Access to anti-government blogs in Fiji restricted : reports

Bruce Hill

Last Updated: 1 hour 40 minutes ago

There are reports from Fiji of some anti-government blogs being blocked making it impossible for readers to read them.

Several of the websites are reportedly blocked in such a way people using Fiji-based internet service providers cannot access them.

The military government in Fiji censors all official media outlets, and has vowed to track down bloggers who disseminate information without approval.

The operator of one of the anti-government blogs, Coup Four Point Five, who could not be identified for security reasons, has told Pacific Beat its clear something is interfering with internet access in Fiji.

There is a way around the apparent blocking of access to certain internet sites within Fiji, but it involves people downloading and installing what’s called an anonymiser program.

This fools the internet into thinking a request to see a web page is coming from outside Fiji.

Australian IT consultant on computer security, Patrick Gray, says it is quite technically feasible to have access to certain websites blocked, especially by governments.

“Anyone sitting upstream from you, where you’re getting your access from, whether that’s you’re internet service provider or their upstream provider which provides provides the acces to them…if they wish to, they can block access.”

- Radio Australia