huridocs-tech FRY: Media and human rights workers use Internet to defy bans

Edited/Distributed by HURINet - The Human Rights Information Network
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## author     : riedlmay@FAS.HARVARD.EDU
## date       : 09.05.99
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[This article has been excerpted.]

The Boston Globe
March 27, 1999

- News access - Media, rights workers use Internet to defy
bans By Patti Hartigan

   Despite a crackdown on the media by Serbian authorities,
   journalists and human rights workers got around the bans
   yesterday by distributing information out of Yugoslavia
   via the Internet.

   Radio B92, the independent radio station that was shut
   down dramatically Wednesday after its editor-in-chief was
   arrested, continued to broadcast intermittently yesterday
   on its Web site, http://www.b92.net.

   ...the Humanitarian Law Center, a human rights
   organization with offices in Belgrade and Pristina,
   disseminated bulletins from Kosovo all over the world via
   an Internet discussion list called JUSTWATCH,

   "The Internet is still functioning sporadically," said
   Fred Abrahams, Kosovo researcher for the New York-based
   Human Rights Watch. "It's working in Belgrade, but in
   Pristina, the phone lines are more erratic and there's
   little opportunity to get e-mail from Kosovo."

   On Radio B92's Web site, viewers could watch video of a
   bomb exploding over an ebony sky, as well as coverage of
   the defiant editor-in-chief, Veran Matic, at a press
   conference at the Belgrade Media Center after he was
   released by the police...Wednesday.

   The radio station is routing its broadcasts via xs4all,
   an Internet service provider in Amsterdam, which is part
   of a coalition of Dutch cultural and media groups that
   are providing technical and financial support to B92. The
   Net radio broadcast was sporadic throughout the day,
   intermittently airing a mix of music, live commentary (in
   Serbian), and silence. A B92 employee responded to an
   e-mail from the Globe yesterday with a terse message:
   "Our news you can see at www.b92.net."

   At the same time, US human rights organizations reported
   ...individuals and organizations were disseminating
   information in private e-mail as well as via listservs,
   which are electronic discussion groups. The Humanitarian
   Law Center, for instance, issued three urgent e-mail
   bulletins yesterday, including the news...an Albanian
   human rights lawyer and his two sons were found shot dead
   in Kosovo yesterday.

   Bulletin boards were also active yesterday, with messages
   posted from individuals in Belgrade. On alt.beograd, for
   instance, Web users in Belgrade delivered pithy put-downs
   to a request from a Canadian journalist seeking
   interviews. "You must understand," a Belgrade couple
   wrote,"WE DON'T WANT TO TALK RIGHT NOW WITH
   YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

   With the ban on foreign journalists and the blackout on
   traditional broadcasts, the Internet proved to be the
   last resource for human rights monitors and individual
   citizens seeking first-hand information.

   "The Internet is our most effective source for getting
   and disseminating information," Abrahams of Human Rights
   Watch said. But he warned...the Serbian government may
   crack down once word of Internet communication surfaces
   in mainstream Western media.

   "It's a mixed blessing," he added. "You want to promote
   the Internet, but I'm afraid the government could move
   against it. Some people are using encryption for
   protection, but it's likely that the government could
   just bring down the service provider."




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