រដ្ឋាភិបាល​កំពុង​រៀបចំ​ព្រាង​ច្បាប់​គ្រប់​គ្រង​អ៊ីនធ័រណិត - Internet Law is on the way ... Big Brother Hun Xhen wants to watch you!!!

01.08.2012
ដោយ៖ នៅ វណ្ណារិន
Voice of America

កាល​ពី​ឆ្នាំ​ទៅ​រដ្ឋាភិបាល​​បាន​បញ្ជា​ឱ្យ​ក្រុម​ហ៊ុន​ផ្តល់​សេវា​អ៊ីនធឺណិត​ទាំង​នោះ​បិទ​គេហទំព័រ​ប្លុក​មួយ​​មាន​ឈ្មោះថា​ខេអាយមេឌា​ (KI Media) ​ដែល​មាន​និន្នាការ​គាំ​ទ្រ​គណបក្ស​ប្រឆាំង មិន​ឲ្យ​មើល​ឃើញ​នៅ​នៅ​កម្ពុជា ដែល​ធ្វើឲ្យ​មាន​ការរិះគន់​ជាច្រើន​ពី​សំណាក់​អង្គការ​សង្គម​ស៊ីវិល។

ភ្នំពេញ៖ ស្រប​ពេល​ដែល​ចំនួន​អ្នក​ប្រើ​ប្រាស់​អ៊ីនធឺណិត​បាន​កើន​ឡើង​យ៉ាង​ច្រើន​នៅ​ក្នុង​រយៈពេល​ប៉ុន្មាន​ឆ្នាំ​​​ចុង​ក្រោយ​នេះ រដ្ឋាភិបាល​កំពុង​រៀបចំ​សេចក្តី​ព្រាង​​ច្បាប់​សម្រាប់​គ្រប់គ្រង​ប្រព័ន្ធ​អ៊ីនធឺណិត​​ដើម្បី​ដាក់​កំហិត​ការ​ផ្សាយ​ព័ត៌មាន​ណា​ដែល​រដ្ឋាភិបាល​យល់​ថា ប្រាសចាក​ការណ៍​ពិត និង​​​អាច​ធ្វើ​ឲ្យ​មាន​ផល​ប៉ះពាល់​ទៅ​ដល់​សន្តិសុខ​សង្គមជាតិ។ ប៉ុន្តែ​ក្រុម​សកម្មជន និង​បក្ស​ប្រឆាំង​យល់​​ថា វា​គឺ​ជា​វិធានការ​ឈាន​ទៅ​បំបិទ​សេរីភាព​ព័ត៌មាន​ដែល​នៅ​សេស​សល់​ចុង​ក្រោយនេះ។

លោក ឯក​ ថា អ្នក​នាំពាក្យ​អង្គភាព​ប្រតិកម្ម​រហ័ស​ប្រចាំ​ទីស្តីការ​គណៈ​រដ្ឋមន្ត្រី​បាន​ប្រាប់​សំឡេង សហរដ្ឋអាមេរិក​ពី​ការ​រៀបចំ​ច្បាប់​នោះ​ថា៖

«[សេចក្តី​ព្រាង] ច្បាប់​ស្តី​ពី​ការ​គ្រប់​គ្រង​លើ​ប្រព័ន្ធ​អ៊ីនធឺណិត​និងអេឡិកត្រូនិក​នេះ​គឺ​ដើម្បី​ទប់ស្កាត់​កុំ​ឲ្យ​មាន​ការផ្សព្វ​ផ្សាយ​ព័ត៌មាន​មិន​ពិត​ដែល​ធ្វើ​ឲ្យ​ប៉ះ​ពាល់​ដល់​សន្តិសុខ និង​សណ្តាប់​ធ្នាប់​សាធារណៈ​របស់​ព្រះរាជាណាចក្រ​កម្ពុជា​យើង‍»។
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របាយការណ៍​មួយ​ពី​ក្រសួង​ប្រៃសណីយ​និងទូរគមនាគមន៍​បាន​ឲ្យ​ដឹង​ថា ចំនួន​អ្នក​ប្រើ អ៊ីនធឺណិត​បាន​កើន​ដល់​១,៦៨លាន​នាក់​នៅ​ក្នុង​ឆ្នាំ​២០១១​ បើ​ប្រៀប​ធៀប​ទៅ​ឆ្នាំ​ទៅ​មាន​ត្រឹមតែ ៣សែន២ម៉ឺន​នាក់​ប៉ុណ្ណោះ។ រីឯ​របាយការណ៍​ខ្លះ​របស់​ក្រុមហ៊ុន​​តាម​ដាន​បណ្តាញ​អ៊ីនធឺណិត​បញ្ជាក់​ថា អ្នក​ប្រើ​ប្រាស់​កម្ពុជា​មាន​ប្រហែល​៣,១​ភាគរយ​ប៉ុណ្តោះ។​

Hey, Google when are you taking over Phnom Penh with "FREE" Internet? We'll de-Google [kick] out the Chinese for you!

