In the wake of pro-democracy protests led by Buddhist monks earlier this fall in Burma, the government took aim at the protesters’ most potent weapon- the Internet. Overnight, the country’s military dictatorship shut down the Internet and cell-phone service in an attempt to quell the protests and block the world from viewing the military dictatorship’s appalling response. Almost immediately, there was a sharp drop in reporting on the peaceful demonstrations since that development seems to indicate that the government has been successful in shrouding the country in electronic silence. There are no dramatic pictures of monks being beaten by the military endlessly replayed on television. There are no first-hand accounts of protesters being text-messaged around the world. 

Burma has withdrawn from the 21st century and, in doing so, has deprived its citizens of their human rights, and the world a fair account of events. Has the country’s military dictatorship in fact crushed the protests and restored order? Or are the demonstrations still ongoing? What has happened to the countless of people who have been arrested, including scores of monks? By denying Burma’s citizen journalists and activists the tools necessary to communicate with the world through the Internet, the regime hopes that it is free to peddle its own, heavily edited version of events with little fear of the truth ever being revealed.

But in a highly interconnected world, the truth is not so easily disappeared. The words and images that stunned the world last month live on, posted on sites hosted around the world. The world is still watching and Burma is being forced to respond, albeit inadequately.

The Internet is now a central front in the global campaign for human rights. Because of the Internet, free speech, long recognized as a fundamental human right, has been made a reality for people around the world.

Access to free, unmonitored digital technology has become a human rights issue in the purest sense of the term.  We cannot afford to balkanize the Internet or to permit repressive regimes to deny their citizens access. As the free world weighs how best to exert its substantial economic and political influence to promote democratic reforms abroad, democratic governments must speak out forcefully for Internet freedom develop meaningful consequences for repressive actions.

In an information age, information technology allows anyone to become a powerful force for freedom and human rights. We can't allow a few bullying totalitarian regimes to turn that dynamic on its head.