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.
Elections are expected next year, and the CCHR says the completion of the gateway now could allow the government to block dissenting views online in the run-up to polls.
Cybersecurity expert Matt Warren, from Australia’s RMIT University, said there could be attempts to silence high-profile opposition figures living in exile from weighing into the domestic political debate ahead of the 2023 polls.
“Will Cambodians outside the country be able to take part in the social dialogue during the election?” Warren said.
Thailand’s then-ruling junta mulled introducing a single Internet gateway in 2015 but backed down in the face of opposition from business.
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.
“BALKANISATION”
Government spokesman Phay Siphan insisted the Internet gateway is needed to crack down on cyber-crime, maintain national security and collect revenue.
Cambodians needed to understand that freedom of “expression comes with responsibilities” and that “insulting or manipulating information can affect national security or individuals’ reputations,” he said.
But the new gateway appears to be taking Cambodia down a path beaten by China, which maintains even more sophisticated digital tools to monitor and censor the Internet for its citizens, keeping the online world behind a “Great Firewall” and blocking major Western platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.
“It’s the Balkanisation of the Internet. You’ve got the Internet in China, you’ve got the Russian Internet, you’ve got the Internet in Saudi Arabia, where they are isolated and monitored,” Warren told AFP.
“It’s not just about censorship, it’s also about control.”
The Cambodian government’s biggest fear, Warren said, is that its people could take inspiration from anti-coup campaigners in Myanmar, who used social media platforms to organise mass protests against the junta.
As the gateway’s completion day looms, many Cambodians are turning to virtual private networks (VPNs) to skirt online censorship.
Top10VPN, a Britain-based digital security advocacy group, said there had been a 56 per cent surge in demand for VPN accounts in Cambodia in December.
So far, there are no reports of authorities cracking down on VPN use.
“However, wherever there are long-term government restrictions on Internet access, VPN bans are sure to follow,” head researcher Simon Migliano told AFP.
Source: CNA