clarify the country’s transition from analog to digital broadcasting, which created an arbitrary process that could be misused by the government to control broadcasters and online media.231 Also in 2018, the Myanmar Press Council, a once quasi-independent body that settled disputes involving the media, submitted to the government a proposed amendment of the 2014 News Media Law, which regulates digital media. Whether this proposal would have positively or negatively affected media freedom is unclear.232 The draft of a right to information law first proposed in 2017 was preempted by new information-related laws and drafts. In December 2019, the National Records and Archives Law was adopted, limiting access to information and retaining secretive standards for government documents, including electronic documents, while further criminalizing the sharing of such material.233 C2: အွန်လိ&ငး် လ1ပ်ေဆာင်မ1များကိ& ရာဇ၀တ်မ1 သိမဟ& & ့ တ် ဒါဏ်ေငွချမ.တမ ် 1 သတ်မ.တထ ် ားေသာ ဥပေဒများF.ိ ပါသလား။ (၀-၄ မ.တ)် ၀ မ.တ် C2: Are there laws that assign criminal penalties or civil liability for online activities? (0–4 points) 0 Since the coup, the military has increased the number and harshness of laws criminalizing online activity. The Telecommunications Law was drafted by a military-backed civilian government in 2013 with the support of the World Bank,234 and it remains the primary framework for licensing telecommunications providers, including mobile service providers and ISPs. Although the law was welcomed by many stakeholders at the time as a sign of much-needed change,235 the then government, led by the USDP, added a number of troubling provisions, including Article 66(d)—a vaguely worded measure that criminalizes a range of acts online, such as defamation—and Article 68, which criminalizes “communication, reception, sending, distribution, or sharing of incorrect information with dishonest intention.”236 The law was amended in 2017 but with no discernible impact, according to civil society activists.237 Civil society organizations launched a campaign for revision of this and other laws in the run-up to the 2020 general elections.238 In December 2020, a civil society coalition launched a new push to amend Article 66(d) and the country’s five other criminal defamation provisions, putting forward four reform options.239 The penal code can also be used to imprison internet users. Section 505(a) criminalizes speech “with intent to cause, or which is likely to cause, any officer, soldier, sailor or airman, in the Army, Navy or Air Force to mutiny or otherwise disregard or fail in his duty as such.”240 Section 505(b) outlaws speech “likely to cause fear or alarm in the public.”241 On February 14, 2021, the military unilaterally amended the penal code to broaden the scope of the crimes of high treason and sedition.242 The amendments included vaguely worded provisions against knowingly spreading “false news,” causing “fear,” and the “disruption” of military or government officials. The section covering “false news” has been used to charge hundreds of journalists, human rights defenders, and digital activists (see C3).243 The Law Protecting the Privacy and Security of Citizens, which was enacted in 2017 and widely condemned by civil society for being debated and passed without proper consultation, provides for prison terms of up to three years for defamation.244 The defamation provisions were amended in 2020 but are still used to prosecute individuals for online activity (see C3).245 On February 10, 2021, the military suspended parts of the law, including its limited protections against surveillance and the interception of private messages.246 The military circulated a draft cybercrimes law to telecommunications providers on February 11, 2021 (see A3, C5, and C6). The draft was widely condemned, and more than 250 civil society organizations warned that it would give the military absolute control over the internet in Myanmar and extend military jurisdiction to foreign companies such as Facebook.247 Much of the draft law circulated by the military was reportedly carried over from a draft created by the previous government but not shared widely.248 In 2019, the government had commissioned consultants to assist in Free Expression Myanmar (FEM) and Freedom House - Freedom of the Net: Myanmar - အင်တာနက်ေပ*တွင် လွတ်လပ်မ/ - ြမန်မာ2ိ4င်ငံ - Page 19