Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’d know by now that Myanmar (or Burma) is in the midst of a violent crackdown against peaceful demonstrations by monks and other citizens.
via neat-o-rama: Because of tight control of information, news from the capital city of Yangoon trickle out too slowly through regular media channels.
Here’s where the Internet and blogs step in to fill the void. For instance, take a blogger named Ko Htike, whose website has become one of the main outlets of information:
Armed with a laptop, a blogger named Ko Htike has thrust himself into the middle of the violent crackdown against monks and other peaceful demonstrators in his homeland of Myanmar.
From more than 5,500 miles away, he’s one of the few people getting much needed information out to the world.
He runs the blog out of his London apartment, waking up at 3 a.m. every day to review the latest digitally smuggled photos, video and information that’s sent in to him.
With few Western journalists allowed in Myanmar, Htike’s blog is one of the main information outlets. He said he has as many as 40 people in Myanmar sending him photos or calling him with information. They often take the photos from windows from their homes, he said.
Myanmar’s military junta has forbidden such images, and anyone who sends them is risking their lives.
Links: CNN Article | Ko Htike’s blog [in Burmese and English] | An Overview by bOINGbOING
jason0x21 says:
They’ve shut off the Internets and cracked down on the press, but the cell network is presumably still up (at least, it’s not mentioned in the article). What appears to be common in “unwired” countries is a dense, effective cellular network infrastructure. Why? It’s way easier and cheaper to deploy, and makes more sense that wiring your country for POTS (plain old telephone service). I’m guessing that the government can’t afford to shut down the cellular network.
It’s clear that that’s a big liability, because with the cellular network still up, stuff still gets to the Internet. It packs a punch, and easily bests shitty propaganda.