Skip to main content

Burma bans Skype, severing global communication

burma-protestors
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Earlier this month we reported that Burma had timidly entered among the countries joining the Facebook revolutions. The Facebook page “Just Do It Against Military Dictatorship” gathered steam (which has since somewhat level off), and it appeared that activists were attempting to use the extremely limited Internet access Burma had. While every country involved in the social-media bred demonstrations has struggled against an oppressive government, Burmese authorities are known for their extreme violence against citizens. As famed dissident Aung San Suu Kyi said regarding the uprising, “the people have stood in Burma before, as you know, and in those instances they were fired upon by the army.”

Now it appears that just the inkling of citizen uprising is enough to make the country tighten its grip on access to the rest of the world. According to Global Post, Skype has been blocked and other VoIP platforms are being banned as well. The Post also reminds us that using Internet cafes for VoIP international calls are one of the few ways the reclusive country’s citizens have of communicating with the rest of the world. Mobile phones and other personal devices for communication are wildly expensive: For example, owning your own cell phone number (just the SIM card, not the hardware or accompanying software) is about $1,700. And how does that translate here? The worth of a dollar is obviously much higher in the very poor country, so it would be akin to charging a US citizen $72,000 for a mobile number. So free or inexpensive VoIP software is an important asset to the Burmese.

The larger motivation to cut Skype and similar services could obviously be to increase increase profits for the government-owned phone company within the country, but there have been reports before the latest restriction that the Burmese government would be restricting access to information about the Middle Eastern revolutions. A report in the New York Times yesterday claimed that the Chinese government is also taking precautions, and that if the word “protest” is heard over phone lines, the call is immediately cut. China also recently shutdown hundreds of thousands of Internet cafes. Still, money may be the larger issue at play in Burma, but this all just means the oppressive government can kill two birds with one stone by cutting VoIP services.

Molly McHugh
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Before coming to Digital Trends, Molly worked as a freelance writer, occasional photographer, and general technical lackey…
Best OLED monitor deals: Get an OLED screen from just $450
Marvel's Spider-Man running on the Samsung Odyssey OLED G8.

Shopping some of the best monitor deals is a good way to save on some extra screen real estate, but if you’re looking for something that can produce a stunning image you should turn your shopping cart toward the OLED monitors. OLED is one of the best picture technologies currently available, and it can create a lifelike image that makes interacting with games, presentations, and creative work much more immersive. The best OLED monitors can run pretty expensive, but that’s what OLED monitor deals are for. If you’re looking for superior picture quality and some ways to save, read onward for more details on the best OLED monitor deals taking place right now.
ViewSonic 15.6-inch VX1655 4K OLED portable monitor — $450, was $500

Getting into the OLED game can be both affordable and portable with the ViewSonic VX1655. It’s a 4K OLED display that’s made to function as either a laptop extension or something to pair with a tablet. It comes in at a super sharp 4K resolution and a refresh rate of 60Hz. This isn’t something you’d want to pair with a gaming PC, but it’s a great little display to keep with you if you do creative work on the run or want some extra screen real estate while working on a tablet at your desk.

Read more
Best monitor deals: Gaming, office, curved, OLED and more
Dell UltraSharp 27 4K PremierColor Monitor

Whether you prefer to work at one of the best desktop computers, the best laptops, or anything in between, an external monitor can be helpful to add some extra screen real estate. One of the best monitors can even go a long way toward reducing eye strain and creating an immersive digital or gaming experience. While high end monitors can get quite expensive, there are always some impressive monitor deals to shop, and we’ve tracked them all down. Reading onward you’ll find what we feel are the best monitor deals, whether you’re shopping for 4K monitors, gaming monitors, ultrawide monitors, or more general monitors meant for all-purpose users.
Best monitor deals

The following deals represent a best-of of the deals below. They're selected to give a mixture of prices, styles, and levels of discount. If you don't see something you like, don't worry, as the following sections will have plenty more deals for you to choose from. However, this is a highly recommended place to start:

Read more
7 best Chromebooks for 2024: the best for every budget
Close up of the Chrome logo on the top of a Chromebook.

Chromebooks might have a hard time competing with Windows laptops and MacBooks, but that doesn't mean they don't have their place. We've reviewed hundreds of laptops over the years, testing for important qualities like performance, battery life, and display quality — and we've found that Chromebooks consistently excel at performance and reliability.

You can find Chromebooks from Google, HP, Lenovo, Acer, and many others, and we've dug through them to put together this roundup of the best Chromebooks on the market. They're incredibly accessible devices, and for the right person, a Chromebook can be the best laptop in terms of value.

Read more