ONI Country Profi le
261
accused the government of deliberately slowing down the Internet in the country in
order to silence foreign media, which were prohibited from entering Burma.
94 However,
domestic Burmese media did not attribute the slowdown to government action and,
instead, reported the lower Internet speed as a result of attacks.
95
ONI Testing Results
OpenNet Initiative testing was conducted on Yatanarpon Teleport and MPT at various
periods in 2009 and 2010 and found evidence of extensive fi ltering. Findings revealed
that the fi ltering practices of Yatanarpon Teleport and MPT remained largely consistent
with previous ONI fi ndings.
MPT focused on fi ltering political-reform Web sites, independent Burmese media,
and human-rights content related to Burma. When users attempted to access these
Web sites, they were redirected to a block page notifying them that “ the URL you
requested has been blocked. ” Users were not given the option of contacting a moderator to have the blocked Web site reevaluated. OpenNet Initiative testing found that
MPT remains slightly more selective in its fi ltering practices than Yatanarpon Teleport,
a fi nding that is consistent with previous results. Rather than blocking entire domains,
MPT blocked specifi c pages of Web sites — for instance, blocking http://niknayman
.blogspot.com, as opposed to http://blogspot.com.
96
Yatanarpon Teleport continues to target the Web sites of independent Burmese
media, content relating to political reform and human rights, free e-mail services,
and circumvention tools. When users attempted to access these sites, they were redirected to a block page notifying them that “ access has been denied . . . access to
requested URL has been denied. ” At the bottom of the block page, users were given
the option of contacting a moderator to have the blocked Web site reevaluated. In
contrast to MPT, and consistent with previous ONI fi ndings, Yatanarpon Teleport
blocked entire domains. The result is that Web sites with content unrelated to Burma
were often blocked.
Compared to MPT, Yatanarpon Teleport blocked signifi cantly more Web sites in the
“ social ” thematic category — ONI testing found that pornography and Web sites with
content related to sex education and family planning were the two most fi ltered within
the social thematic category. Yatanarpon Teleport fi ltered slightly more Web sites with
political content than MPT, although both ISPs heavily fi ltered Web sites with political
content, with the end result being approximately equivalent.
Consistent with previous ONI fi ndings, Web sites with content related to human
rights, women ’ s rights, commentary and criticism, political transformation, political
reform, free expression, media freedom, minority rights, and religious conversion
continue to be a priority for blocking. Nongovernmental organizations with concerns
about Burmese human-rights issues were blocked by Yatanarpon Teleport, including
261
accused the government of deliberately slowing down the Internet in the country in
order to silence foreign media, which were prohibited from entering Burma.
94 However,
domestic Burmese media did not attribute the slowdown to government action and,
instead, reported the lower Internet speed as a result of attacks.
95
ONI Testing Results
OpenNet Initiative testing was conducted on Yatanarpon Teleport and MPT at various
periods in 2009 and 2010 and found evidence of extensive fi ltering. Findings revealed
that the fi ltering practices of Yatanarpon Teleport and MPT remained largely consistent
with previous ONI fi ndings.
MPT focused on fi ltering political-reform Web sites, independent Burmese media,
and human-rights content related to Burma. When users attempted to access these
Web sites, they were redirected to a block page notifying them that “ the URL you
requested has been blocked. ” Users were not given the option of contacting a moderator to have the blocked Web site reevaluated. OpenNet Initiative testing found that
MPT remains slightly more selective in its fi ltering practices than Yatanarpon Teleport,
a fi nding that is consistent with previous results. Rather than blocking entire domains,
MPT blocked specifi c pages of Web sites — for instance, blocking http://niknayman
.blogspot.com, as opposed to http://blogspot.com.
96
Yatanarpon Teleport continues to target the Web sites of independent Burmese
media, content relating to political reform and human rights, free e-mail services,
and circumvention tools. When users attempted to access these sites, they were redirected to a block page notifying them that “ access has been denied . . . access to
requested URL has been denied. ” At the bottom of the block page, users were given
the option of contacting a moderator to have the blocked Web site reevaluated. In
contrast to MPT, and consistent with previous ONI fi ndings, Yatanarpon Teleport
blocked entire domains. The result is that Web sites with content unrelated to Burma
were often blocked.
Compared to MPT, Yatanarpon Teleport blocked signifi cantly more Web sites in the
“ social ” thematic category — ONI testing found that pornography and Web sites with
content related to sex education and family planning were the two most fi ltered within
the social thematic category. Yatanarpon Teleport fi ltered slightly more Web sites with
political content than MPT, although both ISPs heavily fi ltered Web sites with political
content, with the end result being approximately equivalent.
Consistent with previous ONI fi ndings, Web sites with content related to human
rights, women ’ s rights, commentary and criticism, political transformation, political
reform, free expression, media freedom, minority rights, and religious conversion
continue to be a priority for blocking. Nongovernmental organizations with concerns
about Burmese human-rights issues were blocked by Yatanarpon Teleport, including