The inter-what ?

It's becoming a little much of a regular occurrence on these pages, my apologizing for jumping on the media bandwagon. So, apologies in advance.

The disturbing events over in Burma (if you're a Brit or an American) / Myanmar (if you from the rest of the world) have raised a very interesting perspective to the power of modern technology. We're all fairly familiar with the use of government controls in China to prevent certain "undesirable" stories from raising their ugly heads in a Google search for popular tourist destinations. Tiananmen Square springs to mind.

Well, the military junta in Burma appear to be following suit to prevent pictures, stories and blogs from leaking the virtual borders of the country to tell the world about what's really going on. Except it isn't working very well, largely because the 20-something students who are doing all the dirt-digging are far smarter when it comes too technology than the junta dinosaurs.

It struck me that this really is a world that knows no boundaries, but also an important warning/lesson/reminder of the power of the internet. I think we've well and truly let the cat out of Pandora's box (second apology on its way for mixed metaphors) on this one, now the world at large has realised that they can flex their journalistic frustrations in whatever direction they like, using the internet as their soap box. In the case of Burma, all to the well and good, but it does prove beyond all shadow of a doubt that if someone wants the world to know their views on a topic, it's going to get out whether you want it to or not.

So, watch out all you Facebook posters....