Filtering on the web continues unabated, from the Australian government’s introduction of filters on web content, to Burma’s regime’s dictatorial fiats on what can and what cannot go up on blogs and websites.

Follow discussions I had with Curt a while back, we have decided to dedicate a post each week on filtering.  We will strive to expose the underhand methods used by authorities to overtly or sometimes covertly block and filter sites and blogs.

We will also look into the role of corprates in providing software that helps these people achieve their filtering schemes.

I will appreciate any links, resources and any material on this.

On an aside; the site has not been updated for while due to a holiday break I had taken which is in its dying stages, I’ll be back to work on Friday and would like to wish you all a happy new year and hope that this coming one will be freer than the one we are leaving behind.

Nay Phone Latt

CPB is gutted to learn that Nay Phone Latt, has been sentenced to 20 years and six months in prison by the Burmese authorities. He was convicted of contravening a public law act by posting a cartoon of the head of the Burmese military junta on his blog. His colleague, Thin July Kyaw, was sentenced to two years imprisonment while two weeks ago three defence lawyers were sentenced to between four to six months in prison.

In September 2007 during the uprising, Nay Phone Latt’s blogs provided the world with information about what was going on in Burma as there was a dearth of information due a blackout of news coming out of the country by the military junta.

At the moment the courts are jam packed with activists being tried daily in processes that do not even come close to being mistaken for justice.

H/T to irrawady for informing us.

Burma, it seems is taking cues from the Malaysian government in cracking down on internet freedom. The dictatorship there has taken it upon themselves to decide, what sis supposed to go online and what is not. This has led to sites and blogs being shut down and online dissidents being silenced. Raids on internet cafes have risen alarmingly.

Reporters Without Borders, (RSF) write that apart from this Burmese news sites are being hacked and blocked. These sites are based abroad and have all suffered Distributed Denial of Services (DDoS) attacks which make the inaccessible. One of the site, The Irrawady, a news magazine site, was attcked this way and has been inaccessible since 16th of September. Even though they set up a mirror site, they lost a significant number of visitors.

As we had reported earlier, a number of online dissidents continue to be held for daring to criticize the Military government, Nay Phone Latt, and Zarganar are currently in prison, and the number of citizens being arrested for participating in pro-democracy demonstrations.

Here at CPB we are in total support of the Burmese and will continue to expose, the Generals’ internet shutdown tactics.

The Tinhorns are at it again, according to the Democratic Voice of Burma.

A technical conference for Burmese bloggers due to be held on 31 August in Rangoon was banned by the military authorities at short notice after organisers had already advertised the event.

The conference was organised by the Myanmar Computer Experts Association and was to be held at Rangoon’s International Business Centre, situated on the bank of Inya Lake. The organisers had arranged for Burmese bloggers and writers such as Thitsani and Kyaw Win to attend the conference and deliver lectures.

A member of staff from the computer association said the government had claimed the theme of the conference was not valid. “We said that we were going to talk about technical development and they insisted that [blogging] does not have much to do with technology,” he said.

During the monk-led protests last year the Burmese “government” arrested a number of bloggers, including Nay Phone Latt, and most recently arrested a comedian and blogger named Zarganar.

Given the press coverage of the WIA Report, which included reference to a list of Burmese arrestees we posted a link to, I thought some clarification would be useful. Neither the source of the report, Burmese blogger Niknayman, nor the CPB, nor Duncan, the guy who formatted the list we used, have ever maintained that all 344 of the detainees on this list were bloggers. I think it’s pretty reasonable to assume a number are, but no, not 344 arrested bloggers, 344 arrested Burmese, some of whom may have been bloggers.

Chart by Apurba Sen based on WIA stats

The World Information Access Project at the University of Washington just released a report on arrested bloggers, using some data from the CPB. They identified 64 bloggers who were unaffiliated with other media who had been arrested for the contents of the blogs between 2003 and 2008. They have a sizable “exceptions” list, including journalists with blogs and the Burma arrested bloggers list that was provided to the CPB by a Burmese activist but which was not verifiable for obvious reasons. The gravest offenders were China and Iran, no surprise there.

