Cell phones, Web spread news of Myanmar

Cell phones and the Internet are playing a crucial role in telling the world about Myanmar's pro-democracy protests, with video footage sometimes transmitted one frame at a time. Reporters Without Borders said Wednesday the junta has cut some cell phone service.

On the other side of the world in Oslo, a shoestring radio and television network called the Democratic Voice of Burma has been at the forefront of receiving and broadcasting such cyber dispatches by satellite TV and shortwave radio.

Chief editor Aye Chan Naing said the station, founded in 1992 by exiled Myanmar students, is able to pass on nearly real-time images and information about anti-government protests _ unlike in 1988, when a similar uprising was shut down in a bloodbath that left more than 3,000 dead.

On Wednesday, the military opened fire after a month of mostly peaceful demonstrations by tens of thousands led by Buddhist monks, and the government confirmed at least one demonstrator killed and three wounded. Activists reported the death toll was five.

This time, the world has been watching through television and still images smuggled out of Myanmar over the Internet _ sometimes, Naing said, one frame at a time. Dramatic images arrive via e-mails to exiled activists and via mobile phone calls to journalists outside the country, also known as Burma. Hundreds of images are simply posted on the Internet for anyone to see.

Those inside Myanmar receive information about the protests on shortwave radio broadcasts.

"This time, compared to 1988, there are lots of new technologies to get the news out of Burma ... People are able to take pictures, videos to evidence what is going on. It is quite amazing for Burma, which is a very poor country," said Vincent Brossel, director of the Asia desk for Reporters Without Borders. "Technology is the most useful weapon you can use in such types of pacifist struggles."

Aung Zaw, editor of the independent Irrawaddy Magazine in Thailand, said that in 1988, "it took days, sometimes weeks, even months" to get images out. "Now, it's so fast."

"The world doesn't know where Burma is. Now they see images about the situation and want to know more. That's a huge difference from 1988," he said.

At the Democratic Voice of Burma, Naing, a mild-mannered former dentistry student, said new technologies are crucial, although he declined to give details about exactly how his 30 to 40 "undercover reporters" inside Myanmar get news out. Journalists working openly could be arrested.

"We don't want to say too much about how we use the Internet. They must know we use it, but we don't want to draw too much attention," he said. "Mobile phones are essential. Mobile phones are the way they can report from the ground. This morning (the military) cut off some mobile phones, so we can't get a hold of some of our people."

Brossel said the junta was trying to staunch the flow of information by slowing Internet connections and cutting cell phone service.

Slow Internet connections on Wednesday made it hard to send photos and videos, Brossel said. Many Internet cafes _ the main online providers in a country where few can go online at home _ were closed, he said.

But Brossel said the opposition was fighting back with satellite telephones, which can bypass censors, firewalls and other restrictions.

Communication inside the country is also important, said Aung Din, Policy Director with the U.S. Campaign for Burma in Washington D.C.

"Students use cell phones to SMS each other to share information," he said, referring to text messages activists use to set up demonstrations or tell each other where soldiers are. "They also know how to take pictures and video with their phones, then download those and send them on the Internet," Din said.

Cell phones, although often confiscated, have proven invaluable, said Soe Aung, a spokesman for the National Council of the Union of Burma, a coalition of opposition groups based in Thailand.

Mary Callahan, a Myanmar expert at the University of Washington, said by e-mail that "In 1988, it was relatively simple for the military to shut down railroads, set up road checkpoints and cut phone lines, which made it quite difficult for protesters to organize. Now, of course, protesters can use both the Internet and cell phones to mobilize support internally and externally."

Din agreed, saying, "The junta can't control the technology totally, and it's a huge difference to deliver the information fast."

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Associated Press writers Grant Peck in Bangkok, Lily Hindy in New York and Jenny Barchfield in Paris contributed to this report.

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