Rangoon authorities have instructed Internet cafe owners to install CCTV cameras within three days in order to monitor Internet users.
The order was issued after explosive devices were found on Wednesday in the Sky Net Internet Cafe, located near Rangoon City Hall.
“We were invited to the township peace and development council office and told that we must follow their instructions or our shop will have to close down. They will even do a surprise check,” said an Internet cafe owner from Alone Township.
“They said it is because of the bomb found on Wednesday,” he said.
The owners were told to keep the CCTV footage and report weekly to the township office.
“The township officer said we must be aware of people who are using proxy servers to surf the restricted websites, such as exile media and blogs. If we find someone doing this, we must take the user's identity numbers and inform the authorities,” said the Internet cafe owner.
He said the Internet cafe owners did not want to follow the order because it will affect the privacy of their users and their relationship with customers.
“But we will have to install the CCTV, because we don't want to be in trouble with the authorities,” he said.
Since the military government banned access to exile media websites and blogs which are reporting on human rights abuses, people inside Burma are using proxy servers to view the sites.
“Sometimes we also have to use the proxy to surf other foreign sites. For example, when doing a thesis on some topic, we need to look at the Internet. With CCTV cameras, we will not have any privacy when surfing in the net cafes,” said a student in Rangoon.
The military government has viewed Internet users as a threat to military control of information since the international community learned of the junta’s brutal crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrations in 2008 through reports from private citizens posted on the Internet.
In Burma, surprise checks of Internet cafes and the issuance of orders to report on customers reportedly take place.
The authorities also post notices in Internet shops warning customers that accessing banned websites is against the law.
Source:http://irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=20128
The order was issued after explosive devices were found on Wednesday in the Sky Net Internet Cafe, located near Rangoon City Hall.
“We were invited to the township peace and development council office and told that we must follow their instructions or our shop will have to close down. They will even do a surprise check,” said an Internet cafe owner from Alone Township.
“They said it is because of the bomb found on Wednesday,” he said.
The owners were told to keep the CCTV footage and report weekly to the township office.
“The township officer said we must be aware of people who are using proxy servers to surf the restricted websites, such as exile media and blogs. If we find someone doing this, we must take the user's identity numbers and inform the authorities,” said the Internet cafe owner.
He said the Internet cafe owners did not want to follow the order because it will affect the privacy of their users and their relationship with customers.
“But we will have to install the CCTV, because we don't want to be in trouble with the authorities,” he said.
Since the military government banned access to exile media websites and blogs which are reporting on human rights abuses, people inside Burma are using proxy servers to view the sites.
“Sometimes we also have to use the proxy to surf other foreign sites. For example, when doing a thesis on some topic, we need to look at the Internet. With CCTV cameras, we will not have any privacy when surfing in the net cafes,” said a student in Rangoon.
The military government has viewed Internet users as a threat to military control of information since the international community learned of the junta’s brutal crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrations in 2008 through reports from private citizens posted on the Internet.
In Burma, surprise checks of Internet cafes and the issuance of orders to report on customers reportedly take place.
The authorities also post notices in Internet shops warning customers that accessing banned websites is against the law.
Source:http://irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=20128
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