Background The former military government in Burma imposed a range of draconian measures to silence dissent and control the flow of information, including limits on access to technology, harsh penalties for online expression, and a nationwide Internet shutdown during the 2007 popular protests.7 During the 2007 shutdown, the government also cut mobile and wired phone service for journalists, politicians, and students.8 Fear of surveillance, online and offline, has historically been pervasive in Burmese society, particularly among those who may hold critical political views or engage in activities seen as threatening to military interests. Activists and others who criticized the government were routinely arrested and incarcerated in Burma’s prisons for years.9 Since the formal end of military rule in 2011, the quasi-civilian government of President Thein Sein has largely stopped online censorship and has taken steps to lower the cost of mobile phones.10 Mobile phones are likely to become a critical means for individuals in Burma to access the Internet. These actions take place amid a broader set of planned media reforms. While there have been some positive changes, such changes have been incomplete and insufficient. For example, in August 2012, the government abolished prepublication print media censorship that had been in place nearly 50 years, but still retained 16 guidelines restricting publication of articles critical of the government or related to corruption, illicit drugs, forced labor, and child soldiers.11 In his inaugural speech to parliament on March 30, 2011, President Thein Sein, a former general who previously served as prime minister under the military junta, promised to 7 See OpenNet Initiative, “Burma (Myanmar),” August 6, 2012, https://opennet.net/research/profiles/burma (accessed April 8, 2013). 8 See “Phones Cut at Myanmar Opposition HQ,” AP, September 13, 2007, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp- dyn/content/article/2007/09/13/AR2007091301012.html (accessed April 8, 2013). 9 See Human Rights Watch, Burma’s Forgotten Prisoners (New York: Human Rights Watch, 2009), http://www.hrw.org/reports/2009/08/08/burma-s-forgotten-prisoners. 10 For results of recent testing on Internet filtering conducted by the OpenNet Initiative, see Irene Poetranto, “Update on information controls in Burma,” on “OpenNet Initiative Blog” (blog), October 23, 2012, https://opennet.net/blog/2012/10/update-information-controls-burma (accessed April 10, 2014). 11 Editors continue to self-censor out of concern for arrest and hesitate to publish stories regarding government abuses. See Human Rights Watch, World Report 2013 (New York: Human Rights Watch, 2013), Burma chapter, http://www.hrw.org/worldreport/2013/country-chapters/burma. 7 HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH | MAY 2013