RAND_MR1382

government or corporation.
Disadvantages of Using the Internet
There are several disadvantages, or potential disadvantages, to using the Internet that
can limit its usefulness to grassroots groups engaged in political action. Many of these
“downsides” depend on how the Internet is used. Like the advantages of the Internet
noted above, some have to do with the medium’s unique characteristics.
It is dangerous to rely solely on a single source of communication. Although the Internet was
designed for robustness during an emergency, disruptions can and have occurred. In
July 1997, Internet traffic “ground to a halt” across much of the United States because of
a freak combination of technical and human errors, presaging what some Internet
experts believe could someday be a more catastrophic meltdown. 75 On April 20, 1997,
the Institute for Global Communications’ computer server, which hosts BurmaNet and
many other listservs related to peace and human rights, “crashed.” Two days later,
President Clinton announced that he was imposing federal economic sanctions on the
SLORC regime. The IGC server was not restored until April 24, which meant that
activists were seriously impaired in getting news and discussing this watershed
development for several days. 76 The Free Burma Coalition “would probably fall apart if
the Internet connection were all of a sudden turned off,” Marco Simons said. “Maybe we
rely too heavily on it.” 77
Other technologies, such as the telephone and the fax machine, still have advantages in
particular situations, particularly if the sender needs immediate acknowledgment that
the information has been received.
Communications over the Internet can be easily monitored. Without a doubt, SLORC and its
sympathizers monitor the public discussion on BurmaNet and other channels of
discussion. Such monitoring allows the Burmese regime and perhaps even corporations
targeted by the campaign to electronically eavesdrop on prodemocracy groups’
activities. However, several respondents to our Internet activist survey, as well as
several interviewees, did not see this monitoring as necessarily a bad thing. As one
BurmaNet subscriber put it: “I hope they read some of our stuff. They must learn in some
manner.” 78
Private, one-to-one electronic mail messages are slightly more secure, but these can be
“hacked” by anyone with sufficient technical knowledge.
A more potent option is strong encryption, which, in theory, allows only sender and
receiver to read the decoded message. The encryption system known as Pretty Good
Privacy (PGP) has allowed U.S. organizations backing the National League for
Democracy and other prodemocracy groups to maintain regular contact with groups on
the Thai and Indian borders. It has been used to set up meetings inside Burma and to