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Internet Blackout in Myanmar Stalls Citizen Report

Posted by CowboyNeal on Sat Sep 29, 2007 11:16 AM
from the for-their-own-safety-of-course dept.
Censorship Government The Internet Politics
StonyandCher writes "The government in Myanmar has reportedly cut off Internet access in the troubled country. The loss of Internet access in Myanmar has slowed the tide of photos and videos shared with the rest of the world but people outside of the troubled country continue to use new media sites and other technologies to protest military activity in the Southeast Asia country."
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Submission: Internet blackout in Myanmar stalls citizen report by StonyandCher (1121349)
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  • Site with TFA is loaded with flash (Score:4, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 29 2007, @11:19AM (#20793945)
    Printer-friendly link [goodgearguide.com.au].

  • This, my friends.... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Man On Pink Corner (1089867) on Saturday September 29 2007, @11:25AM (#20793987)
    ... is exactly why you don't want to destroy the utility of the HF radio spectrum to sell it to broadband-over-power-line Internet providers.

    You don't want to put all of your communication eggs in one government-controlled basket.

    • Re: (Score:2, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward
      is why they said the revolution would not be televised.

    • Re:This, my friends.... (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Vellmont (569020) on Saturday September 29 2007, @12:27PM (#20794477)

      is exactly why you don't want to destroy the utility of the HF radio spectrum to sell it to broadband-over-power-line Internet providers.


      Right. Because we all know an oppressive government that's willing and able to cut off internet access to an entire country won't be able to send a couple soldiers to gun down the guy down the street blasting HF in his ham shack.

      I think violating government spectrum policy would be the last thing such a person would be worried about.

      • Re:This, my friends.... (Score:4, Insightful)

        by tloh (451585) on Saturday September 29 2007, @11:52AM (#20794229)
        Actually I was just being facetious. But I am curious to know the current state of ham radio in other parts of the world. Has anyone ever exchanged QSL with someone in Burma? Might be a good time for state-side hams to start listening and do some credit to the amateur radio discipline.
      • I think it's actually because they don't use the metric system. Their pipes were the wrong size to attach to the rest of the world.

  • Umm... only question: Why so late? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Opportunist (166417) on Saturday September 29 2007, @11:31AM (#20794031)
    The first thing an oppressive government usually does when unrest is rising is to make sure independent news and reports can't escape, so the only source for information is the official one. They actually took their time to do that, given that the civil war has started almost half a month ago.

    Well, maybe their astrologer said they should wait 2 more weeks 'cause then the stars are aligned or something.

    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by damburger (981828)

      I don't think your average autocratic police state is that tech-savvy - Burma is run by peope whose expertise lies more in the area of killing and torture.

      It may simply have not occurred to them to do this

        • I'm almost certainly further left than you, and I don't support killing of peaceful protesters and reporters trying to tell people about peaceful protesters.

        • Yeah, those monks come from the most caste driven culture in the world, where someone born in the lowest castes are forced to remain there forever



          What in the hell are you talking about?

        • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

          by aneeshm (862723)
          I'm sorry to say this, but this is complete, total rubbish, probably born of ignorance.

          If you knew ANYTHING about the societies which were (they aren't now) run on a system of caste organisation, you would know that the monkhood is open to everyone.

          In India, in all Indic-influenced countries, one of the things that a monk undergoes is the renunciation of his ties with the world, including his birth, his caste, and his society. He is a free spirit. There is a saying, "Never seek the source of a sannyas
        • What a lame troll! Dude, i can't even say nice try.
    • It does't take too much skill to figure out how to switch a router off, or to switch off the power supply to a satellite dish farm.

      Maybe there is some way a communications satellites could boost the signal so that ordinary mobile phones could be turned into satellite phones?

      • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

        by raju1kabir (251972)

        Maybe there is some way a communications satellites could boost the signal so that ordinary mobile phones could be turned into satellite phones?

        No, that won't make it possible for mobile phones to transmit with the strength necessary to reach orbit, or to cope with the signal delay.

        One interesting tidbit: On the Thai side of the very porous Burmese border, you can go into any 7-Eleven and buy an AIS One-2-Call SIM card for as little as 50 baht (about US$1.50). AIS often run cheap deals [one-2-call.com] where you can get

    • The Internet blackout happened in the 24 hours after the first violent repression. It has been fairly synchronized. Of course they claim that this is due to damages done to a submarine cable...

  • Control=Cut off information (Score:3, Informative)

    by kcpearly15 (1161509) on Saturday September 29 2007, @11:31AM (#20794037)
    I guess this goes back to the idea that if you can control the information going to and from people, you can control the people themselves. It is really a statement of where the internet is today in terms of importance around the world. I would like to see if anyone from this country manages to make an "underground" makeshift connection to the internet. Also, does any one else find it interesting that the group forming together to protest for the rights of the monks is on facebook?
    • >Also, does any one else find it interesting that the group forming together to protest for the rights of the monks is on facebook?

