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The BurmaNet News: March 12, 1999 (r)



Subject: Re: The BurmaNet News: March 12, 1999

Hello,

I was wondering if you could help me.  The web page www.myanmar.com
advertised as the official homepage of the "Union of Myanmar" is being
hosted by a US company, SMARTNET.  Although I'm not a lawyer or even very
skilled at interpreting the law I feel that this is a direct violation of
the US sanctions imposed against Burma.  This site contains information
including contacts and regulations on how to conduct business in Burma.

The sanctions imposed by the US directly prohibit any new investment in
Burma and furthermore prohibit "entering into a contract providing for the
participation in royalties, earnings, or profits in the economic development
of resources located in Burma, without regard to the form of participation"
and "facilitating  transactions of foreign persons that would violate any of
the foregoing prohibitions if engaged in by a United States person".

If I'm not mistaken, hosting a site that is referenced as the official home
page on both the ASEAN site and the Myanmar mission to the UN site, and
including information on how to invest in Burma, would in fact be a direct
violation of these sanctions.

I have contacted both the US Dept of Justice and the FBI and asked if they
are the correct agencies to contact concerning this issue.  I have not
received any help or information.

I have also contacted SMARTNET directly and appealed to them on a
humanitarian level to discontinue their support of this site. They don't
care about the content of the site or what it represents.  I was told that
in the absence of a court order, they will continue to front the domain name
and host the site.

I am asking that the readers of this list, and all others who care about
human rights, contact SMARTNET and request that they discontinue their
support of this site.  I am of course sensitive to first amendment rights
and issues, but I would hope that SMARTNET would draw the line at directly
supporting the SPDC and their well documented abuses. SMARTNET contact
information is on their site at www.smart.net.  Please do not do anything
that could be seen as abusive or otherwise improper.  Lets not lower
ourselves to the level of these people.

Additionally if anyone has any ideas on how to engage the US government in
pursuing this or would like to take on the issue, I would be most grateful.
I will be departing for Thailand and the boarder in three weeks and may not
have the time to see this issue through.

---
John Jacobs
jjacobs@xxxxxxxxxx