<nettime> Burmese ban on political websites

["nettime's_roving_reporter" <nettime-l@bbs.thing.net>]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/asia-pacific/newsid_611000/611836.stm

Burmese ban on political websites 

Burma has strict controls over internet use

By regional analyst James Miles  

The Burmese authorities have banned the country's internet users from
issuing material of a political nature.  Burmese television said the
country's only authorised internet service provider, Myanmar Post and
Telecommunications, had outlawed the use of sites which were - as it put
it - detrimental to government policies. 

The regulations will come as no surprise in a country that has been among
the most hostile in Asia towards the internet revolution.  Burma has
lagged behind even some of Asia's most authoritarian countries such as
China and Vietnam in its embrace of the internet.  The issuing of tough
regulations on internet use by the Burmese Government coincides with snail
pace moves by Myanmar Post and Telecommunications to extend access to the
general public. 

At present, government departments and authorised businesses are the main
users. A so-called cybercafe opened last year in the capital Rangoon, but
its computers offered no access to the internet. 

Burma is clearly determined that as it bows to the inevitable and allows
the new technology in, there will be none of the unwanted political
side-effects that have been conspicuous in neighbouring China for example,
where dissidents now routinely use the internet to exchange information
and access news that is censored by the Chinese media. 

Rules  

The new regulations ban the posting of any material on the internet deemed
by the Burmese Government to be harmful, directly or indirectly, to its
policies or security.  Internet accounts are only to be used by those who
have been officially granted them: a rule that could jeopardise the
development of internet cafes. Internet users are also banned from
creating web pages without official permission. And no material relating
to politics is allowed to be posted.  Anti-government activists in Burma,
however, smuggle information outside the country where it is posted on
websites maintained by Burmese exiles.  And the government itself runs a
website containing mainly information for tourists and businesspeople. 


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