Internet plays critical role in Myanmar's protests

With news trickling out of Myanmar of thousands of people united in a rare display of dissent against the suppressive military junta that governs the country, pictures and eyewitness accounts are being gleamed from blogs.

The Internet is playing a useful tool in dispensing information, and one-man news agencies are springing up overnight in Myanmar to spread the word on events. They are also helping major news media such as the BBC use it to supplement their coverage.

London-based blogger Ko Htike wrote on the BBC website: "I have about 10 people inside, in different locations. All my people are among the Buddhists; they are walking along with the march and as soon as they get any images or news they pop into Internet cafes and send it to me."

Surprisingly the government has yet to shut down Internet connections, though there are recent reports of closures of cyber cafes and the disconnection of mobile telephones.

Agencies are also pulling photos taken by locals with their mobile phones and downloading them to the Internet and the world.

One site, moemaka.blogspot.com, doesn't care who uses their photos and is not concerned about copyright or financial reimbursements, according to Japanese freelance photographer Dai Kurokawa.

"They are just interested in getting the photos out and seen," said Kurokawa who has spent time in Myanmar documenting the plight of the people.

Many of the photos are taken by friends of the bloggers, and the slow download times of the Internet following increase in the traffic has put many in danger of arrest as they patiently download their photos.

MMEDWAtch (Myanmar, Media and Education Development Watch) is also posting photos, news and has a forum that is primarily in Myanmar script.

The Democratic Voice of Burma, an opposition radio station funded by among others the governments of Norway, Denmark and Sweden, broadcasts via satellite and short-wave to Myanmar and has been gathering information from reporters who then use mobile phones or cyber cafes to relay back the information.

There was no such free-flow of information during the 1988 uprisings, when little information was released about the protests or the up to 3,000 killed.

Those who sympathize with the monks and laymen of Myanmar are sending petitions via email to the website www.petitiononline.com/9848, which is addressed to the UN Security Council. Others are joining different online groups.

-- DPA (IANS)

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