Global Voices Advocacy » Cambodia

Southeast Asia: Sex and web censorship

Mong Palatino — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 15:55:40 +0000

Regulating internet content today is viewed as an anti-democratic practice but Southeast Asian governments seem able to justify it by invoking the need to save the young from the scourge of indecent sexual behavior.

Indonesia’s plan to filter web of “bad” content through its Multimedia Content Screening team was shelved last February after it was opposed by the public. Today, the proposal is being revived in the wake of a celebrity sex tape scandal which continues to shock both the young and old in the world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation. After enacting an anti-pornography law two years ago, Indonesia now wants to enforce an internet blacklist in response to the demand of conservative voices to protect the morals of the young.

A similar celebrity sex scandal hounded the Philippines last year which paved the way for the passage of an anti-voyeurism law. The internet was also blamed for the instant dissemination of the sex tapes which prodded lawmakers to craft a cybercrime bill.

In Cambodia, the government is proposing to establish a state-run exchange point to control all local internet service providers which is intended to strengthen internet security against pornography, theft and other cybercrimes. The draft regulation is not yet final but it is expected that the government will seriously pursue this measure especially after it recently became almost helpless in stopping the cell phone and internet uploading of an illegally taped video of nude ladies bathing in a monastery.

Southeast Asian governments do no always need sex scandals to censor the web since they can always cite other reasons, like national security, to filter and monitor internet content. For example, Thailand became the first country in the world to shut down 100,000 websites for containing “dangerous” material. It punishes bloggers, writers and website administrators for violating the lese majeste law. Vietnam was accused by Google and McAfee of launching cyber attacks against some websites, specifically websites that advocate opposition to bauxite mining, a controversial issue in the country.

But politically-driven internet regulation often encounters strong opposition from internet users and it always elicits condemnation around the world, especially from media groups and human rights organizations. Governments can always ignore the noisy critics but they will also lose credibility. Governments with democratic trappings cannot afford to censor the online media for an extended period. But regulating the web to stop pornography and other immoral acts somehow generates only a whisper of protest. It has become the safest ruse to block “harmful” websites. Myanmar’s internet regulation policy has been identified as one of the draconian measures imposed by the ruling junta but its decision to ban two weekly journals for posting photos of female models in short pants didn’t draw the normal level of opposition from democracy groups.

The aggressive drive to eliminate sex and sexual imageries in the online domain may be a symptom of the rising tide of conservatism in many Southeast Asian nations. The morality card is being played to produce desirable attitudes, sentiments and behavior among the population even if this strategy disrespects the diverse cultures in the region. When Indonesia passed the anti-porn law, the Bali governor protested since the law is contrary to the local tradition where making historic nude statues and erotic dances are sometimes still popular. When Cambodia blocked websites showing pornography or sexy images, it included reahu.net for containing artistic illustrations of ancient bare-breasted Apsara dancers and a Khmer Rouge soldier.

Another problem is the vague definition of what constitutes images and actions that are pornographic, indecent, immoral, and obscene. Filipino activists are worried that the cybercrime bill would now make it unlawful to publish or upload materials that contradict the official state interpretation of what is decent, moral, and proper.

Governments have mastered the tools and techniques of censorship in the traditional media. They are now testing the limits of online regulation. Indonesia’s plan to enforce an internet blacklist should be monitored because of its impact in the region. Indonesia has more than 40 million internet users and it is acknowledged as the Twitter capital of Asia. If Indonesia succeeds in filtering web content, other countries in the region are expected to follow this model.

Web censorship does not only cut access to information; it also weakens the power of internet users to form online solidarities. To really protect the young and innocent, the best solution is to give them, their parents, and the community in general, the proper education and relevant information about the potential and risks of surfing the web.

OpenNet Initiative Releases Results on Filtering in Asia

Jillian York — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 01:08:43 +0000

From the Great Firewall to the Myanmar Wide Web, Asia is well-known for its practices in Internet filtering. China has long taken the lead in blocking Web sites, filtering sites across the spectrum - from social to political content, pornography to Internet tools. The OpenNet Initiative (full disclosure: I'm involved) has been studying the Internet in Asia and around the world since 2002, and has just released its latest reports on Internet surveillance and controls in Asia, and specifically in China.

New research from the OpenNet Initiative (ONI) reveals accelerating restrictions on Internet content as Asian governments shift to next generation controls. These new techniques go beyond blocking access to websites and are more informal and fluid, implemented at edges of the network, and are often backed up by increasingly restrictive and broadly interpreted laws.