‘Other’ Kansas City Jazzed About Google’s ‘Free’ Internet

July 26, 2012
By Caroline Porter
The Wall Street Journal

As Google Inc. tries to take on cable companies by providing lightning-fast Internet speeds and crystal-clear high-definition TV to residents of Kansas City, Mo., and its less-wealthy neighbor, Kansas City, Kan., it is also giving people free Internet service at a lower speed.

News of the free offering came as a relief to Kansas City, Kan., residents who won’t be able to afford the $70-per-month Google Fiber Internet service or the $130-per-month Internet plus TV service, said David Smith, who is chief of staff of the city’s public school system.

“That was something people were worried about,” he said. “The fact that it will be accessible to a wide variety of families–we are thrilled. So now we’re like, ‘Let’s go!’”

Global Media Conference Yields Ideas for Cambodian Internet

Ms. Theary C. Seng with dynamic young Khmer delegates -- avid blogger Kounila and Chheng who is doing his Masters at Deutsche Welle here in Bonn (June 27, 2012) (Photo: Theary Seng)

Thursday, 28 June 2012
Choeung Pochin, VOA Khmer | Washington, DC

“The Internet fee in Cambodia is cheaper, even though a lot of people cannot afford to use it.”

Keo Kounila is Cambodian blogger who recently attend the Deutsche Welle Global Media Forum in Bonn, Germany.

After meeting amid some 1,500 participants, she told VOA Khmer she had garnered new ideas to help develop Cambodia, including organizing seminars to help university students make better use of computers and the Internet.

She would also encourage companies to educate young people on Internet use, which would increase the number of users—and their profits.

“The Internet fee in Cambodia is cheaper, even though a lot of people cannot afford to use it,” she said. “So if Internet companies want to increase their revenue, they should help educate our young people on how to use it. It is very good for both sides, the people, the NGOs and the Internet companies.”

Cambodia's Internet penetration more than doubles

May 7, 2012
Rasmei Kampuchea Daily

Cambodia's Internet penetration more than doubled to 3.1 per cent of the population in 2011, up from 1.3 per cent a year earlier, according to the Internet World Stats website.

The country had 449,160 Internet users at the end of last year and 491,480 Facebook users at the end of March.

"The trend means that Cambodian people, especially the young generation, are finding a new way of communicating and getting information," said Pen Samitthy, president of the Club of Cambodian Journalists. This is "ending the monopoly over information by media companies".

Cambodia sees sharp rise in internet subscribers in past year

PHNOM PENH, April 10 (Xinhua) -- Approximately 1.69 million people in Cambodia have subscribed internet services as of December last year, almost 8-fold increase from only 194,000 users in 2010, according to the statistics of Ministry of Posts and Telecommunication on Tuesday.

It said the country has 27 internet service providers by last year, up 7 companies if compared to a year earlier.

The Minister of Posts and Telecommunication So Khun attributed the huge increase to good internet infrastructure, competitive service fees, and more people's awareness of internet usage.

The World is changing thanks to online

Internet cafe in Thailand

10.14.11
By Shaune Jordaan
Memeburn.com

I recently embarked on an overland trip through Thailand and Cambodia. Asia is a truly fascinating place with similarities to Africa. I, perhaps rather naively, had a romantic vision of escaping from the madness of my everyday life and setting off into the remote wilderness of South East Asia and losing touch with the outside world. I was in for surprise.

As of 2008, there were 16 100 000 internet users in Thailand. In Cambodia and in Thailand there are literally tens of thousands of places where internet is available for public use, coffee shops, bars, restaurants and gas stations. Through USB modems and internet capabilities on cellphones, Cambodians are reconnecting with the outside world.

