Burmanet policy

[ANeier@xxxxxxxxxxx]

To the users of Burmanet-l:

Many of you have written to us about your concern regarding our listserv,
Burmanet-l.  I am responding to these messages on behalf of Mr. Soros and
the Open Society Institute.

As you may know, Burmanet-l was originally set up as an educational forum,
and our subscriber base indicates that we reach a broad audience of
diplomats, academics, activists, Burmese exiles, businesspersons, NGO's and
others interested in Burma.  

As you may also know, sponsors of listservs have their own ways to react to
obscenity and personal attacks that occur occasionally in such fora.  We
feel that recent exchanges on the Burmanet-l have forced us to rethink our
policy of an unmoderated list, in order to preserve it as a forum for
exchange of information and thoughtful analysis. Most universities and
organizations like ours will not allow "flame wars" or profanity on their
listservs, and we feel we had no choice but to moderate our list as well.   

As the former director of the ACLU and Human Rights Watch for many years, I
want to assure you that my colleagues and I are deeply dedicated to the
freedom of expression  and understand the importance of open fora.
Burmanet-l, like any news service (including radio, television and print
media), believes in free expression with responsibility towards its entire
audience, which should not be subjected to personal attacks and profane
language that do not contribute to the exchange of information and
thoughtful analysis of Burma-related news. 

It is important to remember that the right of free expression under
international law prohibits governments from restricting individual
expression, except within certain very narrow circumstances.   At the same
time, private actors, such as a commercial newspaper or television station,
an internet website or a listserv, have the right to establish the kind of
policy that I describe below.   We know there are other lists that are not
moderated that deal with Burma, so people who object to this policy have
alternatives to Burmanet-l. 

We are not against criticism of the opposition leadership.  Indeed, we want
to foster a culture of democracy and openness among the opposition
community, and feel strongly that Burmanet-l can help to do this.  However,
we also believe that it is important for Burmese activists to learn how to
frame the debate in terms that are respectful of others. 

Your letters have sparked a very constructive discussion within our
organization as to how to determine what kind of material will not be
considered acceptable for posting.  We support the BurmaNet-l staff's
decision on this issue, and together we have formulated the following
guidelines:

1)	BurmaNet-l reserves the right to refuse to post submissions
containing profane language used to characterize individuals, their words or
actions. 

2)	BurmaNet-l reserves the right to refuse to post personal allegations
or attacks against individuals that are not related to an issue of
substantive concern to the Burma activist community.  Recent examples sent
to BurmaNet include allegations that persons in the Burma activist community
were guilty of crimes unrelated to their Burma activism. 

3)	BurmaNet-l shall notify message posters if their postings are
unacceptable,  and shall give them the opportunity to revise the posting. 

4)	As in the past, BurmaNet-l reserves the right to refuse to post
messages that are unrelated to Burma.

5)	BurmaNet-l shall notify subscribers of any change to these
guidelines.


Some of you have suggested that we provide a list of "prohibited words."  We
believe that this approach is not helpful because context is important in
determining whether a posting falls within the criteria described above. 


I wish you well in your work and welcome any comments you might have on this
issue.


Aryeh Neier - President, Open Society Institute