Myanmar stops e-mail
YANGON, Myanmar: Myanmar, where the government bars public access to the
Internet, has ordered a stop to unauthorized e-mail and telephone services,
state-run newspapers reported Saturday.
The communication minister told telecommunications officials Friday in the
capital, Yangon, that outsiders using sophisticated equipment are illegally
engaged in international telephone and e-mail services.
Such illegal services could reduce the ministry's revenues, Minister Brig.
Gen. Win Tin said. He ordered officials to prevent them, the New Light of
Myanmar newspaper reported.
The government of Myanmar, also called Burma, keeps a tight grip on all
communications and media. The Myanmar Post and Telecommunications, a state
agency, is allowed to provide telephone and e-mail service, but it cannot
allow public access to the Internet. People with unauthorized ownership of a
fax modem or computer network risk up to 15 years imprisonment and a fine.
Last year, five companies running e-mail services, including two managed by
foreigners, were ordered to shut down. Executives and technicians were taken
in for questioning, and authorities confiscated their equipment.
The military regime is sensitive to the large volume of Web sites and news
groups posted overseas by exiled dissidents and supporters of opposition
leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Her party swept the last general elections in
Myanmar, but the ruling military barred the new parliament from convening.
The state forbids posting political writings on the Internet, including
anything ``detrimental'' to Myanmar or ``to the current policies and secret
security affairs of the government.''
(AP)
For reprint rights: Times Syndication Service
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