Technology brings protest to world

Secret networks of dissident citizen reporters operating beneath the noses of government spies in army-ruled Myanmar are giving the world unprecedented glimpses of the biggest anti-junta protests in two decades.

With foreign journalists barred from what is one of the world8217;s most closed states, much of the worldwide media coverage is coming from exiled newshounds in countries such as Thailand and India 8212; and their clandestine contacts on the inside. Technology ranging from the latest Internet gizmo to satellite uplinks to camera phones are ensuring pictures of the massed marches of monks and civilians and the response by security forces is on TV screens around the world in hours.

The contrast to Myanmar8217;s last major uprising, in 1988, could not be more stark. Then, as many as 3,000 people were killed when soldiers opened fire on the crowds but it took days for the news 8212; let alone pictures or video footage 8212; to emerge.

8220;The difference is night and day,8221; said Dominic Faulder, a Bangkok-based British reporter during the 1988 uprising.