Bloggers Who Risked All In Burma

An anonymous reader sends us to the UK's TimesOnline for a story about dissident Burmese bloggers, who, with the Internet shut down in the country, are no longer posting live stories. Some of them are on the run and fearing for their lives. "Internet geeks share a common style, and Ko Latt and his four friends would not be out of place in cyber cafes across the world. They have the skinny arms and the long hair, the dark T-shirts and the jokey nicknames. But few such figures have ever taken the risks that they have in the past few weeks, or achieved so much in a noble and dangerous cause. Since last month Ko Latt, 28, his friends Arca, Eye, Sun and Superman, and scores of others like them have been the third pillar of Burma's Saffron Revolution."

Comments

Serious kudos to them

[Enderandrew]

Some people talk about civil liberties while others risk their lives for them.

Commendable, and I wish them well.

Exactly

[geoffrobinson]

While debates go on about the balance between security and freedom, this helps put things into perspective.

This is what real repression and censorship looks like. And there are countries standing behind Myanmar preventing economic pressure to be brought to bear.

Re:Exactly

[JonathanR]

Yes it does. It reminds us that the security-freedom balance is a continuum, and that any compromise of freedom should only be given for the duration of the particular security threat. The oppresive behaviour of particular governements does not provide any justification for the erosion of freedoms in unrelated geopolitical regions.

The legal basis for restriction of freedoms should have a review period or sunset clause, in order to prevent continued escalation of governement power.

Of course, we've always been at war with Eastasia.

Free Burma == Boycott Beijing Olympics

[Anonymous Coward]

Burma falls within China's sphere of influence. China was supposedly preaching restraint to Burma, but in the shadow of the 1989 Tianamen Massacre of China it beggars belief that they'd really do this. Only way to force China to act against Burma and North Korea is to Threaten to Boycott the Beijing Olympics.

It'd leave egg all over the Chinese Governments Face. This is the only thing they are scared of.

Where is the media? Where are we!?

[loconet]

Each day that passes I am reminded the disgusting state of our society. Thank God for the internet and its ability to deliver raw information. I turn on the TV and all I see is useless reality TV portraying the lives of rich kids and their "complex" love lives or news about Britney Spears. Mean while, stories about potentially thousands of protesters being killed go barely mentioned. Being killed for wanting the very thing the most powerful government in the world allegedly spent the last 4 years fighting for! Where is the outrage? Where is the day after day coverage the way we saw Ana Nicole Smith's death be covered? Why does our society care more about some washed up singer losing custody of her kids than thousands of peaceful anonymous demonstrators getting killed?

The question is...

[QuantumRiff]

Could you put Your Life on the line for an idea? I like to believe that I could, but if it really came down to hitting submit, or seeing my lady, family, etc again, would I hesitate? Would I do it? God, I hope I never have to find out. I can't explain how much thinking about people dealing with this makes me want to help them. I won't insult you by saying I salute you, it is not nearly enough..

Speaking of Slashdot memes

[greenguy]

Having just perused the comments on the poll, I would like to propose a deliberately-designed Slashdot meme to honor IT workers or aficionados whose work puts them in direct, physical danger. It probably wouldn't save any lives, but it might be a way to express solidarity with those whose work makes a real difference. Even symbolic gestures take on importance if despots and dictators know that the whole world really is watching.

I don't have any ideas beyond this in mind, but if ever there was a cauldron of collaborative creativity, it's the comments on Slashdot.

Re:Valuable perspective

[TheLink]

"get a little much-needed perspective on what real censorship looks like."

Yeah, and instead of going "see it's not so bad here" we should go "we better ensure this sort of thing won't happen".

Do your deed and fight back

[Anonymous Coward]

To any skilled people reading and maybe remembering this

http://www.attrition.org/mirror/attrition/2000/08/01/www.myanmar.com/mirror.html

Bloggers and other cyber activists within Burma risk their lives by publishing any information counter to the government line, but they still do it because they believe that freedom of expression is worth that sacrifice.

You don't have to make such a sacrifice, but if you have computer skills, can breach firewalls, routers and web site security then you could greatly assist the people of Burma. By taking down official Burmese government propaganda and posting pictures, information about the protests, information about the lies of the Burmese junta, and news of the huge support being offered by the rest of the world - preferably in Burmese - then you could help free the people from this terrible regime.

If the information is removed, do it again - automate the attacks, do whatever you can to ensure that the Burmese can see the truth about their government.

You may have hacked for fun, or personal gain in the past - now you have a chance to hack for freedom.

Regime sites:

http://www.myanmar.com/
http://www.myanmar.com/news/index.html
http://www.mrtv3.net.mm/ (blocked from external access)
http://www.mofa.gov.mm/ (blocked from external access)
http://www.moha.gov.mm/ (blocked from external access)
http://www.mpt.net.mm/ (blocked from external access)
http://www.myanmar-information.net/
http://www.myanmar.com/myanmartimes/
http://www.mnped.gov.mm/ (blocked from external access)
http://www.myanmar.com/newspaper/kyaymon/index.html
http://www.myanmar.com/newspaper/nlm/index.html

It always starts small

[Iowan41]

Did you not know?

Re:Valuable perspective

[Seumas]

Actually, the way I see it is this:

These people wouldn't be uprising if they had the NBA playoffs and Sex in the City to worry about. America is a perfect example of a society that can't be bothered with protecting our liberties and freedom against the infringing and encroaching government powers , because we're too busy worrying about whether or favorite video game will be released on time, what is happening with the girls on Sex in the City, how our teams are doing in the NBA playoffs and complaining about how "secular progressives" are ruining our precious little baby-jesusland.

Re:Valuable perspective

[smittyoneeach]

The interesting thing about this troll is the tension between the liberal guilt in the first paragraph and the libertarian bile in the second.
A fine Tuesday entry, all around.