Throughout my journey; from central Bangkok, to Chiang Mai and Pai in the North of Thailand, to the home of the lost city, Siem Riep in Cambodia, and then south to the remote Thai Islands of Ko Phi Phi and Ko Toa, I was amazed how connected South East Asia is, regardless of how remote the location.

Cambodia's Internet speed compared to the rest of the world

Which Nations Have the Best Relative Internet Speed?

My Gamma Numbers Shine a Light on Some of the Stars

Sep. 26, 2011
By Roger Strukhoff
Sys-con.com

The US, by contrast, has a Gamma Number of only 25. Meanwhile, impoverished Cambodia has a Gamma Number of 252 - ten times that of the US. The country's average Internet speed is only 20% that of the US, but its per-person income is only about 2% of the US. It punches a lot harder with its limited resources.

Cambodia has an average speed of 2,000 Kbps (2.0 Mbps), and one has to wonder what percentage of that bandwidth is used by government and business, and what percentage of the country's population has personal access to any Internet service. But among its economic peers, Cambodia seems to be a bright light.

History has already recorded that unrealistic - even ridiculous - business models burst the dot-com bubble at the turn of the century.

I've always thought slow Internet connections in the United States were at least as culpable. The "Worldwide Wait" was a reality for most consumers in those days, and the US was driving what was then thought to be a New Economy.

Today, the Web, led as much by social networking as by eCommerce, is a global phenomenon. The US still dominates in creating companies, whether in social networking or cloud computing. But the nations of the world are getting more, and faster, connections.

Social Media Here More Social Than Political: Researcher

Pich Samnang, VOA Khmer
Phnom Penh Thursday, 24 February 2011

“The possibility of creating the same unrest here as in other countries in not very likely."

Cambodia’s low number of Internet users make a social-media fueled revolution here unlikely, an Internet researcher says.

Cambodia’s more than 200,000 Facebook users mostly use the website to connect with friends and maintain professional social networks, said Saray Samadee, who recently co-authored a report for the Cambodia Communication review.

“The possibility of creating the same unrest here as in other countries in not very likely,” she said, referring to recent uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt that toppled ruling governments with the help of sites like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

“Compared with Tunisia, they have nearly 2 million Facebook users, which is almost equal to the population of Phnom Penh,” she said. “But we have just over 200,000 users. So I do not think that can cause powerful unrest.”

A screwy CPP DIX? (No pun intended ... not!)

Customers use free wi-fi at a cafe in Siem Reap. New regulations are set to govern internet exchange points. Photo by: Will Baxter

 Internet hub prakas release


Thursday, 03 February 2011
Jeremy Mullins and Buth Reaksmey Kongkea 
The Phnom Penh Post

A DRAFT prakas governing internet exchange points – which caused controversy last year after the government mooted a mandatory state-run facility – has been released.

The Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications made available the draft edict yesterday, which would provide for the registration of domestic internet exchange (DIX) points.

An internet exchange point plays a vital role in enabling the flow of information on the internet by routing traffic between separate Internet Service Providers. In effect, they allow users with one ISP to access content hosted by another provider.

Exchanges hit the spotlight last year over ministry plans to charge companies to route domestic traffic though a mandatory hub, run by state-owned Telecom Cambodia.

Many in the private sector worried the scheme had the potential to stymie burgeoning ICT businesses, until Minister So Khun said at a private meeting in April that internet providers would be free to route traffic through whatever exchange they saw fit.

Internet users in Cambodia reaches 173,675 in 2010

(Photo: The Phnom Penh Post)

Monday 24 January 2011
TelecomPaper

Cambodians are increasingly using the internet, but pricing and penetration levels lag behind much of Asean, reports The Phnom Penh Post citing experts. Internet subscribers in 2010 in the country grew to 173,675 from 29,589 in 2009, according to the ministry of Posts and Telecommunications. The internet costs are expensive compared with the average price in Asean nations, although prices are dropping year by year, Information and Communication Technology Business Association president Pily Wong wrote. But Cambodian officials are linking up with their regional colleagues to talk over the future of the internet. Minister So Khun and other Cambodian delegates travelled to Kuala Lumpur last week to attend a meeting of Asean telecommunications ministers. The meeting formally adopted the Asean ICT Masterplan 2015, which aims to better ICT among Asean member nations, largely through increasing broadband access.

