To the FutureSep 07, 2003
It's been a while since I wrote my journal. I have been very busy with classes and finals. Neil and Diana have gone back to Fort Wayne and now I am by myself in the treetop apartment at the Diamond Jubilee building. I missed them whenever I have to think about where to live.
Internet in Burma
I finally got my Internet permit from my Internet Service Provider (BaganNet) during the week of August 20. I tried to access my Colorado State University's online classes. It was a disappointment to find out that I still couldn't access some of the lecture notes because we are behind a firewall, too restricted to do anything online. The firewall rules made it impossible for me to study online and I was forced to withdraw from my classes, taking leave of absence. Thanks to Ko Adam and Ma Tansy, I was able to withdraw from my classes without any problems. Another disappointment is the cost of the online service. For a reason I don't understand, the monthly fees for the dial-up service is Kyats 72,000 (approximately $ 72.) I got around 35 Kbps with that crappy service. I remember paying $ 45 for my Digital Subscriber Line from Verizon Company in Fort Wayne, Indiana, USA. I could surf the Net with 512 Kbps for downlink and 256 for uplink with 45-dollar service in Indiana, USA. Now I am surfing the Information superhighway with 35 Kbps paying $ 72 per month. We sure need more infrastructures in telecommunication, deregulation and more competition in telecommunication sector. The firewall rules right now are so absurd that it should not even be defined as the Internet. The marketing strategy that the BaganNet is using is a lie in saying that the Internet cafe can get the Internet access. Yes, the definition of the Internet is different from the rest of the world. It is not possible to do anything. No FTP, Telnet, SSH. At least, I have to say that we now have a chance to surf some web sites compared to nothing a few years ago. But the rate of change is so slow that we will not be able to catch up with the rest of Asian countries. The government is saying that we have to modernize the country. Yet we will never be able to keep up with the change in technology with this tight regulation. Only the richest and the biggest have access to this technology and open access to information. I am sorry to say this. Burma will be left behind more and more with this rate of change and rules.
Here is the message from the firewall.
Banned Regular Expression URL found.