      Not at all. Seems obviously typical for something college students (90% of facebook) to do.

  • Satellite access a possibility? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Langfat (953252) on Saturday September 29 2007, @11:40AM (#20794115) Homepage
    I have never used a satellite internet provider, but I know that they do exist. Could someone on slashdot explain what is required for such service? I assume a modem which would be registered with a satellite provider. What is the feasibility of smuggling such things into Burma?
    • What about phone lines? Surely I'm not the only one old enough to ask whether people can dial out to international dial-up lines. It'd only take a relative abroad to hook up their broadband-connected PC to their old phone modem and unless your line is tapped it'd be just another phone call to the family.

          • Morse? (Score:5, Interesting)

            by Attaturk (695988) on Saturday September 29 2007, @12:21PM (#20794437) Homepage
            If they've cut off every single international phone line you can still radio data in and out. People tend to think that going high tech is the way to break out of these kinds of situations - e.g. satellites etc. - when often going back to flashing light semaphore or carrier pigeon is more likely to succeed.

            Losing the connection to Burma slightly, the Romans employed four flags on poles to communicate messages up and down Hadrian's Wall. In ideal conditions they could get a 4-bit message from one end to the other (70-something miles) in a matter of seconds - that's a pretty good bitrate for something with no electricity behind it. Granted you can't get streaming video of monks being beaten up at that kind of bandwidth but radio's a different story.

            And setting up mobile radio stations is probably easier than installing a massive communications line of wooden poles without the military noticing. Many brave individuals carefully concealed both receivers and transmitters throughout occupied Europe often at great personal risk, for example. Communications routed around damage even back then. I'm sure there are people within that country right now beaming data out. I wonder where messages in bottles cast out on their beaches would wash ashore. You could squeeze quite a bit of memory into a bottle.

            Anyway, I think what I'm rambling about is that there's always a way. I just hope there are enough people with the balls out there taking these risks and, much more importantly, I hope that their messages do not fall on deaf ears. Sadly I feel some of the more powerful countries, who might otherwise be in a position to levy some immense pressure on the Burmese junta, are somewhat under-staffed at the moment. Although it's fair to say that some other countries - that are most definitely not under-staffed - remain on the outside of this affair for rather more cryptic and apparently self-serving reasons.

            All said with humble and awkward apologies for commenting on the topic while enjoying a comfortable yet-to-be-oppressed privileged lifestyle.
    • Traditionally with satellite internet systems you'd have a modem uplink with the download handled by a satellite reciever. However there are relatively new two-way systems (which I used when ADSL was not available in my area), but their prohibatively expensive most of the time (1000-3000 GBP in hardware & setup costs, plus ~100 GBP per month).

      I don't have any experience of what internet access is like in Burma, but in Cambodia it's expensive even before you take into account the average wage and satelli
    • There are plenty of ways around it, but governments do not care about expensive workarounds, or those that require technical knowledge. They want to stop the mass of the people from seeing things.

      I doubt the Burmese government cares much about us seeing the pictures, they want their own people to be not sure what is going on. They do not, for example, want people in other cities seeing the protests in Rangoon, and starting their own.

  • please... (Score:5, Informative)

    by joe 155 (937621) on Saturday September 29 2007, @11:48AM (#20794193) Journal
    as someone mentioned before, call the country Burma. That's the name which signifies that you don't accept the legitimacy of the murders who have stolen the country and ruled over it for all these years.

    Also, I don't get the anti-bush tag, he seems to be doing a lot more than most to help the situation...

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Vellmont (569020)

      That's the name which signifies that you don't accept the legitimacy of the murders who have stolen the country and ruled over it for all these years.


      Bah. Countries are as countries do. If you have the ability to act like a government, you're a government. It's pointless and counter-productive to play some dumb name game where you close your eyes and pretend reality isn't reality.

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by butlerdi (705651)
      I do believe the name Burma came from when the British were the murders who had stolen the country and ruled over it for all those years.

  • Fucking Myanmar... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by danielsfca2 (696792) on Saturday September 29 2007, @11:48AM (#20794195) Journal
    Isn't this shit sad? I mean, a tyrannical military government that nobody wants in power, who's abusing that power by willfully shooting civilians. Of course, our leaders don't give a rats ass beyond talking about how "concerned" or "saddened" or "disappointed" because Myanmar doesn't have any oil, or strategic position we can use.

    I'm not trying to say Iraq wasn't justified. It doesn't matter. Whether it was or not, I think Myanmar's military rulers need a good ass-kicking. And there's an ass we could kick overnight if we wanted to. Just bust in there to their headquarters and fire some automatic weapons at them just the same way they do to the innocent monks. That'll teach 'em. Throw in an election to put up a REAL government, and we'd be home by Christmas.

    • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Err there already IS a real government and one with a Presedent-elect who is a Nobel Peace Prize laureate.

      The whole point of the protests is that the ruling junta never allowed her to take office after they won the election.
    • Burma DOES have oil. Chevron (US) and Total (French) are two of the biggest benefactors. China, Russia and India all have billions invested as well. So long as the money keeps coming, no one seems to care who is in power or how they exercise it...

  • internet censorship in Myanmar brought to you by (Score:4, Informative)

    by sdedeo (683762) on Saturday September 29 2007, @12:22PM (#20794439) Homepage Journal
    the American firm Fortinet [wikipedia.org], which runs the Myanmar Wide Web [wikipedia.org].

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by Slashcrap (869349)
        Software produced by Fortinet, but not administered, supervised or maintained by Fortinet, is used by the government of Myanmar to censor the MWW.

        Yes, you're quite right. Fortinet are only making money out of the situation and therefore should be entirely excused of any suggestion of wrongdoing. Likewise anyone selling arms to the Burmese government should also be excused because they're not the ones actually shooting monks in the fucking head.

        If you disagree with my comparison, please do feel free to let u
    • Myanmar == Burma

      It has large quantities of oil and gas...

      WTF do you think there are problems in the place all of a sudden? Do you think it's coincidence there are problems and unrest in oil producing countries now that world oil production has fallen for the last few years?

      http://www.worldoil.com/INFOCENTER/STATISTICS_DETAIL.asp?Statfile=_worldoilproduction [worldoil.com]
    • the parent is packing heavy punch, and you all know it. use your mod points wisely instead of political nitpicking. or dont use them at all.
      • I would mod that post the same. Cliched post pushes the usual Bush and Iraq-oil buttons. There's no "heavy punch" there.
        • something being overused does not mean that it will be misused every time that it is used.
          • Your understanding of the issues surrounding this situation seem to be extremely poor, and the observations made in the post you are defending are equally ignorant and childish.

            The situation for the US, or any Western government which might want to get involved militarily in Myanmar today is simple - involve your military today in Myanmar, and you will almost certainly find yourself facing the very threatening military might of China, their strongest ally.

            It would require you reading maybe half of one of th
              • Learn things before you speak. You sound like a High School Junior. "OMG BUSH R EVIL N GUBBEMENT R BAD CUZ DEY KIL PEOPL."

                Honestly, things are a lot more complex than you think.
    • Because Myanmar is right in there with Vietnam.
    • But see, going to war with Myanmar means going to war with China. No one wants that.

      • Re:Where are you, George? (Score:4, Insightful)

        by nagora (177841) on Saturday September 29 2007, @01:12PM (#20794769)
        China is already bleeding the US in Iraq (via its proxy Iran)

        Oh, grow up.

        Iran and Iranians are only too happy to aid the insurgents in Iraq for the very, very simple reason that a bunch of total cunts dropped weapons of mass destruction on them in the form of nerve gas and bio weapons. Who were these bastards that went beyond any acceptable limits of civilised behaviour? Well, goodness me! It seems that it was the good old US of fucking A and it's ongoing mission to bring democracy and strong IP laws to the world! And strangely, dropping plagues on Iran has led to anti-American feeling there?! They're just unreasonable, those ragheads.

        If America had treated my country the way the US treated Iran, I'D be an insurgent too, and I suspect you would too, without any need to listen to anti-China fairy stories.

        Apart from anything else, there's a mountain of reasons to hate China without having to make new ones up. Unless, of course, you are really just trying to justify some other totally unconnected policy.

        TWW

        • What's interesting about Iran is that after 9/11 they seemed to be the only country in that part of the world that felt bad about what happened. I believe they were one of the few countries that held candlelight vigils that night and prayed for the victims of the attacks.
      • there's really no need to worry about that.. Burma is a very poor country, and has no oil, so i see no reason why Bush would want to "liberate" the Burmese people.

        • Burma has lots of oil (Score:5, Informative)

          by Langfat (953252) on Saturday September 29 2007, @12:04PM (#20794319) Homepage
          Burma is a very resource-rich country. The problem is that rather than the wealth going to the people, it is funneled into the pockets of the military generals (who then splurge on their daughters' weddings) [youtube.com]

          At the risk of sounding like a broken record, Burma has tons of oil. Chevron and Total are the two Western companies profiting the most, but China, India and Russia all have significant (read multi-BILLION dollar) investments as well..

      • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

        by Anonymous Coward
        Clearly, the situation in Myanmar is all America's fault. If they hadn't invented the Internet, then it couldn't be cut off.

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