Cambodia’s consumers revealed

Tuesday, 14 December 2010
Ellie Dyer
The Phnom Penh Post

IRG found that 12 percent of those surveyed used the internet regularly – many of whom were “young and wealthy students, living in Phnom Penh”. Those from households earning more than US$200 a month accounted for 89 percent of usage, with nearly half browsing most often in internet cafés. Just 13 percent of internet users usually accessed the web at home, with high cost cited by 41 percent as their rationale. But over the last year, user numbers outside of the capital grew – with Phnom Penh now accounting for 43 percent of users, compared to 58 percent in December 2009.

An ATM card is one of the top three items a Cambodian would like to own, according to a new survey.

Indochina Research’s latest paper, seen by The Post this week, surveyed 1,100 Cambodians aged between 15 and 50 throughout the country to monitor their attitudes to the media and lifestyle choices.

Internet usage, newspaper reading habits and attitudes to advertising were all analysed in the fourth edition of the bi-annual survey, called the Media Index Wave.

In a move IRG called “a good sign of economic revival”, an ATM card made it in the top three objects people want to have, with 54 percent of those surveyed saying they would like a card.

It was topped only by modern clothing, with 67 percent, and their own home, with 62 percent. One year ago, opening a bank account came third – with 42 percent.

“It certainly shows that people want to spend their money,” the report stated.

Cambodia gained its firm ATM machine in 2004 and banks have been quick to install more.

Annualised ATM growth in 2008 was a massive 91 percent, but slowed to 10 percent last year, figures from the National Bank of Cambodia showed.

A total of 371 machines had been installed at the beginning of 2010.

Elsewhere in the report, IRG found that 12 percent of those surveyed used the internet regularly – many of whom were “young and wealthy students, living in Phnom Penh”.

Those from households earning more than US$200 a month accounted for 89 percent of usage, with nearly half browsing most often in internet cafés.

Just 13 percent of internet users usually accessed the web at home, with high cost cited by 41 percent as their rationale.

But over the last year, user numbers outside of the capital grew – with Phnom Penh now accounting for 43 percent of users, compared to 58 percent in December 2009.

Meanwhile, nearly 100 percent of those surveyed said they watched television every day, with CTN the “uncontested first TV station”. The station gained market share "in all locations”.

Third BarCamp Tech Conference Sees Attendance Rise

An attendee views VOA Khmer Facebook Page at Puthisastra University in Phnom Penh, where more than 800 computer enthusiasts gathered last week to exchange Information Technology knowledge. (Photo: Bun Tharum, VOA Khmer)

Tharum Bun, VOA Khmer
Phnom Penh Monday, 04 October 2010

“The social media of this Internet generation is modern and enables us to publicizie information about human rights. Old media like radio, TV or print newspapers can be controlled by someone in power, or not aired or broadcast freely. But over the Internet, we can publish news for the public. So that's the best means to advocacy and to post breaking news on human rights issues, in particular.”

Technology is playing a much greater role in the lives and businesses of Cambodians. In response, some 800 tech enthusiasts gathered at a conference in September in an event that has grown steadily over the years.

The two-day event, called BarCamp, brought togehter experts and novices alike, who shared information on a range of topics, from information on applications for computers and mobile devices to access of human rights information.

“The social media of this Internet generation is modern and enables us to publicizie information about human rights,” Chor Chanthida, a project officer for the Cambodian Center for Human Rights, told VOA Khmer at the conference. “Old media like radio, TV or print newspapers can be controlled by someone in power, or not aired or broadcast freely. But over the Internet, we can publish news for the public. So that's the best means to advocacy and to post breaking news on human rights issues, in particular.”

This BarCamp was Cambodia's third annual gathering, but it has seen a doubling in attendance since 2008. The idea, a free exchange of information, originated with tech fans in Palo Alto, Calif., in 2005 and has since become an international network of events.

“There are many participants and they are keen to share,” said Dara Saoyuth, a student at the Royal University of Phnom Penh. “Our break-out session rooms are not enough to accomodate them.”

Dara Saoyuth attended a session on time management, which, though short, was informative.

“What I'm impressed by is that the presenters are willing to share and are open,” he said. “They are experts, and they can actually make money offering training, but they want to share their skills with young people for free. And even though it's free, they do their best to explain and help answer questions from the audience.”

Be Chantra, a lead organizer for this year's BarCamp, said he hoped partipants learned something new from presenters and more about Cambodia's software industry.

A Technology Boom in Cambodia?

