• Public security demanding to review images recorded on a business’ CCTV to identify peaceful demonstrators, or premises which decided to close during ‘silent strikes’43 • Public security forces and other government officials demanding information about employees which participated in the civil disobedience movement (CDM) i.e. went on strike, or took part in demonstrations, for example by demanding attendance records. • Workers facing risks on their daily commute and in their private lives of having mobile phones seized by security forces and searched for evidence of political activity, including using Facebook to share news about the civil disobedience movement (CDM), or using VPNs (despite their use not yet being illegal). Finding evidence of this on a phone could lead either to extortion, or detention and being charged with Articles 505 and 505A of the Penal Code44, under which it is a crime to cause, or intend to cause, members of the government to be disobedient or disloyal. • Erosion of privacy as a consequence of internet shutdowns since loss of 3G and 4G data services may leave only 2G GSM services (or none at all) which, as an old technology, are less secure and therefore vulnerable to interception and spoofing.45 Each of these examples has led to companies considering what steps they can take to keep workers and other rightsholders safe. Examples of preventive and mitigating actions include: removing video surveillance and CCTV cameras, switching off recording, or establishing protocols to ensure immediate deletion of data if demonstrations take place; taking care in the way staff absences are recorded and instructing security guards and other personnel not to provide information about individuals; and training staff in situational awareness and digital security, including the security provided by different forms of communication, and providing them with legal support, including pre-emptive briefings from lawyers on how to avoid detention. MCRB has compiled and shared these and other examples with companies to support them in their human rights due diligence, so that they can do their best to keep workers, customers and other rights holders physically and digitally safe. Myanmar Centre for Responsible Business 4 June 2022 43 Silent strike empties streets in Myanmar on anniversary of coup, The Guardian 1 February 2022 https://freeexpressionmyanmar.org/505a-act-of-revenge/ 45 https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2020/06/your-phone-vulnerable-because-2g-it-doesnt-have-be 44 12