Here is an items that might be interesting for the Politech list-- it raises issues of de facto censorship of information (and certainly in this case, much of it lies, disinformation and propaganda) from an established regime. AOL removes link to Junta Homepage Free Burma Coalition www.freeburmacoalition.org Contact: Dr. Zarni, Free Burma Coalition, [EMAIL PROTECTED], 202-777-6009 For Immediate Release: America Online Chooses, Then Deletes Burma Junta Web Page Dulles, Virginia -- August 18, 1999 -- America Online, the leading internet Service provider in the United States, has made an abrupt about-face. On Friday August 13th, AOL chose the site www.myanmar.com to be linked to AOL's Asia Forum. The problem? The site is operated by the ruling military junta of Burma (also known as Myanmar), identified by Reporters Sans Frontieres as one of the world's "real enemies" of the internet. The Burmese junta jails citizens for "unauthorized" use of fax, photocopiers and computers with modems. Internet service, including AOL, is unavailable to all of Burma's 46 million citizens, save a few "authorized" friends of the regime. Ironically, an email message from Burma's Office of Strategic Services (the secret police) alerted exiled Burmese democrats to AOL's gaffe. The message copied AOL's announcement, which gushed "We think you'll notice dramatically increased usage because of this exposure." Though an international pariah, the junta makes extensive use of the internet to distribute its propaganda. The website in question, www.myanmar.com, is mostly used to lure hard-currency-carrying tourists. But elsewhere the page compiles vituperative articles from the junta-controlled press. Burmese democracy leader and Nobel Peace Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi comes in for particular scorn, often called a "sorceress" or a "lackey of colonialists." The more than 100,000 Burmese refugees huddled in Thailand are labelled "terrorists," though groups such as Amnesty International say they are vicitms of rape, torture, forced labor and murder. "We informed AOL of the fact that the junta operates this page, and gave them some information about pervasive human rights violations in Burma," says Dr. Zarni, Burmese founder of the Free Burma Coalition. "It looked bad for an 'information technology' company to be leading its users to the propaganda page of a regime that has closed the universities and restricted all kinds of information, including the internet. To their credit, AOL reacted quickly," he adds. AOL informed the Free Burma Coalition on Tuesday, August 17 that "we have removed the website in question from the International Country Pages." END ****************************************** Thomas R. Lansner Assistant Dean Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs 420 West 118th Street, New York, NY 10027 USA 212-854-8690 fax 212-854-1657 email [EMAIL PROTECTED] ****************************** -------------------------------------------------------------------------- POLITECH -- the moderated mailing list of politics and technology To subscribe: send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with this text: subscribe politech More information is at http://www.well.com/~declan/politech/ --------------------------------------------------------------------------