Internet access in Cambodia ... albeit Chinese
Fixing CRT TV sets
Yahoo-Cambodia billboard
Fake iPhone

September 18, 2010
Andrew Froehlich
Technorati

I had the opportunity to visit several cities within Cambodia last week. Being a network engineer and interested in technology advancements in emerging countries, I decided to spend some time investigating the current economic and technological environment. I came away fairly optimistic that Cambodia might be the next Asian country to experience a technology boom.

As far as current technology in Cambodia, it's a bit of a mixed bag. The country as whole is still very poor compared to many other SE Asian countries including Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore. In fact, the only other country that has a lower per capita GDP is Myanmar (Burma).

In one market, I saw a shop that was gutting and repairing 10 year old tube televisions. This is a trade that I have not seen for at least 15 years. Also, there seem to be frequent power outages throughout the region. The outages did not last long but could prove to be disruptive for prospective businesses looking to invest in the area.

That being said, when I further explored Phnom Penh, the capitol city of Cambodia, I was surprised with the amount of signage that promoted Internet technologies. It would seem that in the capitol and other large cities that I visited, high-speed Internet was readily available at many hotels, coffee shops and even gas stations.

In addition, the cellular network within Cambodia is well developed, at least in the locations I visited. A company called Cellcard has built-out a 3G network in Cambodia's "key cities". When outside these cities, 2G Edge service blankets the country in most cases. In this regard, Cambodia is ahead of providing 3G services compared to neighboring Thailand who have been stuck in a political battle for years regarding the licensing of 3G frequencies.

Economically, while the vast majority of Cambodians are very poor, there has been recent investments from neighboring countries including China to develop factories for the manufacturing of electronics. I saw this first hand when looking at a iPhone 4G look-alike for sale at one of the local markets.

The phone's manual was written in Cambodian as opposed to Chinese or Laos. This typically means that the device was designed and made in Cambodia. It was a fairly sophisticated piece of technology so expect to see more and more electronics stamped with "Made in Cambodia" in the coming years.

Another key economic factor that may be in Cambodia's favor is the fact they they rely heavily on the US dollar. While the country has their own currency, the Riel, it very much is tied to the dollar and is actually the preferred currency all over the country. Because the dollar is weak compared to other Asian currencies, investments in Cambodia are becoming highly attractive.

Cambodia still has a long way to go to become a technological powerhouse. The good news is that they have many things going for them both technologically and economically. But don't just take my word for it. Cisco Systems also sees Cambodia as a growth market for technology. Just last month Cisco announced that they will be starting the Cisco Network Academy Program at a Technical University. Clearly, Cisco sees the future need for highly skilled network engineers in the very near future.

Asians find Internet a good tool to market social cause

Sunday, 18 April 2010
By Dennis D. Estopace / Reporter
Business Mirror (Philippines)

The first Internet service provider (ISP) was from Australia, and currently there are 10 ISPs, but most are foreign-owned. Access is very expensive at $500 a month, Tieng said, adding that only less than 100,000 of the country’s 15 million people have access. “And that access is slow and can be cut off. It takes more than a half-hour to download, and only for e-mail,” Tieng said.

Aside from those in government, Cambodians with access to the Internet are those in universities as teachers or college students, or staff of nongovernment organizations.

JAKARTA—The Asian masses have found a new voice in the Internet, but activists are discovering marketing social and political causes to them isn’t as simple as the technology.

“We don’t know if by escaping the tyranny of the state, we face the tyranny of the market,” Southeast Asian Center for e-Media’s Chandran Premesh said at a forum here on Thursday.

Premesh, an activist-turned-entrepreneur, was referring to his group’s website Malaysiakini.com which, aside from offering “alternative news and views of Malaysians,” promotes “citizen journalism” or the practice of encouraging common folk to provide media content.

He noted that while the web site has been generating revenue from subscription for its English-language content, “the revenue still doesn’t approximate that generated by the print media in Malaysia.”

“We’re hardly earning compared with the payment received by the print and broadcast media,” he said.

Mir Abdul Wahed Hashimi of the group Supporting Open Media in Afghanistan (NAI) describes the current situation as a “media explosion” sweeping not only his country but most countries in Asia and the Pacific.

While Afghanistan only has 5-percent Internet penetration among its 30 million people, NAI’s executive director said that since the technology arrived during a tenuous peace, the country has been enjoying the availability of technology.

