A China-style internet gateway scheduled to be imposed in Cambodia this week would grant the government far greater powers to conduct mass surveillance, censor and control the country’s internet, rights groups have warned.
Human rights experts and media advocates fear the gateway could be a step towards the kind of censorship enforced through China’s Great Firewall – though some question what technical capacity Cambodia’s systems currently have, and say the process has lacked transparency.
Under the changes, all online traffic must pass through a National Internet Gateway (NIG), which the government says will protect national security, help with tax collection and preserve “social order, culture and national tradition”.