View Text Table Summarizing Global Blogger Arrests, 2003-2008

View Color Graphic Summarizing Global Blogger Arrests, 2003-2008

WIA’s conclusion was grim.

After surveying our data, we predict that the number of blogger arrests will rise in 2008. The popularity of online blogs continues to grow and inspire more media coverage of arrest incidents. Countries are enforcing greater Internet regulation, which will only increase with the elections in China, Pakistan, Iran and the United States this year. Assuming a pattern similar to Egypt’s occurs, the number of political blogger arrests has nowhere to go but up. With already four incidents in January and February, we expect the number of arrests in 2008 will exceed that of 2007.

Update, August 13: From RSF.

Internet café owner and blogger Nay Phone Latt was charged under sections 33 (a) and 38 of the Electronic Act at a hearing yesterday. The police said they found articles showing disrespect for the government in his email inbox. Held since 29 January in Insein prison, Nay Phone Latt was initially charged under article 32 (b) of the Video Act, which carries a maximum sentence of six months in prison. He was then charged on 7 July under article 5 (j) of the Emergency Provision Act of 1950 and article 505 (b) of the criminal code (regarding defamation), which carry much longer jail terms.

Update: From Mizzima News.

Authorities at Rangoon’s notorious Insein prison for the first time allowed family members a meeting with detained Burmese blogger Nay Phone Latt.

Daw Khin Than, mother of Nay Phone Latt (Nay Myo Kyaw), and his brother went to the prison on Monday after Thingan Kyun Township police informed them that the Burmese blogger was being held in Insein, sources close to the family said.

Update: RSF now reports that Nya has been sent to Insein prison.

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Update: RSF has confirmed that Nya has in fact been arrested and is now being charged.

Nay Phone Latt, the blogger and Internet café owner who has been held at the interior ministry since 29 January, has been charged under section 5 (J) of the Emergency Provision Act of 1950.

It provides for up to seven years’ imprisonment for anyone who “causes or intends to disrupt the morality or the behaviour of a group of people or the general public, or to disrupt the security or the reconstruction of stability of the union.” Adopted two years after independence, the law is often applied to journalists and writers.

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Update: From Niknayman.

Even though some medias published that Nya Phone Latt has been taken by the authority, we can’t confirm yet that he is arrested. The comment of BarNyar is correct. The bloggers inside Burma are dare to fight the military regime and not run away anywhere. We will let you know if something is happened in Burma regarding to bloggers inside Burma.

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According to Mizzima (via Burmanet), blogger Nay Phone Latt was arrested earlier today at an Internet cafe in Thingan Kyun TownshipRangoon.

A blogger, who requested anonymity in fear of reprisals, said, “At the moment we [bloggers] are fleeing in the wake of the arrest of Ko Nay Phone Latt.” . . . Another blogger said he believes the authorities have targeted bloggers and confirmed that fellow bloggers are on the run in fear of arrests.

Internet users in Rangoon said, over a few weeks ago, authorities have stepped up surveillance of internet users and asked internet café owners to maintain strict records of users.

Blogging, which is popular among Burmese youth, has become a dangerous pastime in the country. The authority’s stranglehold over information flow remains as tight as ever and there is zero tolerance over any critical writing.

During the September protests, a Burmese blogger Thar Phyu, who has a blogsite www.mogokemedia.blogspot.com, was arrested and briefly detained for posting pictures of monks and people demonstrating on the streets.

Via email on January 20th, another Burmese blogger, Niknayman, wrote us about the steps the tinhorns had taken during the crackdown and how they continued those measures. Direct action is now being taken.

It seems obvious the tinhorns were hoping that once Burma had dropped from the news headlines, they’d be able to go about their business in secret. Not so. Let’s make sure they are aware we know about Nay Phone Latt.