AFP-AOL cancels link with Burmese W

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Subject: AFP-AOL cancels link with Burmese Website linked to military junta

AOL cancels link with Burmese Website linked to military junta
DULLES, Virginia, Aug 18 (AFP) - America Online has canceled a link with a
Burmese website after learning it was run by Myanmar's ruling military junta
which is blamed for widespread rights abuses, a Burmese pro-democracy group
said Wednesday.
Last week AOL decided to connect its Asia Forum with www.myanmar.com but has
now canceled the deal after learning of the site's junta connection and
"pervasive human rights violations in Burma," the Free Burma Coalition said.

It said the website was mainly used to attract foreign tourists and also
carried vitriolic attacks from the military-controlled press on
pro-democracy militants, including Nobel Peace Price laureate Aung San Suu
Kyi, and Burmese refugees in Thailand.

"It looked bad for an 'information technology' company to be leading its
users to the propaganda page of a regime that has closed the universities
and restricted all kinds of information, including the Internet. To their
credit, AOL reacted quickly," it added.

The coalition said it learned about AOL's gaffe from an e-mail message from
Myanmar's Office of Strategic Services (security police).