5/23/22, 2:51 AM Internet Filtering in Burma in 2005: A Country Study | OpenNet Initiative 3. Has Fortinet helped Burma configure the product(s)? If so, was the product configured to comply with the 2000 Web Regulations instituted by Burma? 4. What else would Fortinet like to add on this subject? What should people know about the company and its activities in order to understand the situation? ONI received the following reply from Michelle Spolver, Fortinet's Director of Worldwide Public Relations: "Fortinet employs a two-tier sales model, in which we sell 100% of our products to resellers (who then resell to end-users). We do not directly sell, deploy or configure our products for end-users. Additionally, we have no record in our databases of Myanmar Millenium Group being a Fortinet reseller (although, it appears by the article you sent me8 that perhaps initial discussions were had)."9 An article in the New Light of Myanmar newspaper covering the sale of the Fortinet product to Burma shows a picture of Benjamin Teh, Fortinet's sales director for South Asia, presenting a gift to Burma's Prime Minister at a ceremony commemorating the sale.10 Given Mr. Teh's participation, it seems unlikely that Fortinet did not know of the sale of its software to Burma. ONI notes that Fortinet does not indicate it restricts re-sellers from conducting business with Burma, unlike companies such as Sun Microsystems.11 Information from Burmese sources indicates that the filtering situation has grown more restrictive for Bagan Cybertech users since the deployment of the Fortinet Fortiguard product. Whereas the open source DansGuardian filter requires more work on the part of local administrators, Fortinet's products - supported by substantial venture-capital investments and surrounded by a suite of security technologies - are more likely to be updated on a full-service basis by an outside third-party. C. Legal Background The Burmese legal system is controlled entirely by the SPDC, an authoritarian body of high-ranking military officers.12The Council rules by decree, appoints every member of the Supreme Court, and approves each lower court judicial appointment made by the Supreme Court.13 A patchwork of laws promulgated by the SPDC and inherited from previous governments confers power upon the state to punish citizens harshly for a wide range of offenses related to the spread of information, both through traditional and electronic means.14These powers are redundant as a number of broad security measures give the state discretion to punish virtually any kind of activity. The Emergency Provisions Act of 1950 outlaws the spread of "false news," "creat[ing] panic," and "undermining the security of the Union [by] affecting the morality of the public."15 The Unlawful Associations Act of 1908 (amended in 1957) prohibits any association "which has been declared to be unlawful by the President of the Union."16 Finally, the State Protection Law of 1975, called "The Broadest Law in the World" by the Burmese Lawyers' Council,17 allows the state to declare martial law at any time, "restrict[ing] any citizen's fundamental rights" without charge.18 Each of these laws is still in use today.19 D. General Media Regulation Burma's media controls are considered among the world's strictest.20After the military coup in 1962, authoritarian ruler Ne Win's21regime enacted the Printers and Publishers Registration Law, banning independent newspapers and requiring that all printed material be submitted to the Press Scrutiny Board (PSB) before distribution.22As amended in 1975, the law prohibits printing "anything detrimental to the ideology of the state," "any incorrect ideas and opinions which do not accord with the times," "any descriptions which, though factually correct, are unsuitable because of the time or circumstances of their writing," and "any criticism of a non-constructive type of the work of government departments."23 Today, Burma's press consists almost exclusively of state-run sources including three newspapers, three television stations, two radio stations, and one news agency.24The two English-language newspapers are never critical of government actions25and the more strictly controlled of the two, The New Light of Myanmar, is often overtly propagandistic.26 The Myanmar Times was launched in 2000 under then-prime minister Khin Nyunt, reportedly in an effort to improve the junta's international image with regard to press freedom,27and subsequently enjoyed almost-exclusive ability to publish politically sensitive stories.28In late 2004, Nyunt and roughly 300 other senior military intelligence officers were ousted, possibly for failing to share wealth obtained through state-run commercial enterprises.29 The deputy chief executive officer of The Times' publisher was among those purged, and the paper is now under army control.30 International press freedom advocacy groups predict that Nyunt's removal will lead to still stricter press controls in Burma.31 The few remaining independent publications must self-censor in order to avoid the harsh fines and prison sentences prescribed by the Printers and Publishers Registration Law.32Some publications, such as periodicals, must be submitted to the PSB after all copies have been printed; if the censors order a change, the entire run must be destroyed and reprinted at the publisher's cost, providing a further disincentive to print https://opennet.net/studies/burma 3/15