“In the past six or eight years, we’ve not been using the technology. Now, we’re using the latest,” Hashimi said.

That latest technology has been embraced by denizens in this part of the world, some of whom lived for decades under tight state control.

China, for example, immediately embraced a celebrity like Aoi Sola, with 14,000 followers on Twitter, according to Ying Chan of the Journalism and Media Studies Center in Hong Kong.

According to Chan, who also teaches journalism at Shantou University in China, the embrace of technology in China is mainly to communicate within and to acquire information from other countries. She cited the case of Twitter user “wenyunchao,” who receives thousands of e-mails requesting for steps on how to climb the firewall Chinese authorities built on the Internet.

“[By doing so], by knowing what others are doing, they feel good about themselves.”

And the Chinese people also have wielded technology to advance what they judge as being right or wrong.

Chan cited as examples a waitress jailed for killing her attackers, a businesswoman who set herself on fire to protest government sequestration of her home, and sending messages by mobile phone to organize a rally. “This is when the virtual gets married in the real world,” Chan said.

Chan’s latest number cites China has 384 million Internet users, nearly 100 percent of whom use broadband (346 million). Some 233 million have mobile phones.

With a population nearing 2 billion, there is still a huge potential in this space, according to Chan.

So, too, in Malaysia, with 35 percent of its 27.7 million people online, according to Seacem’s Premesh, who added that with Internet access from the home at $20 a month or 70 US cents an hour at Internet cafés, activists still have elbowroom to advance their cause.

He said that while Malaysiakini’s revenues are low compared with traditional media, it’s still strong at $1 million.

Premesh said the online news agency’s annual grant of $100,000 is now less than 10 percent of that revenue. Subscription has become its No. 1 earner, he added.

“Advertising is catching. This year, we expect that to replace subscription as revenue source,” he said.

Afghanistan, too, offers potential since fiber-optic technology outlay “may lead to inexpensive access,” says Hashimi.

The challenge, however, is to maximize these potentials in terms of advancing the common cause of these groups, which is the creation and strengthening of free, independent, sustainable and pluralistic media.

However, John Wallace of Australia-based Asia-Pacific Journalism Center said, at the same two-day conference here that began on Thursday, that the same technology tapped by the public also “puts stress on journalists.”

“Some are making mistakes. The problem is doing good journalism [in this environment].”

That environment, for some, is marked with political conflicts. For those who are just coming out of these conflicts, like in Cambodia, the adoption of technology even by nonjournalists has not been as fast as their advancing of their cause.

According to Vichea S. Tieng of the Royal University of Phnom Penh, Cambodians were introduced to the Internet only in 1993 after 18 years of war.

The first Internet service provider (ISP) was from Australia, and currently there are 10 ISPs, but most are foreign-owned. Access is very expensive at $500 a month, Tieng said, adding that only less than 100,000 of the country’s 15 million people have access. “And that access is slow and can be cut off. It takes more than a half-hour to download, and only for e-mail,” Tieng said.

Aside from those in government, Cambodians with access to the Internet are those in universities as teachers or college students, or staff of nongovernment organizations.

Tieng said that because the technology is still based on the English language, it has become difficult for them to leverage even the rudimentary knowledge they have to further their cause.

Tieng and other delegates of the conference here, hence, urged that the Global Forum for Media Development join campaigns to bridge the digital divide in the region.

An opening in cyberspace closes

Feb 27, 2009
By Shawn W Crispin
Asia Times (Hong Kong)

BANGKOK - When a state-linked Cambodian Internet service provider (ISP) blocked access this month to a critical non-governmental organization report detailing the government's alleged mismanagement of natural and energy resources, the censorship closed the loop on the region's fast-closing cyberspace.

The Cambodian government has prioritized improving its Internet controls and legislation, despite the fact less than 0.3% of the population is online, one of the lowest Internet penetration rates in the world. The recent bust of an alleged terror plot against the government revealed that authorities had capability to hack into suspects' - and perhaps perceived other adversaries' - e-mail accounts.

It wasn't long ago that Asia's Internet was being heralded as an inexorable force for democratic change across the predominantly authoritarian-run region. Rising Internet penetration rates and the proliferation of websites that provided alternative news and critical views, particularly in countries where the state had long dominated information flows, marked substantial democratic gains.

