INTERNET ENEMIES / 12TH MARCH 2011/ WORLD DAY AGAINST CENSORSHIP ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// 13 The deployment of fibre-optic cables will not only allow Internet access but also Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) services because it will increase available bandwidth. Burmese Internet users will be allocated to three Internet service providers, instead of the two they now have. One will be reserved for the Burmese defence ministry, one for the government and one for the public. Under this system, the government will be able to totally or partially block the population’s access without affecting government or military connections. During the 2007 Safran Revolution, since all three “categories” were using the same providers, when the authorities disconnected the Internet to prevent civilians from sharing photos of the ensuing crackdown, members of the military and government were also cut off. What is more, he new architecture will allow the defence ministry to directly control Internet traffic at the point of entry into Burma. The government and military will be likely to enjoy faster and better Internet performance than the average user, since ISPs will get an “equal share” of bandwidth in each of the three categories, even though the number of users will vary greatly from one ISP to the next. The cost of the new service, which will be passed on to the public, may also curb any growth in the Internet penetration rate, currently at about 2% in a country in which the average salary is 27 U.S. dollars and Internet cafés charge 54 cents per connection hour. This national portal will supposedly offer an email service (Ymail) and a chat service (Ytalk) as alternatives to Gmail and Gtalk, making it even easier for the authorities to monitor users’ online communications. Lastly, undetectable Internet “sniffers” will be placed on the server reserved for the public to retrieve diverse confidential data. The military junta’s ability to spy on netizens and dissidents, thereby restricting freedom of speech even further, will be greatly enhanced. The Internet access difficulties experienced by local Internet users during recent key events attest to the new portal’s timely arrival. Unreliable Internet connections in the run up to the 7 November 2010: Slowdowns, cyberattacks and tampering The elections initiated by the military junta had no credibility, mainly because of the Burmese and foreign media’s lack of freedom. Despite the constraints, the Burmese media did their best and managed to offer the public a variety of news and analyses unmatched since the last elections in 1990. However, with all the preceding censorship, intimidations, detentions and expulsions of foreign journalists, stricter liberticidal laws and unreliable Internet connections, the conditions for a free election were far from present. The military junta made it a requirement for political parties wishing to publish information or their programmes to first have them approved by the Press Scrutiny and Registration Board within 90 days after registering with the Election Commission. The regime announced on 17 March 2010 that the publishing of pamphlets, newspapers, books or other election-related printed material, now falls under the 1962 Printers and Publishers Registration Act, which provides for sentences of up to seven years in prison for disseminating information which is critical of the government or disturbs public “tranquillity.” A drastic slowdown in Internet connections was noted in early October, more than a month after the elections, indicating the authorities’ resolve to tighten their control over information. "I can no longer connect to my Gmail account using proxies. Access to all websites based abroad has become terribly slow,” a Rangoon-based journalist told Reporters Without Borders. According to Irrawaddy magazine, the capital’s cybercafés had closed in advance of the elections. This slowdown began after cyberattacks in the form of distributed denial of service (DDoS) affected several exiled Burmese media websites such as Irrawaddy and the Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB). Just a few days prior to the legislative elections, the Burmese Internet network experienced a massive cyberattack. The attacks began around 25 October 2010 and gradually increased in number and severity, causing the country to be regularly disconnected from the Web for se-