The Irrawaddy reports that a banned news website Mizzima.com can now be accessed from Burma. (via 2Bangkok.com)
Exiled Burmese media group Mizzima, based in New Delhi, recently announced that the Rangoon government had lifted the ban on its website, a fact corroborated by internet users in the capital. The move has drawn praise from several quarters, including the International Federation of Journalists in Brussels, but many feel it is in actual fact far from being a step along the road to press freedom.
The real reason for the unblocking may have nothing to do with junta’s desire for open information
Sources in Rangoon even suggest that things are getting worse, and that the government is in fact tightening its leash on internet use, possibly through the use of a new firewall program. One idea floating about is that the reappearance of the Mizzima website may actually be down to a technical glitch.
