5/23/22, 2:51 AM Internet Filtering in Burma in 2005: A Country Study | OpenNet Initiative almost entirely blocked, as 17 of 20 sites tested (85%) were filtered. Given Burma's commitment to monitoring e-mail communication by its citizens, this result is not surprising. Burma also blocks nearly twothirds of pornographic sites checked (24 sites blocked of 37 tested, 65%). ONI also found lesser filtering of gambling sites (6 blocked of 25 tested, 24%), group discussion pages (3 filtered of 17, 18%), news outlets (3 filtered of 37, 8%), and human rights sites (3 blocked of 27, 11%). The state blocked 4 entertainment sites of 26 tested (15%), though three of these were on the go.com domain, which appears to be filtered in its entirety. Similarly, Burma blocked 4 search engines of 25 checked (16%), though major engines such as Google, MSN, and Yahoo! were available. The state filtered 2 of 11 free Web hosting sites tested (18%), and 2 of 18 anonymizer services checked (11%). These topics appear to be sensitive to the Burmese state, but not sufficiently so for it to implement more restrictive blocking of such sites. We also detected low levels of filtering in the categories of encryption (1 site blocked of 9 tested, 11%), alcohol (1 / 21, 5%), famous bloggers (1 / 21 sites, 5%), hate speech (1 / 24, 4%), drugs (1 / 26, 4%), religion (normal) (2 / 51, 4%), sex education (1 / 24, 4%), major events (1 / 29, 3%), and gay / lesbian / bisexual / transgender issues (1 / 38, 3%). There is no clear pattern to this low-level blocking, other than that the blocking crosses many types of content. Burma's blocking is relatively wide, with at least one site blocked in 19 of the 31 categories ONI tests with the global list. Figure 1 - Global List Filtering (Categories with >10% Filtering) C.Burma High-Impact List Results Of the twenty-five sites tested on ONI's high-impact list, twenty (80%) were blocked.72These included sites about political opposition groups, including pages focused on Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi; military opposition movements, such as the Karen National Liberation Army; non-governmental organizations, such as the Women's League of Burma; Google search pages for content on circumventing filtering and monitoring; and even organizations that seek national reconciliation and oppose sanctions, such as the Free Burma Coalition Mission. The four tested pages that were not blocked were the official Nobel Peace Prize page on Aung San Suu Kyi, a non-profit portal site about the Karen people, an archive of stories from the Bangkok Post on Myanmar, a site with the text of the DansGuardian block page, and the Free Burma Ranger site, which conducts relief missions in Burma and supports "the restoration of democracy, ethnic rights and the implementation of the International Declaration of Human Rights in Burma."73Overall, of the limited number of high-visibility sites tested, ONI found that Burma blocks the vast majority of sites related to sensitive topics such as political and military opposition groups, human rights, and pro-democracy organizations. Burma's filtering of sites on the high-impact list included blocking sites that do not have obviously sensitive content. For example, the Online Burma Library compiles articles and scholarly materials on Burma; while half of its content derives from United Nations and Burma Peace Foundation materials, the site does not have a clear political or ideological agenda.74Similarly, the site of The Nation, a Bangkok-based newspaper, is filtered. While the site covers news from Burma, it also does not appear to take a normative position on the https://opennet.net/studies/burma 7/15