"Cambodia steps up surveillance with new Internet gateway", 14 February 2022

Cambodia is powering up its new National Internet Gateway, a move activists say will allow the government to further silence the country's embattled opposition voices.

UN rights experts warn the gateway, which will funnel all web traffic through a state-controlled entry point from Feb 16, will have a "devastating" effect on privacy and free speech.

... Internet gateways are the points on a network where a country connects to the worldwide web. Once fully operational, Cambodia's new National Internet Gateway will channel all traffic through a single entry point controlled by the government.

Internet service providers will be ordered to block websites and connections that adversely affect "national revenue, safety, social order, morality, culture, traditions and customs".

UN rights experts warned earlier this month that the sweeping new powers will further shrink what is left of the space for dissent in Cambodia, ...

The Cambodian Center for Human Rights (CCHR) says the new gateway will give the former Khmer Rouge cadre yet more ways to silence opposing voices. In 2021, at least 39 Cambodians were arrested, jailed or had arrest warrants issued against them for online posts that fell foul of government censors, according to the CCHR...

... Aside from the privacy and rights concerns, industry figures warn that funneling all traffic through a single point leaves the country highly vulnerable to being cut off - either due to a technical fault or a cyber attack.

... As the gateway's completion day looms, many Cambodians are turning to virtual private networks (VPNs) to skirt online censorship...