Across the world, governments are now bidding to claw back those gains and assert tighter control over the Internet through improved surveillance and censorship capabilities. Meanwhile, new laws are granting state authorities in many countries new powers to block and censor online content, often in the arbitrary name of maintaining social order or national security.

The battle for Internet freedom is particularly pitched in Southeast Asia, where even nominally democratic governments are now cracking down on journalists, bloggers and ordinary Internet users. China has emerged as the region's Internet censorship role model, with its successful use of sophisticated filtering and surveillance technologies, widely known as Beijing's "Great Firewall".

Those capabilities have been widened through a new government-run computer monitoring information system, known as the "Golden Shield Project". Of the 28 journalists now imprisoned in China, as tallied by the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), 24 of them were charged and sentenced for articles and commentaries they posted online.

In its recently released "Attacks on the Press" compendium, CPJ contends that a growing number of Southeast Asian governments have moved to emulate China's cyber-censorship techniques. The advocacy group argues that as Western nations have moved to engage China's authoritarian regime, several Southeast Asian governments no longer feel obliged to follow through on the democratic reforms - including commitments to Internet freedom - the West had once pressured them to adopt.

Those pressures are expected to diminish further as the US looks towards China to help bail-out its bankrupt financial and banking systems through the continued purchase of US treasury bonds. The US's collapsing demand for regional exports and flagging outward investments is expected to eventually translate into reduced diplomatic clout in Southeast Asia, a retrenchment that will likely enhance China's already rising regional influence.

Long-time US ally Thailand stands as a case in point. The Thai government has launched one of the most aggressive crackdowns on Internet freedom seen anywhere in the world - so far without a peep of dissent from Bangkok's US embassy. The crackdown was presaged by the passage of the 2007 Computer Crime Act, which among other measures made the use of proxy servers to circumvent government blocks on websites an offense punishable by imprisonment.

The Information Technology and Communication Ministry has since earmarked millions of dollars to develop and deploy improved firewall technologies and the ministry now maintains an Internet "war room" where officials conduct surveillance over Internet content. The ministry said in early January that it had closed down 2,300 websites for posting materials deemed critical of the Thai royal family.

The Justice Ministry has since indicated it will seek a court order to block another 3,000 to 4,000 sites for the same reason. At least one Thai Internet user is currently in prison for posting materials deemed offensive to the royal crown, and two bloggers were temporarily detained but not formally charged on similar charges in 2007.

Cyber-backslider

Nominally democratic Malaysia is another prominent backslider. The government pledged in 1996 not to censor the Internet to lure foreign funds to the Multimedia Super Corridor project, an ambitious state gambit that aimed to incubate Malaysia's own version of the US's Silicon Valley. The no-censorship policy allowed online news providers and bloggers to report and comment on news that the state-controlled mainstream media either neglected or was instructed from above to ignore.

That commitment was symbolically dropped last year when the government ordered local ISPs to block access to prominent blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin's Malaysia Today news site, which has a larger readership than several established state-influenced newspapers. He has been charged and detained under both the Sedition and Internal Security Acts for online writings which were critical of the government.

According to the CPJ, it's still unclear whether Malaysian authorities have deployed the same type of filtering and monitoring technologies seen in China, but the government is known to monitor Internet content through three different state agencies, including the Prime Minister's Office. According to e-mail correspondence shared with this correspondent, Raja Petra, now temporarily released on Internal Security Act charges, is under family pressure to flee the country rather than stand trial in Malaysia's politically compromised courts.

The situation is worsening in less democratic countries. Vietnam, known to maintain some of Asia's most extensive Internet controls outside of China, has in recent months moved to introduce more stringent regulations governing bloggers and their postings. Singapore authorities recently harassed an Asia Times Online contributor for a November story that detailed the island state's mounting financial troubles.

Police claimed that the article had been sent with added malicious comments to the head of state, opposition politicians and newspapers from the reporter's e-mail account. The reporter denied the charge and police officials later indicated that an unidentified hacker had sent the message from her account. Either way, the reporter has been put on official notice that her online writings and e-mail activities are under surveillance.

Meanwhile, countries as repressive as Myanmar are dedicating significant resources to Internet censorship. The country's technological failure to control the Internet was apparent for all to see when undercover journalists sent footage and reports of the 2007 Saffron Revolution street protests to outside news organizations, forcing the regime to unplug the Internet altogether before its fatal, final crackdown. Still, it's unclear how many undercover journalists the authorities have been identified and jailed as part of their wider crackdown on dissent.

