PACs provide VoIP services such as Skype, Pfingo, MediaRingTalk, and others. Centers
are prevented from installing bypass software on their computers, but generally allow
customers to use laptops. According to one PAC operator, 60 percent of users use dialup connections or prepaid access kits while the rest use broadband connections such as
ADSL or WiMAX, as well as satellite connections provided by the state-controlled MMT
and MPT.
Despite the limitations imposed on connectivity in Burma, throughout the days of
escalating protests in September 2007 and the first glimpses of a violent crackdown, a
small band of citizen bloggers and journalists fed graphic footage and eyewitness
accounts to the outside world through the Internet and their personal networks. 40
Vital information, including photographs and videos taken with cell phones and digital cameras and not obtainable through traditional means, was uploaded to the Internet, broadcast over television and radio, and spread in communities throughout the
country. Although described invariably as tech-savvy university students and youth,
these citizen journalists helped multiple generations of Burmese to find linkages to
each other through blogs and other social media. 41
On September 29, 2007, the SPDC made use of its comprehensive control over the
country’s Internet gateways to completely shut down Internet access, with intermittent periods of connectivity, for approximately two weeks. 42 A small group of netizens
had vividly demonstrated that the tools of information technology can have a strong
impact on the global coverage of events as they are unfolding. The Internet shutdown
was the government’s most direct and drastic option to cut off this bidirectional flow
of information, so that the picture of reality for people on both sides of the Burmese
border would remain distorted.
In April 2008, the overseas news organization Mizzima News reported that the
government had formulated a sector-based Internet shutdown strategy to deal with
the constitutional referendum scheduled for May 10. 43 As soon as information leaks
began, Internet cafe ´s and PACs would be cut off, followed by the commercial sector
if information continued to flow out, and presumably by the hospitality and tourism sector. Authorities planned both shutdowns of access and significant slowdowns
in connection speeds, 44 a strategy that was made moot in the wake of Cyclone
Nargis.
Slowdowns in Internet access speeds are not infrequent in Burma. For example,
a prolonged slowdown on MMT began on March 22, 2009, and continued until
April 21. 45 MMT had announced that the submarine cable SE-ME-WE 3 (South East
Asia Middle West Europe 3) would be undergoing maintenance from March 21 to
March 25, but both MMT and MPT shut down their service for several hours on the
afternoon of March 22. For end users, the announced network maintenance resulted
in frustration with delays (in addition to those caused by the use of circumvention
tools) in accessing popular online services, including Gmail, Google Talk, Skype,
Burma
435
are prevented from installing bypass software on their computers, but generally allow
customers to use laptops. According to one PAC operator, 60 percent of users use dialup connections or prepaid access kits while the rest use broadband connections such as
ADSL or WiMAX, as well as satellite connections provided by the state-controlled MMT
and MPT.
Despite the limitations imposed on connectivity in Burma, throughout the days of
escalating protests in September 2007 and the first glimpses of a violent crackdown, a
small band of citizen bloggers and journalists fed graphic footage and eyewitness
accounts to the outside world through the Internet and their personal networks. 40
Vital information, including photographs and videos taken with cell phones and digital cameras and not obtainable through traditional means, was uploaded to the Internet, broadcast over television and radio, and spread in communities throughout the
country. Although described invariably as tech-savvy university students and youth,
these citizen journalists helped multiple generations of Burmese to find linkages to
each other through blogs and other social media. 41
On September 29, 2007, the SPDC made use of its comprehensive control over the
country’s Internet gateways to completely shut down Internet access, with intermittent periods of connectivity, for approximately two weeks. 42 A small group of netizens
had vividly demonstrated that the tools of information technology can have a strong
impact on the global coverage of events as they are unfolding. The Internet shutdown
was the government’s most direct and drastic option to cut off this bidirectional flow
of information, so that the picture of reality for people on both sides of the Burmese
border would remain distorted.
In April 2008, the overseas news organization Mizzima News reported that the
government had formulated a sector-based Internet shutdown strategy to deal with
the constitutional referendum scheduled for May 10. 43 As soon as information leaks
began, Internet cafe ´s and PACs would be cut off, followed by the commercial sector
if information continued to flow out, and presumably by the hospitality and tourism sector. Authorities planned both shutdowns of access and significant slowdowns
in connection speeds, 44 a strategy that was made moot in the wake of Cyclone
Nargis.
Slowdowns in Internet access speeds are not infrequent in Burma. For example,
a prolonged slowdown on MMT began on March 22, 2009, and continued until
April 21. 45 MMT had announced that the submarine cable SE-ME-WE 3 (South East
Asia Middle West Europe 3) would be undergoing maintenance from March 21 to
March 25, but both MMT and MPT shut down their service for several hours on the
afternoon of March 22. For end users, the announced network maintenance resulted
in frustration with delays (in addition to those caused by the use of circumvention
tools) in accessing popular online services, including Gmail, Google Talk, Skype,
Burma
435