Laura Ling: North Korea: A Nation in the Dark
[Laura Ling is host of the documentary series "E! Investigates." She is the coauthor of "Somewhere Inside: One Sister's Captivity in North Korea and the Other's Fight to Bring Her Home."]
Around the world, authoritarian regimes have tried to keep their citizens from hearing news of the protests raging throughout the Middle East and in their own countries. Some have tried shutting down cellphone and Internet service, but that has only sparked new flames of anger and discontent.
Even the Chinese government, which has unleashed the most sophisticated Internet blocking system in the world, can't contain all the information and chatter on countless websites, social networks and blogs.
As far back as 2006, when I was in Beijing on assignment for Current TV, people there were surreptitiously bypassing what's become known as the great firewall of China. Using my laptop in my hotel room, I first tried unsuccessfully to access various banned sites dedicated to human rights issues. But after I installed an unauthorized piece of software called Ultrareach, used by many Chinese to get around government blocks, I was immediately able to open the forbidden websites.
But there is one country that has actually managed to keep the vast majority of its population in the dark: North Korea. Unlike its neighbor China, which has more than 450 million Internet users, the Internet in North Korea is banned for the average citizen. There's no need for the government to block threatening websites, because most North Koreans have never used a computer, let alone understand what a URL is....
Read entire article at LA Times
Around the world, authoritarian regimes have tried to keep their citizens from hearing news of the protests raging throughout the Middle East and in their own countries. Some have tried shutting down cellphone and Internet service, but that has only sparked new flames of anger and discontent.
Even the Chinese government, which has unleashed the most sophisticated Internet blocking system in the world, can't contain all the information and chatter on countless websites, social networks and blogs.
As far back as 2006, when I was in Beijing on assignment for Current TV, people there were surreptitiously bypassing what's become known as the great firewall of China. Using my laptop in my hotel room, I first tried unsuccessfully to access various banned sites dedicated to human rights issues. But after I installed an unauthorized piece of software called Ultrareach, used by many Chinese to get around government blocks, I was immediately able to open the forbidden websites.
But there is one country that has actually managed to keep the vast majority of its population in the dark: North Korea. Unlike its neighbor China, which has more than 450 million Internet users, the Internet in North Korea is banned for the average citizen. There's no need for the government to block threatening websites, because most North Koreans have never used a computer, let alone understand what a URL is....