The Open Net Initiative has released a detailed report on internet censorship in the country. You can read the full report here: http://www.opennetinitiative.net/studies/burma
There are primarily two ISP's within the country, the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications and Bagan Cybertech, which is a semi-private company. The report indicates that the country has begun switching over to a 'Fortiguard', a filter and firewall product from Fortinet - a US company. Fortinet's spokesperson says that the company only sells to resellers, and therefore was unaware that their product had been purchased by the Junta. However, the ONI researchers had this to say on the matter:
An article in the New Light of Myanmar newspaper covering the sale of the Fortinet product to Burma shows a picture of Benjamin Teh, Fortinet’s sales director for South Asia, presenting a gift to Burma’s Prime Minister at a ceremony commemorating the sale.10 Given Mr. Teh’s participation, it seems unlikely that Fortinet did not know of the sale of its software to Burma. ONI notes that Fortinet does not indicate it restricts re-sellers from conducting business with Burma, unlike companies such as Sun Microsystems.11
Information from Burmese sources indicates that the filtering situation has grown more restrictive for Bagan Cybertech users since the deployment of the Fortinet Fortiguard product. Whereas the open source DansGuardian filter requires more work on the part of local administrators, Fortinet’s products – supported by substantial venture-capital investments and surrounded by a suite of security technologies – are more likely to be updated on a full-service basis by an outside third-party.
Draw your own conclusions.
The following update has come from the Irrawaddy:
HK Company to Run Burmese Internet ServicesHowever, someone has sussed that SS8 is not actually a Hong Kong Company, but a US company based in San Jose, CA. It seems the agreement will involve the use of their Lawful Intercept Product. I'm not the best at wading through technical jargon, but the implication seems to be that the junta may be able to access and monitor the content of personal emails and other net-based communications.
A Hong Kong company, SS8 Networks Inc, has agreed with Burmese company Ahaed Co. Ltd., to run security services for internet service providers in Burma, the local news journal Voice reported Tuesday. Under the agreement, security services will be provided for domestic internet subscribers. The current private ISP in Burma is Bagan Cybertech Co, which launched the internet and the internet-based telephone system in Burma in 2001 in partnership with the Shin Satellite Co of Thailand.
Interestingly enough, none of the 18 blog domains tested by the researchers were blocked. Just for fun, here's a list of some of the websites that are blocked in Burma:
www.amnesty.org
www.rsf.org
www.ahrchk.net
abcnews.go.com
www.voanews.com
www.repubblica.it
www.catholic.org
www.sexhealth.org
www.freeburmacoalition.org
www.ibiblio.org/freeburma
www.freeburma.org
www.burmacampaign.org.uk
www.burmalibrary.org
www.burmafund.org
www.burmaproject.org
www.dassk.com
www.irrawaddy.org
www.karen.org
www.burmadaily.com
www.myanmarnews.net
www.burmapeacecampaign.org
www.asiantribune.com
knla.meabs.com
www.womenofburma.org
www.dvb.no
www.birmanie.ch
www.nationmultimedia.com
www.beer.com
www.guardster.com
www.primedius.com
www.keptprivate.com
www.pflag.org
groups.yahoo.com, www.supernews.com, www.xasa.com/grupos/