MYANMAR JUNTA RAMPING UP INFORMATION BLACKOUT
An information blackout under Myanmar’s military junta worsened Thursday as fiber broadband service, the last legal way for ordinary people to access the Internet, became intermittently inaccessible on several networks.
Authorities in some areas have also started confiscating satellite dishes used to access international news broadcasts.
Protests against the the Feb. 1 coup that ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi continued Thursday despite the killing of 11 people by security forces a day earlier.
It was unclear if the Internet interruptions for at least two service providers, MBT and Infinite Networks, were temporary. MBT said its service was halted by a break in the line between Yangon and Mandalay, the country’s two biggest cities. But Internet users had been complaining for the past week of major slowdowns in the services.
The junta has gradually throttled down Internet service since the coup. It initially imposed a largely ineffective block of social media such as Facebook and then cut mobile data service, the most common way of connecting to the Internet, but only at night. As the junta increased its use of deadly force against protesters it also imposed a total ban on mobile data use.
At least 598 protesters and bystanders have been killed by security forces since the takeover, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, which monitors casualties and arrests.
The use of satellite television as a source of information also appeared to be under threat. In Laputta and other towns in the Irrawaddy Delta southwest of Yangon, local government vehicles announced over loudspeakers that it was no longer legal to use satellite dishes and that they must be turned in at police stations. Police also raided shops selling the dishes and confiscated them.
Online news services Khit Thit Media and Mizzima said similar measures were taken in Mon state in the country’s southeast. Satellite TV offers access to international sources of news about Myanmar.