Burmese citizens are using Web 2.0 to publish information about this week’s unrest to the world. There is this YouTube channel for videos. Global Voices has a Myanmar-Burma section. And there are many bloggers: Nyein Chan Yar, Justic and Injustice, Mr. Jade, and Ko Htike’s prosaic collection, an expatriate, forwarding reports from home. Regional bloggers are posting support. There are tagboards tagboards. And mobile phones are documentary tools, of course.

(image from Ko Htike)

In response the Burmese government has closed cybercafes in Rangoon. Additionally several major Burmese ISPs have cut service to some cities. Further, a major cable carrying internet traffic offshore seems to have been cut. Some bloggers have suddenly ceased posting, either from fear of or the actuality of being arrested.

The BBC on one blogger:

Burmese-born blogger Ko Htike, based in London, has transformed his once-literary blog into a virtual news agency and watched page views rise almost tenfold.

He publishes pictures, video and information sent to him by a network of underground contacts within the country.

“I have about 10 people inside, in different locations. They send me their material from internet cafes, via free hosting pages or sometimes by e-mail,” he told the BBC News website.

“All my people are among the Buddhists, they are walking along with the march and as soon as they get any images or news they pop into internet cafes and send it to me,” he said.

(via

m/2007/09/27/burmese-bloggers-get-the-word-out/”>The Lede)