5/23/22, 2:01 AM Internet Filtering in Burma (Myanmar) in 2006-2007 | OpenNet Initiative Search HOME Access Books Country Profiles Data ABOUT ONI Regional Overviews ABOUT FILTERING Reports & Articles RESEARCH Maps Internet Filtering in Burma (Myanmar) in 2006-2007 Note: a newer version of this profile is available at Country Profile: Burma. NEWS BLOG ONI FAQ CONNECT WITH ONI Blog Feed ONI Newsreel To read this report as a PDF, click here. @OpenNet ONI on Facebook OVERVIEW Myanmar’s authoritarian military junta is slowly expanding access to the Internet while maintaining one of the world’s most restrictive systems of control. Despite the fact that less than 1 percent of Myanmar access the Internet, the government has targeted online independent media and dissent with the same commitment it has demonstrated to stifling traditional media and voices for reform. BACKGROUND Myanmar’s abysmal human rights record worsened in 2006,1 prompting increased pressure from the United States, the EU, and ASEAN for reform. In September the U.N. Security Council approved the U.S. government’s proposal to put Myanmar formally on the Council’s agenda.2 Leaders from the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) claim neocolonialists are infiltrating media technology on pretexts of protecting human rights and countering drug trafficking.3 Other sensitive issues included political and constitutional reform, separatist movements, religious and ethnic minorities, forced and child labor, access by humanitarian organizations, and the country’s first disclosed outbreak of bird flu. The government suppressed reports on a wide range of additional issues, from rising cement and fuel prices to restrictions on private banks,4 and jailed two journalists who photographed the new, remote capital at Pyinmana.5 HELP REPORT CENSORSHIP Suspect a website is being censored? 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SIGN UP FOR OUR EMAIL LIST To be kept up to date on our news and reports, sign up for our announcement list. submit INTERNET IN MYANMAR The reported number of Internet users in 2005 ranged from 78,000 to nearly 300,000, at the upper limit representing approximately 0.56 percent of Myanmar’s population.6 Myanmar remains one of thirty countries with less than 1 percent Internet penetration.7 Most users access the Internet in cybercafés (starting at USD0.30 per hour, down from USD0.75 in 2004 and USD0.95–1.50 in 2003),8 which are said to be present in five cities but planned to reach 324 townships within three years.9 Connection speeds are slow, however, as broadband is available primarily to government and businesses and used mostly for Internet telephony via Voice-over Internet Protocol (VoIP), though the government pledged to bring ADSL to every township by the end of 2006.10 There are only two Internet service providers (ISPs) allowed in Myanmar: state-owned telecom Myanmar Posts and Telecom (MPT), which is the only source of new Internet services,11 and Myanmar Teleport (MMT, formerly Bagan Cybertech), which is reportedly the infrastructure arm of Myanmar's Internet system and responsible for blocking content. In September 2005 the Ahaed Co. of Myanmar and the Canadian ICT company Teleglobe reportedly signed a memorandum of understanding to establish a private ISP.12 Reliability is also an issue: in May 2006 the entire country was disconnected for four days because of alleged damage to an undersea cable.13 LEGAL AND REGULATORY FRAMEWORKS Myanmar heavily regulates online access and content via legal, regulatory, and economic constraints. As in other areas, however, the state’s policies are difficult to assess because they are rarely published or explained. Network-ready computers must be registered (for a fee) with the MPT; failure to do so can result in fines and prison sentences of seven to fifteen years.14 Sharing registered Internet connections is also punishable by revocation of access and presumably similar “legal action.”15 Broad laws and regulations confer power upon the SPDC, which is also involved in all judicial appointments,16 to punish citizens harshly for any activity deemed detrimental to national interests or security. Regulations issued in 2000 subjected online content to the same kind of strict filtering that the Press Scrutiny and Registration Division carries out (despite print media being almost exclusively state owned):17 users must obtain MPT permission before creating Web pages, and they cannot post anything “detrimental” to the government or simply related to politics. The MPT can “amend and change regulations on the use of the Internet without prior notice.”18 Costs indeed limit access significantly: even households that can afford a PC and long-distance connection fees outside the capital Yangon (Rangoon) and Mandalay cannot pay USD35/month19 for a broadband account. Dialup access leaves them with state-monitored e-mail (free services are blocked)20 and a small collection of pre-approved sites on the country’s intranet, known as the Myanmar Wide Web.21 As for cybercafés, promoted since 2002 by a “Public Access Centers” (PAC) program for e-mail and gaming purposes,22 the government has been urging business owners to legally register as PACs. This requires them to log user identities and Web sites visited and send the information back to the state-owned Myanmar https://opennet.net/studies/burma2007 1/3