Guyana Blocks Access to Starr Report

by Bert Wilkinson

But when he clicked on his favorite Washington Post and Miami Herald websites, he discovered to his annoyance that the sites were inaccessible because they were viewed to contain lewd and other material considered too explicit to be read by Guyana citizens.

"I could not believe my eyes.This is utter nonsense," he said.

The reason Williams could not open the page had everything to do with a controversial government policy which blocks access to any page which contains material considered to be racist, encouraging violence, pornographic or teaches readers how to wage violence by making explosives such as bombs.

The US-owned Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GT&T) which controls outgoing telephone services here for the four Internet providers, has never been in agreement with this policy, but it has been forced to comply in part because of the need for good relations with the state and the fact that the state also is a 20 percent shareholder in the company.

Late President Cheddi Jagan was among the most adamant for censorship, arguing that no sensible government would allow its population to access pages giving detailed instructions on how to construct bombs, use firearms, cultivate marijuana or to engage in non- productive endeavors.

John Persaud, head of the GT&T unit running this aspect of the firm's service, says individual subscribers will have to apply for an exemption to have the page opened to them if they so desire.

"We deal with exemptions twice per day. The user has to make the request which automatically sends an electronic mail message to us.

Since we don't control the software, the system is semi- intelligent and mistakenly blocks some and not other material.There is not much we can do," he told IPS this week.

He said several users have, in the past, complained about the situation, saying searches for medical material, for example, have sometimes ended in frustration because references like drugs pop up and the censoring system kicks in.

Lennox Cornette, spokesman for the GT&T said he was unaware the blocks would have covered the 445-page report on Clinton's sexual misconduct at the White House. He has promised to discuss the situation with officials.

"Don't forget it is the government which had asked us to put in blocks, but we hope people exercise their individual right to exemptions," says Cornette.

Some foreign diplomats based here as well as law enforcement officials have also complained about problems they encounter when trying to access information posted by the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA).

Words such as drugs, cocaine, heroine and others could case problems. The US Embassy has complained several times unofficially to the GT&T about the problem. Nothing has been done to date and officials hope that the latest round of complaints from those who wish to read the details of the the Starr report will trigger some action.