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By SHELLY CULBERTSON
YANGON, Myanmar (AP)
In theory, anyone can get online in Myanmar, also known as Burma. But this being one of Asia's poorest countries, access is a luxury few can afford. Only about one in 5,000 people has Internet access, and even that is restricted by firewalls and other government-imposed limitations. It was a limited cyber-thaw, then, when Myanmar's isolationist regime, which controls all media and communications in the country, allowed the two cybercafes to open earlier this year. In one, a dusty warehouse-like space called Cyberworld, a recent university graduate sat at one of the shop's 27 terminals looking for Web sites for a master's degree program in computers in the United States. He had a computer science degree from the university in this nation, though Internet access was unavailable on campus. The student, who like many others interviewed spoke on condition of anonymity, said he had been able to use the Internet in the past few years only through a private company's connection. Now he and others who can afford the cafes come to look for work opportunities or better schools. Others seek escape through video games. What you won't find - at least not openly - are people visiting anti-government Web sites. That can land a person in jail. The military, in power since 1962, arrested six army officers in 1999 for trying to access such a site, according to the Paris-based media freedom group Reporters Without Borders. Pornography, meanwhile, is taboo. And don't even think of trying to access a Hotmail account - the e-mail service is blocked. "Of countries worldwide, Burma and North Korea are together at the far end of the scale of Internet repression," Shanthi Kalathil, author of the book "Open Networks, Closed Regimes," said in a telephone interview from Washington. |
Near the 48 terminals at Surf 'N Surf, the other Internet cafe, the rules are posted in fractured English: "We don't provide any pornography, free e-mail, anti-government Web site, due to strictly prohibited by authority." Dissident Web sites, pornography sites and even some general news sites are all but impossible to access because of filtering software installed by the government on computers that link Myanmar with the outside world. While Western technologists have developed ways around such blocks, most of their efforts have focused on China. Myanmar's government blocks the free e-mail services of Hotmail and Yahoo, forcing people to buy accounts from tightly controlled government providers, one of which is owned by the son of military intelligence chief Khin Nyunt, the junta's third-ranking leader. Regulations issued in 2000 forbid the posting of political writings on the Internet. Also banned was anything "detrimental" to Myanmar or its "current policies and secret security affairs." One law on the books sets a punishment of up to 15 years in prison for possessing a modem without permission. The pornography barriers, at least, have proven permeable. At one hotel, it was possible to catch a glimpse of two employees at the e-mail service center hastily clicking to shut down spicy photos on a computer screen. Even the business centers at five-star hotels do not provide Internet, only allowing guests to send and receive e-mail through hotel accounts. The staff prints out all e-mails received, smilingly handing paper copies of private messages to guests, ostensibly as a service, but making visitors feel monitored. "I heard a year ago they were checking e-mail by e-mail, but they are not doing that now," says Vincent Brossel of Reporters Without Borders, which recently issued a report on world Internet freedom. Even with the two new Internet cafes, the regime can hardly claim it's allowing public access to the Internet. |
Most Burmese cannot get online either because they lack the required official permission to open private accounts or they simply can't afford it. The price of an hour at Cyberworld or Surf 'N Surf is US$1.50, an amount many in Myanmar can't earn in a full day. Brossel said the recent easing of restrictions was spurred by business pressures. Keeping the Internet revolution in check has allowed the junta to maintain firm control, but it has also slowed economic development, he said. "Investor countries want to see more openness," he said from Paris. Brossel said the recent thaw could come of a struggle within the military, one that saw generals who seek more foreign dollars outmuscling generals who favor tighter political control. Meanwhile, the Internet has been a powerful force for opposition groups outside Myanmar. They maintain Web sites to provide uncensored news and organize opponents of the military regime all over the world. Though most people in Myanmar can't access them, the sites raise awareness worldwide. In addition, many of the developments - rumors and fact - following the May 30 arrest of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi circulated first on the Internet. Kalathil, the author, said pressure from such opposition groups had led to some foreign investors pulling out of Myanmar. "The transnational opposition movement has had a very tangible impact, and a lot of this has been from Internet organizers," she said.
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