The OpenNet Initiative claims the oppressive regime of Myanmar uses technology from a California company to censor Internet usage.
Although the US government has maintained sanctions on Myanmar’s military regime for some time, the OpenNet Initiative claims one US firm’s products have made it to the country and are in use to censor Internet usage.
OpenNet says a product from Fortinet Technologies has made it to the nation formerly called Burma, and is used to filter sites. In its report, OpenNet said Fortinet’s FortiGuard system has made its way to Myanmar in spite of US sanctions, and is now in use.
A Fortinet spokesperson said in the New York Times that the company “does not condone doing business with US-embargoed or sanctioned countries.” Like many software companies, Fortinet utilizes a model where it sells products to resellers, who then sell them to users.
OpenNet’s report describes Fortinet’s presence in Myanmar:
Opportunities for anonymous communications are hampered by the state’s ban on free email sites such as Hotmail and Yahoo! Mail, enforced through filtering software obtained from the open source DansGuardian project and purchased from U.S.-based vendor Fortinet. (Fortinet denies that it directly sold such software to the regime, while a May 2004 article in a Burmese newspaper features a picture of the company’s local sales director presenting a gift to Burma’s prime minister at a ceremony commemorating the sale.)
John Palfrey, director of the Berkman Center on Internet and Society at Harvard Law School, is a researcher with OpenNet. He commented to the Times that Fortinet’s products are in use by the military regime:
“The Myanmar state has put out a Web page talking about it.” He added, “We’ve procured a block page that has hallmarks of Fortinet’s system and have heard from people on the ground that it’s being implemented.”
David Utter is a staff writer for Murdok covering technology and business. Email him here.
