The Burmese people are still experiencing the backlash from the Saffron Revolution, with more and more writers, satirists and dissidents being locked up. Read Index on Censorship and Article 19’s joint statement on the situation here (pdf).
A new crackdown on the country’s dissidents shows that Than Shwe’s junta fears the power of the Internet, writes Larry Jagan
(more…)
Indonesia’s rich and powerful such as Aburiza Bakrie prefer to subject media outlets to criminal proceedings rather than use the press law, writes David Jardine
(more…)
Over at Comment is Free, Index on Censorship editor Jo Glanville is talking about the privatisation of censorship on the Internet.
“[The Internet] is a revolution not just in terms of technology, but in terms of who does the censoring. It’s no longer just the big boys — the media magnates, the state, corporations; there are a whole host of middlemen who now play a part in deciding what we can and cannot read. Most important of all, much of what they do is not transparent and there is even a level of secrecy that is protected by law.”
Read the rest here