156
Nart Villeneuve and Masashi Crete-Nishihata
The Saffron Revolution was the scene of the most dramatic example of Internet
controls and resistance in Burma. A small number of peaceful protests organized by
Burmese social and political activists began on August 17, 2007, in reaction to a 500
percent increase in the retail price of fuel.
22 These initial demonstrations were quickly
suppressed by the government, but peaceful protests spread throughout the country
under the leadership of Buddhist monks. By mid-September the number of participants had swelled to 100,000, including 10,000 Buddhist monks.
23 The government
reacted with a severe crackdown from September 26 to 29. During this time, a number
of serious human rights violations occurred, including killings, mass beatings, and
arrests.
24 Burmese independent media outlets, including Mizzima News, The Irrawaddy,
and the Democratic Voice of Burma, along with numerous bloggers and citizen journalists, played a crucial role in disseminating reports of the crackdown to the international community. Despite the heavy restrictions enforced by the regime, activists
and citizen journalists managed to upload images and videos of the protests and
crackdown to the Internet. The dissemination of these images to the world did not
go unnoticed by the SPDC, and on September 29, 2007, it employed a blunter tactic
of information denial than its standard fi ltering practices.
Through its comprehensive control over Burma ’ s international Internet gateways,
the SPDC implemented a complete shutdown of Internet connectivity in the country
that lasted for approximately two weeks.
25 Only two other states have taken such
drastic measures. In February 2005, Nepal closed all international Internet connections
following a declaration of martial law by the king.
26 On January 26, 2011, the Egyptian
government ordered national ISPs to shut down in reaction to major protests in the
country.
27 Severing national Internet connectivity in reaction to sensitive political
events is an extreme example of just-in-time-blocking — a phenomenon in which access
to information is denied exactly at times when the information may have the greatest
potential impact, such as elections, protests, or anniversaries of social unrest.
28 The
crude but effective means of information denial implemented by the SPDC shows the
extent the junta is willing to go to restrict bidirectional fl ows of information in Burma.
It also serves as an example of Internet control beyond fi ltering that is focused on
denying information to international users rather than just blocking domestic access.
Silencing voices critical of the regime during key events is an ongoing occurrence
in Burma, and there exists a long history of cyber attacks against Burmese activists
and independent media organizations, which include a range of attack vectors from
malware to DDoS attacks. In 2000, for instance, Burmese political activists received
numerous e-mail messages containing viruses that many believe were part of an organized campaign perpetrated by state agents.
29 More recently, Burmese independent
news organizations have confronted waves of attacks on their Web sites during the
anniversaries of key political events in the country (table 8.1) . As coverage of the oneyear anniversary of the 2007 crackdown was emerging, the servers of The Irrawaddy
Nart Villeneuve and Masashi Crete-Nishihata
The Saffron Revolution was the scene of the most dramatic example of Internet
controls and resistance in Burma. A small number of peaceful protests organized by
Burmese social and political activists began on August 17, 2007, in reaction to a 500
percent increase in the retail price of fuel.
22 These initial demonstrations were quickly
suppressed by the government, but peaceful protests spread throughout the country
under the leadership of Buddhist monks. By mid-September the number of participants had swelled to 100,000, including 10,000 Buddhist monks.
23 The government
reacted with a severe crackdown from September 26 to 29. During this time, a number
of serious human rights violations occurred, including killings, mass beatings, and
arrests.
24 Burmese independent media outlets, including Mizzima News, The Irrawaddy,
and the Democratic Voice of Burma, along with numerous bloggers and citizen journalists, played a crucial role in disseminating reports of the crackdown to the international community. Despite the heavy restrictions enforced by the regime, activists
and citizen journalists managed to upload images and videos of the protests and
crackdown to the Internet. The dissemination of these images to the world did not
go unnoticed by the SPDC, and on September 29, 2007, it employed a blunter tactic
of information denial than its standard fi ltering practices.
Through its comprehensive control over Burma ’ s international Internet gateways,
the SPDC implemented a complete shutdown of Internet connectivity in the country
that lasted for approximately two weeks.
25 Only two other states have taken such
drastic measures. In February 2005, Nepal closed all international Internet connections
following a declaration of martial law by the king.
26 On January 26, 2011, the Egyptian
government ordered national ISPs to shut down in reaction to major protests in the
country.
27 Severing national Internet connectivity in reaction to sensitive political
events is an extreme example of just-in-time-blocking — a phenomenon in which access
to information is denied exactly at times when the information may have the greatest
potential impact, such as elections, protests, or anniversaries of social unrest.
28 The
crude but effective means of information denial implemented by the SPDC shows the
extent the junta is willing to go to restrict bidirectional fl ows of information in Burma.
It also serves as an example of Internet control beyond fi ltering that is focused on
denying information to international users rather than just blocking domestic access.
Silencing voices critical of the regime during key events is an ongoing occurrence
in Burma, and there exists a long history of cyber attacks against Burmese activists
and independent media organizations, which include a range of attack vectors from
malware to DDoS attacks. In 2000, for instance, Burmese political activists received
numerous e-mail messages containing viruses that many believe were part of an organized campaign perpetrated by state agents.
29 More recently, Burmese independent
news organizations have confronted waves of attacks on their Web sites during the
anniversaries of key political events in the country (table 8.1) . As coverage of the oneyear anniversary of the 2007 crackdown was emerging, the servers of The Irrawaddy