Early moves by Thein Sein to ease Internet censorship are viewed as a limited concession to press freedom, since Burma has one of the lowest Internet penetration rates in the world. Now, planned foreign investments in mobile infrastructure promise to expand access, but a draft telecommunications law would leave intact many of the vague legal restrictions used to curb online freedoms in the past. By Shawn W. Crispin
Burmese citizens use an Internet café in Rangoon. The country has one of the lowest Internet penetration rates in the world. (AFP)
When police officers first arrested Nay Phone Latt in 2008, they were initially unaware that the former activist was an active blogger. Later that year, after interrogations in pre-trial detention, he was sentenced to 20 years in prison for blog entries he wrote about anti-government street protests held in 2007 and for posting online a poem he wrote that insinuated in a hidden message that then-junta leader Senior Gen. Than Shwe was “foolish with power.”
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