Burma attack on 'cyber dissidents'
Burmese pro-democracy activists now face cyber war. Photo: Getty Images
Monday September 22 2008
A YEAR after e-mailed images of its brutal crackdown against democracy demonstrations were transmitted across the world, Burma has launched a "cyber war" against dissidents who use the internet.
In the past few days, anti-government online magazines run by exiled Burmese have been inundated by massive volumes of artificially generated traffic that have forced the news websites to shut down.
The attacks coincided with the first anniversary of the "saffron uprising" - 10 days of mass demonstrations by Buddhist monks and student activists that culminated in a crackdown in which dozens were killed and thousands arrested.
The attacks , which appear to originate in China, Russia and Europe as well as Burma, can only be the work of agents of the Burmese Government and may be an effort to compensate for its failure last year to stem the flow of images showing unarmed demonstrators being dispersed under a rain of bullets and truncheons. (© The Times, London)
