasive level of filtering political content as well as blocking e-mails.
Source: Technology Review
According to Open Net Initiative, in 2005 Internet users represented less than one percent (78,000 to 300,000) of Burma’s population. Open Net Initiative explains that the lack of Internet penetration is partly due to the lack of independent service providers: “There are only two Internet service providers (ISPs) allowed in Myanmar: state-owned telecom Myanmar Posts and Telecom (MPT), which is the only source of new Internet services, and Myanmar Teleport (MMT, formerly Bagan Cybertech), which is reportedly the infrastructure arm of Myanmar's Internet system and responsible for blocking content.”
Source: Open Net Initiative
In 2000, Wired explored the limited Internet access available to Burmese citizens. One Burmese student living in San Francisco explained, “E-mails have to go through a government-monitored sever. And it is impossible for ordinary citizens to get a line.”
Source: Wired
In 1996, the Burmese government enacted the 1996 Computer Science Development Law, which requires that “all network-ready computers, as well as fax machines, be registered with the Ministry of Communications, Posts and Telegraphs (MPT) prior to importation, possession, or use.” Failure to comply with this law carries a prison sentence of 7 to 15 years with the possibility of a fine.
Source: Open Net Initiative
Although free online software such as Your Freedom allowed bloggers and users in Burma to get around the government’s blocks and firewalls, the authorities were still able to disable pages within Burma, though they could not stop international sites. When it was discovered that images and blogs were still being published within Burma, the government ‘switched off’ the Internet on Sept. 28, 2007.
Source: The Times of London
Amnesty International stated in its May 2007 report that the Internet was “the new frontier in the struggle for the right to dissent.”
Source: The News Room
Related Links: China blocks sites, how the Internet works, and blocked blogs in Burma
In recent weeks, China has shut down more than 18,000 Web sites. It is thought that this new wave of censorship, which is stricter than the censorship normally seen in China, is due to next month’s 17th Communist Party Congress. As one of China’s first bloggers, Issac Mao, explains, “With the approach of the Party Congress, the government wants the Internet sphere silent, to keep people from discussing social problems. Shutting down IDCs (Internet data centers) is a quick and effective way of shutting down interactive sites.”
Source: Yahoo News
Internet service in North Korea is banned; possession of a VCR or a DVD player is a criminal offense.
Source: The Wall Street Journal
Aung Zaw, of Irrawaddy, speculates as to how long Burma will remain center stage in international news without a way to provide the world with information from inside the country: “This week, the incoming news has slowed down, and images are in short supply, yet the violent crackdown continues … now, Burma is blacked out. How long can the regime afford to shut the country down?” Irrawaddy was established in 1992 by Burmese citizens living in exile and “seeks to promote press freedom and access to unbiased information.”
Source: Irrawaddy
The Internet began in 1969 with four host computer systems; now the Internet runs with tens of millions of host computer systems. How Stuff Works explains how the Internet works by exploring Internet Protocol (IP) addresses, network systems and other areas of the internet.
Source: How Stuff Works
Reference: The power of monks, Burma vs. Myanmar
According to the BBC, Buddhist monks in Burma are highly respected in part because the country is 80–90 percent Buddhist; as a result, the 400,000–500,000 professional monks wield a tremendous amount of political power.
Source: The BBC
According to U.S. News & World Report, the United Nations, France and Japan call the nation Myanmar, while the United States and the United Kingdom use the name Burma. The article notes that by not recognizing the new name, the U.S. and UK are expressing their defiance toward the military junta that suppresses democratic thought.
Source: U.S. News & World Report
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