iMAP Myanmar 2023 Internet Censorship Report | Page 35
Acknowledgement of Limitations
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Period of study
This study's findings are limited to network measurements collected from 1 July
2022 to 30 June 2023 in order to examine the most recent censorship trends and
events.
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Vantage points
Although the network measurements were collected from 43 vantage points in
Myanmar, testing using the OONI software was not done consistently across all
networks.
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Use of input/URL as unit of measurement of websites
In general, “URL” (or in OONI’s terms – input) and “domain” are interchangeable
terms used to refer to a website. In the OONI test list, full URLs are input in the probe
to be tested for censorship, similar to a URL starting with “https” or “http” in a
browser. The censorship can involve tampering of DNS or HTTP or other types of
censorship. Depending on the method, the blocking can either be at the URL or
domain level. However when analysing results on OONI, the reader needs to note
that there are differences in the numbers with respect to the specific input or domain.
In the 2022 report, domain was used as a unit of measurement of a website so as to
reduce duplicates when measuring the number of websites blocked. For this 2023
report, however, input is used instead as it may give more context as to why the web
page is blocked. The findings would also be categorised more accurately according
to the CitizenLab test lists, which are in URL format. To better understand the
findings on the state of censorship, we used percentage of blocked or likely blocked
were used instead of actual counts based on OONI test results.
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Differences in numbers with OONI data
The findings in this report have been further processed from OONI’s data whereby
more confirmed blockings were obtained and false ones eliminated through
additional heuristics and manual verification by iMAP researchers based on country
or local context. While these heuristics will eventually be added to OONI’s
fingerprints, OONI will only process them for future testing.
Additionally, iMAP researchers have categorised blocked websites that were not part
of the CitizenLab test lists but were tested on OONI via custom test lists. Hence the
figures in this report may differ to results on the OONI Explorer.
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Testing of instant messaging apps and circumvention tools
The instant messaging apps and circumvention tools included in this report are
limited to those tested on OONI. Therefore, they may not reflect the state of
censorship of apps more commonly used in Myanmar.
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Security issues in Myanmar