According to an recent ONI press release:

“Since 2006, many Asian governments have quickly realized the potential benefits of exploiting opportunities for conducting propaganda or public relations strategies over the Internet, even while cracking down on independent and critical voices thriving in these online spaces- an example of the evolution towards next generation controls,” said Ron Deibert, director of the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto and one of four principal investigators at the ONI.

These controls were evidenced recently in ONI's analysis of China's latest attempt at controlling the flow of information, Green Dam Youth Escort filtering software mandated for pre-installation on PCs sold in China starting July 1. “However, even China's example demonstrates that restrictions on information are far from uniformly effective, and will meet resistance and be contested by the very groups they are intended to silence,” said Rafal Rohozinski, CEO of the SecDev Group and co-founder and principal investigator of ONI and ONI Asia.

The reports for Asia, as well as Burma, China, Pakistan, and South Korea will be featured in a forthcoming MIT Press volume, Access Controlled: The Shaping of Rights, Rule, and Power in Cyberspace, to be published by MIT Press (2010). Access Controlled will include a series of analytical chapters and regional overviews that contribute to the developing discourse around global Internet regulation and censorship raised in the first ONI volume Access Denied: The Practice and Policy of Global Internet Filtering, (Cambridge: MIT Press) 2008.

Cambodia: Internet censorship targets artists

Tharum Bun — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 14:07:14 +0000

As the number of Internet users has been growing rapidly in Southeast Asia in recent years, online censorship has proliferated, from China to Cambodia, as if it runs through the Mekong river.

Not only the “Great Firewall of China” that is known to many people, democratic country like Thailand also blocks a large number of Web sites; in Vietnam, its Ministry of Information and Communication has recently released a circular to regulate and enforce blogging rules in the country in late 2008. With rules and regulations in place, these governments have developed and deployed their own censorship machine to control how citizens publish and access online contents.

Although Cambodia has the lowest Internet penetration rate (70,000 users as of 2007), artists, however, are more recognized not through offline exhibitions, but their presence on the world wide web. This increasing use of blog to reach out larger audiences attracts more than attention and support.

A former freelance editorial cartoonist for Far Eastern Economic Review from 1997-1999, Bun Heang Ung presently lives in Australia. Observing his home country Cambodia from the other side, the 57-year-old cartoonist launched Sacrava Toons blog in 2004, nearly a decade after he published ‘The Murderous Revolution : Life and Death in Pol Pot's Kampuchea,' his first book of black and white line illustrations that tells his very own experiences of the Khmer Rouge regime. In voicing his opinions, the talented cartoonist publish his drawings of all things that matter to him on the Web. In one of his recent posts, he used ‘I have a dream' as a backdrop for his illustration of Barack Obama, the 44th President of the United States.

Barack Obama, illustrated by Bun Heang Ung

Recently, according to Wikileaks, the political cartoonist's blog is being blocked in Thailand, where its Ministry of Information and Communication Technology is in charge of banning Internet sites that violates its Kingdom's lèse majesté.

Cambodian blogger Thom Vanak, at Blog By Khmer, made his point on the issue:

Regarding Lèse majesté, although I think it's archaic and outdated law in this day and age, but nevertheless, it's still Thai's law. If I ever set my foot on Thai soil I would respect their laws. The same if I'm to visit any other country, I would respect the local laws of that country.

While the prominent cartoonist's blog appears on censorship list (as of 20 Dec 2008) by Thailand, the Cambodian Ministry of Women's Affairs, in December last year, threatened to block a Web site that contains artistic illustrations of bare-breasted Apsara dancers and a Khmer Rouge soldier. The attempt to shut down reahu.net (or at least to filter it by Internet Service Providers in the Cambodian capital) was echoed by a human rights activist, who was quoted as saying that “the Web site should be shut down because it appealed too much to young Cambodians.”

Reahu.net is currently not accessible by Internet visitors in Cambodia, while there is no issue with access in the U.S. The error message appears:

Screenshot of reahu.net site being filtered by Cambodia's Internet Service Providers

Cambodia's most prominent anonymous blog author at ‘Cambodia: Details are Sketchy' wrote about the controversial issue:

“If anyone should understand the value of free speech, the deputy director of communication and advocacy at Licadho seems a likely candidate. It is disheartening that Vann Sophath supports censoring Reahu’s illustrations”

Artist Reahu posted a note on his site, recently becoming popular after gaining media attentions in the past few months, in response to his critics:

Judging from the complaints, I wonder how we as Khmer will be able to make it in the 21st Century. Please be open-minded, you must be able to see beyond the four walls surrounding your hut.