Over the weekend, a press release issued by the Director General of the Department of Government Information noted that all ‘websites carrying any content relating to Sri Lanka or the people of Sri Lanka… uploaded from Sri Lanka or elsewhere’ to ‘register’ for ‘accreditation’. Several websites Websites including www.lankanewsweb.com, www.srilankamirror.com, www.srilankaguardian.org and www.lankawaynews.com were blocked on the day the press release was issued.
Web censorship has grown apace since 2007, when the pro-LTTE Tamilnet.com was first blocked, without any court order. The following Bundlr collection flags some key incidents and concerns regarding the growing censorship of online expression and content. It is also a record of how supine Internet Service Providers (ISPs) are in Sri Lanka when complying with arbitrary orders issued by the government for the blocking of websites.
We will continue to curate this bundle with new developments.