There are indications that Myanmar authorities have since received censorship training from Russian and Chinese officials. Some contend that this explains the mysterious distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks on a number of exile media groups' websites last year. Soe Myint, editor of the New Delhi-based Mizzima News, said during a recent presentation in Chiang Mai that the cost to effectively protect his website from future DDoS attacks is beyond his news organization's financial means.

Despite these growing attacks, there is some cause for hope. Human rights organizations, investors and several prominent US Internet companies, including Yahoo!, Google and Microsoft, agreed in a joint initiative last October to follow guidelines to protect online expression and privacy when faced with repressive government requests for user identities or assistance in blocking targeted websites.

Meanwhile, some regional media groups have received foreign assistance to locate their servers anonymously and remotely in second countries to guard against future DDoS attacks. And ever-evolving proxy server and other roundabout firewall technologies continue to put Internet users in countries as isolated as Myanmar a step ahead of government censors.

Yet even with those agreements and technologies, Asia's Internet is a substantially more dangerous space than it was previously. Southeast Asian governments are now responding with bigger budgets and heavier hands to the technological and political challenge presented by online expression. Under that mounting assault, previous high hopes for the medium's democracy-promoting potential have in large measure faded.

Shawn W Crispin is Asia Times Online's Southeast Asia Editor and Asia Program Consultant to the Committee to Protect Journalists. He may be reached at swcrispin@atimes.com.

If you read this article on the Internet from Cambodia, you are among the less than 1% population having access to the Internet

Malaysia Among Top Five With Internet Access In Asia Pacific

BANGKOK, Nov 19 (Bernama) -- Malaysia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea and Singapore are the most connected countries in the Asia Pacific region, with 55 per cent to 80 per cent of their populations having access to the Internet by 2007.

In contrast, the bottom five -- Myanmar, Timor-Leste, Tajikistan, Bangladesh and Cambodia -- have less than one per cent of their population using the Internet while the average for region is 20 per cent.

The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (Unescap) said that despite significant progress that Asia and the Pacific had made in utilising information communication technology (ICT), a significant disparity still remained in access to the Internet between high-income and low-income countries.

It said the wide gap appeared despite its study which showed that both phone and Internet use had increased over the last five years since the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) was first held in 2003.

"How to overcome this 'digital divide' is the focus of a meeting being held in Bangkok with participants compromising ICT experts from governments, the academia, UN and other international agencies and the private sector, including from Microsoft," Unescap said in a statement.

The agency said the number of mobile phone subscribers increased by nearly 70 times in South Asia between 2000 and 2007 and by over 40 times in Central Asia while in Southeast Asia, which has a relatively more developed market, the number of subscribers still grew by about 10 times.

"Yet, the growth is the fastest in the poorest countries in the region. The least developed countries in the region as a group had seen their mobile phone users increase by close to 80 times," it said.

The expert group meeting, WSIS+5 and Emerging Issues in Asia and the Pacific, is intended as a platform to discuss technical aspects of ICT development and solicit expert views on key issues -- such as problems with infrastructure -- which need to be addressed at the regional level.

Among issues being discussed are the current status of ICT and the implementation of the WSIS Plan of Action in the Asia-Pacific region and key emerging issues that are standing in the way ICT connectivity in developing nations.

Also in the agenda is the integration of ICT in effective disaster risk reduction programmes, for example, by providing technical solutions such as region-wide early warning systems, and better communications systems to assist with disaster recovery.

Less than one-thousandth Cambodians subscribe to internet

PHNOM PENH, May 3 (Xinhua) -- There are only some 13,000 Cambodians, or less than one-thousandth of the total population, subscribe to internet, according to an industry survey published on Saturday by English-language newspaper the Phnom Penh Post.

Most of them are in capital Phnom Penh and tourism province Siem Reap, said the survey carried out in 14 cities of the country.

Some 21.5 percent of the users are not satisfied with cost, 44.6 percent with reliability and 5.7 percent with speed, it said.

There are now nine internet service providers in Cambodia, with the top one sharing 28.8 percent of the market and the bottom one 1 percent, the survey added.

Most internet operators of Cambodia now use satellite to serve their customers. Nationwide fiber web infrastructure for internet service is still being constructed. This makes internet a luxurious enjoyment for ordinary Cambodians.