Myanmar used to have some of the most restricted internet in the world. Then for a period it was totally unrestricted. It seems like the country is now on a slippery slope towards arbitrary and possibly broad censorship. Some reflections... 1/7. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-myanmar-politics-idUSKBN25S4R3

I remember early 2000s having to install massive (& expensive) satellite dish on my roof to get connection. I was finishing a PhD at the time so this was vital. But incredibly slow speeds - signal had to do double hop back down from satellite so it could pass thru MM firewall 2/7

Gmail was blocked. So was Google search engine. And BBC news. Internet cafes paid off MI and risked long imprisonment to offer unrestricted net access via shifting proxy servers. Mostly for gamers, it has to be said. But also dissidents and regular people. 3/7

Then, one day in September 2011 everything changed overnight. Virtually all restrictions dropped. Dissident sites were available. Mobile internet suddenly quite fast. It was astonishing, and just like that Myanmar had about the most open internet in SEAsia. 4/7

Then with a transparent, well run telecom tender in 2013 Myanmar got about the fastest (and cheapest) internet in SEAsia as well. That came with all sorts of problems from digital literacy to hate speech (for another thread). But it was/is also transformative for the country. 5/7

All that now under threat. Gradually authorities getting less tolerant of debate/criticism. Many people imprisoned for defamation. More democracy has brought thinner skins, not thicker ones. There’s been progressive tightening of free expression & more and more sites blocked. 6/7

It may seem like a few here, a few there. But a threshold has been crossed. Govt now deciding what people in MM can see and what they can’t. It’s making political judgements. Once you start on that path, it doesn’t stop. And it’ll cripple many benefits of MM’s digital spring. 7/7