“This suppressive atmosphere paved the way for Online publishing and especially during last year, there was an increased traffic of Sri Lankan news in the internet, focusing both the local and the Diasporic reader. Most internet tracking engines indicate that Sri Lankan news websites have over 60% local hits at an average daily. Thus Online publishing has also attracted the attention of the authorities since of late.”_______________________
(May 16, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) “We wish to bring to your notice for immediate intervention, the new trend that is silently but swiftly developing in the Sri Lankan media,’ said editor of the Lanka Dissent in a letter to Sunanda Deshapriya who is a Free Media Movement convenor to take this issue in serious manner and urgently.
According to the letter, “during the past few years, we were witnessing the bashing up of the print and the electronic media, where the journalists were physically targeted. Some had to pay the price with their lives, some with brutal assaults and injuries and some with numerous threats to life. As we all know, over the past few years this has compelled media institutes to be very cautious in how they present news and views in their publications and broadcasts. With veiled threats in the air, most media personnel were forced to get into a “safe mode”.
“This suppressive atmosphere paved the way for Online publishing and especially during last year, there was an increased traffic of Sri Lankan news in the internet, focusing both the local and the Diasporic reader. Most internet tracking engines indicate that Sri Lankan news websites have over 60% local hits at an average daily. Thus Online publishing has also attracted the attention of the authorities since of late.”
1. The arrest of journalist J.S. Tissanayagam who was in the process of developing a news web site “Out reach” along with 04 others, perhaps was the beginning.
2. Hacking of the “Opinion poll” for the Eastern PC elections conducted by the Daily Mirror Online edition on the day before the elections, compelled the DM Editorial to go on record publicly to say they are removing the ‘opinion poll’ due to hacking.
3. Nilantha Ilangamuwa, the Sri Lankan editor of the “Sri Lanka Guardian” website came under severe attack through the infamous “Asia Tribune” with insinuations that he is a R&AW agent bent in undermining the sovereignty of the country and thus provided justification he claims for hate mail on hacked / forged e-mails.
4. Editorial e-mails of ‘The Island’ newspaper have been also hacked, claims the online edition of ‘The Island, apart from hacking some of their online newspaper features.
It is in this background that we view, the latest hacking of the e-mail used by “lankadissent” news website that had been used to insult and threat Sri Lanka Guardian Editor Ilangamuwa and Sri Lankan news portal “Infolanka” administrator. We were experiencing strange intrusions into our mail from around 06th when all our mail in the “inbox” was deleted. By now even the “password” has been hacked and has therefore compelled us to move into more secure modes in internet communication.
We wish to stress that this cannot be a ‘lone hacker’ enjoying his/her exploits. We have reason to believe this is an attempt in blocking local news going out into the local and the international community. This is an attempt at suppressing the remaining independent part of the Sri Lankan media and thus a serious infringement on the right for information and expression. Perhaps the beginning of official hacking in suppressing total dissemination of information.
We would therefore wish you would take this issue in its most serious manner and urgently too.
- Sri Lanka Guardian
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