You might have to think twice about your answer after listening to this latest episode, in which Thina and I venture beyond the digital horizon to a world of state surveillance and cybersecurity.
Our subject for this installment is the National Internet Gateway. No, that’s not another Phnom Penh monument, but rather a Cambodian project now seemingly in the works after Prime Minister Hun Sen made headlines in February by signing an official sub-decree calling for a major rerouting of the country’s internet traffic. The gateway scheme would effectively run all incoming connections to the internet through a single point overseen by the government, a move that would require both an infrastructural overhaul as well as a highly technical team of minders.
The news of the gateway sub-decree, which came with a completion timeline of one year from signing, was quickly met with public anxiety over what many saw as tightening state control over the means of expression. Some observers at the time likened the development as a step toward a restricted version of the internet as maintained by the Chinese government.