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02:55
rabiul islam
But in Asia, home to everything from free-wheeling democracies to totalitarian regimes and others in between, many governments are increasingly realising that controlling online content, including dissent, just will not work.
Even China, which strongly regulates the Internet and is grappling with how to deal with the extremely popular microblogs read by hundreds of millions of its people, is highly unlikely to block them completely.
"Governments are committing quite a bit of resources and time to block websites and I think it's a panic reaction," says Phil Robertson, Bangkok-based deputy director of the Asia division of Human Rights Watch.
"They have some temporary, immediate discouraging effect but over the longer term, they won't be effective because people will still find a way to get the news they want to hear.
"Once people have been exposed to the Internet and see the power of getting information free to your computer, it's a very addictive feeling of empowerment."
That snowballing of sentiment has played out this year in Egypt, Libya and Tunisia, where governments have been overthrown by movements bolstered by the Internet. The United States tried to block dissemination of the WikiLeaks cables and British Prime Minister David Cameron threatened to temporarily censor social networking sites after riots last month.
Asia is also learning first-hand about the ubiquitous power of the wired world.
In India, authorities were taken aback last month when an anti-corruption campaign multiplied on Facebook, Twitter and other social networking sites and drew tens of thousands of people to protest sites.
But there were no signs the government tried in any way to crack down on the online crusade, even if it could have.
"At the rate in which it gained momentum, I don't think the government actually had the time to ban the movement," said Vijay Mukhi, a cyber-security expert.
02:58
rabiul islam
Myanmar pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi ventured outside her home city on Monday for the first time since her release from house arrest in November, making a low-key visit to the ancient city of Bagan amid tight security.
The 66-year-old Nobel laureate is allowed to travel where she wants in Myanmar, but the government last month warned of "chaos and riots" if she seeks to rally support and accused her of trying to exploit the public.
Her now-defunct political party, the National League for Democracy, urged her followers to stay away, fearing a repeat of a bloody attack on her motorcade in 2003, in which 70 of her supporters were killed.
The trip by Suu Kyi and her British-born son, Kim Aris, was described as a pilgrimage by the NLD and was her first trip outside the former capital Yangon since the 2003 ambush.
She arrived in Bagan, 690 km (430 miles) north of Yangon, flanked by about a dozen NLD security guards and met NLD officials before checking into a hotel.
The NLD would not give details of Suu Kyi's visit and said she wanted to keep a low profile.
Since her release from a seven-year stint of house arrest on November 13, the daughter of slain independence hero Aung San has been conciliatory in her comments about the country's rulers and has urged dialogue.
The charismatic figurehead of Myanmar's fight against five decades of dictatorships has not been troubled by the new civilian government, which is dominated by members of the previous military regime that has long sought to undermine her.
Although the government has not tried to block her, it has frequently criticized her in commentaries carried by state-run newspapers, which act as mouthpieces for country's hardline rulers.
Newspapers have accused her of provocative acts that could lead to her "tragic end."
The government said on Wednesday it was not responsible for ensuring Suu Kyi's safety, comments which drew sharp rebukes from the United States, Australia and Britain, which said it stance went against its pledge of reconciliation.
