The OpenNet Initiative has compiled a bulletin on the recent demonstrations in Burma and the Burmese government's shutdown of the Internet there. ONI conducted a technical analysis of the Internet's uptime, documenting a complete shutdown in Burma, followed by intermittent periods of up-time throughout early October, with an apparent return to full connection on October 13 for one of the two ISPs and on October 16 for the other. This bulletin presents these results and investigates the impact that the use of communication technologies had on shaping these key events.

The report can be downloaded HERE.

I am pleased to announce that we have finished the Citizen Lab's latest output, Everyone's Guide to By-Passing Internet Censorship for Citizens Worldwide and also available for download here


This guide, which is intended for the non-technical user, provides tips and strategies on how to by-pass content filters worldwide. It is now in English but we are busy making translations into multiple languages. Stay tuned!

Many thanks to the Citizen Lab's team that worked on this project, especially Jane Gowan, Nart Villeneuve, Julian Wolfson, Francois Cadieux, Sarah Boland and James Tay.

I am attending the IFEX general meeting in Uruguay, where I gave an opening address on Internet censorship, the work of the OpenNet Initiative and psiphon projects.

It is a very dynamic meeting, with many different rights organizations collaborating and exchanging ideas.

Much of the discussion is focused on events unfolding in Burma. There was an excellent article by Roby Alampey in the Washington Post that makes a strong argument for principles of Internet governance that protect freedom of speech online, with a favorable mention of the work of the ONI. Roby is attending the IFEX meeting here.

And yesterday, an article on Burma in the Christian Science Monitor spotlights the use of commercial filtering technologies and the work of the ONI, with some of my input.

I did a one on one interview with host Steve Paikin of TVO's the Agenda. The episode page is here, where you can downoad the video and audio podcast of the interview. We cover events in Burma, the OpenNet Initiative and psiphon psiphon.

From Forbes.com

According to Ron Deibert, director at the University of Toronto's Citizen Lab and an investigator at the OpenNet Initiative. "Now that the government's crackdown has succeeded, they're beginning to let information trickle out again," he says. Deibert speculates that even for a country as repressive as Myanmar, the cost of shutting off all outside connections is too great to sustain for long. "There's the cost of lost business and the government's own inability to communicate," he says. "Myanmar wants to avoid the risk of being seen as a pariah. These are all reasons they need to connect with the outside world."

Found HERE.

I have done some recent interviews about Burma and the role the Internet is playing in getthing the message out, including attempts by the government to shut it down. Two CBC radio interviews that I did with Eli Glasner, slightly different, can be found here and here. There is also a New York Times report appearing today to which I contributed that can be found here.