Surveillance of Cell Phone Messages

Censorship is not new to the people of North Korea. There surveillance and censorship of communication now extends to cell phone messages:

“North Korea is clamping down on mobile phones and long distance telephone calls to prevent the spread of news about a worsening food crisis, according to the United Nations investigator on human rights for the isolated communist country.

In a report to the UN General Assembly, Vitit Muntarbhorn, a Thai law professor who has never been allowed to visit North Korea, said that its government is using public executions as a means of intimidating the population, and using spies to infiltrate and expose religious communities.”

link: North Korea clamps down on mobile phones to stop news of food crisis

Undoubtedly, the control of news extends to the internet. However, the internet was design to route around disasters and, theoretically, maintains communication. Now it becomes a deadly game of ‘cat and mouse’ online. People online in North Korea will be trying to let the international community know the news. With the present regime, online activities could prove deadly.

Catherine Forsythe