One telecommunications operator has stated off the record that the police have repeatedly requested data without any form of court warrant.
Interview in Yangon, December 2018. Examples of efforts to better protect data include at least one civil society organization working with local
businesses in Yangon to develop privacy policies.
493
“WhatsApp the Media Platform of Choice for ARSA,” The Irrawaddy, June 12, 2018, https://www.irrawaddy.com/news/burma/whatsapp-themedia-platform-of-choice-for-arsa.html.
494
“Law Protecting the Privacy and Security of Citizens [Unofficial translation MCRB],” Myanmar Centre for Responsible Business, March 8, 2017,
http://www.myanmar-responsiblebusiness.org/pdf/Law-Protecting-Privacy-and-Security-of-Citizens_en_unofficial.pdf; “Law Protecting the Privacy
and Security of Citizens,” Free Expression Myanmar, [n.d.], http://freeexpressionmyanmar.org/laws/law-protecting-the-privacy-and-security-ofcitizens/.
495
“Lack of Consultation on the Citizens Privacy and Security Law is a Missed Opportunity,” Myanmar Centre for Responsible Business, March 13,
2017, http://www.myanmar-responsiblebusiness.org/news/lack-of-consultation-citizens-privacy-and-security-law.html; Tin Htet Paing, “Critics
Skeptical of New Privacy Legislation,” The Irrawaddy, March 15, 2017, https://www.irrawaddy.com/news/burma/critics-skeptical-of-new-privacylegislation.html.
496
Myat Thura, “Myanmar legislators seek amendment to stop privacy law abuse,” Myanmar Times, February 20, 2020,
https://www.mmtimes.com/news/myanmar-legislators-seek-amendment-stop-privacy-law-abuse.html.
497
“Realising Digital Myanmar,” Telenor, February 2018, https://www.telenor.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Telenor-Realising-DigitalMyanmar-Report-06-February.pdf; “Chapter 4.3 Privacy,” SWIA, Myanmar Centre for Responsible Business, [n.d.], http://www.myanmarresponsiblebusiness.org/pdf/SWIA/ICT/Chapter-04.03-Privacy.pdf.
498
“Telecommunications Law,” Law. No. 31/2013, Article 75, Free Expression Myanmar, October 8, 2013, http://freeexpressionmyanmar.org/wpcontent/uploads/2017/07/telecommunications-law-en.pdf.
499
“Telecommunications Law – Law. No. 31/2013,” Free Expression Myanmar, October 8, 2013, http://freeexpressionmyanmar.org/wpcontent/uploads/2017/07/telecommunications-law-en.pdf.
500
“Telecommunications Law – Law. No. 31/2013,” Free Expression Myanmar, October 8, 2013, http://freeexpressionmyanmar.org/wpcontent/uploads/2017/07/telecommunications-law-en.pdf.
501
Drug Policy Advocacy Group, “Guiding Drug Law Reform in Myanmar,” Transnational Institute (TNI), November 29, 2017,
https://www.tni.org/en/publication/guiding-drug-law-reform-in-myanmar.
502
Telenor is one of the only telecommunications operators in Myanmar that appears to proactively publish information on government requests, in
its annual Sustainable Business Briefings, see “Telenor Myanmar 6th Annual Sustainable Business Briefing 2019,” Telenor, 2019,
https://www.telenor.com.mm/en/about/sustainability; “Authority Requests Disclosure Report,” Telenor, 2018, https://www.telenor.com/wpcontent/uploads/2019/03/Telenor-Authority-request-report-2018.pdf; Saw Yi Nandar, “Telcos say data helps police solve cases of missing persons,”
Myanmar Times, February 4, 2020, https://www.mmtimes.com/news/telcos-say-data-helps-police-solve-cases-missing-persons.html.
503
Saw Yi Nandar, “Telcos say data helps police solve cases of missing persons,” Myanmar Times, February 4, 2020,
https://www.mmtimes.com/news/telcos-say-data-helps-police-solve-cases-missing-persons.html.
504
Saw Yi Nandar, “Telcos say data helps police solve cases of missing persons,” Myanmar Times, February 4, 2020,
https://www.mmtimes.com/news/telcos-say-data-helps-police-solve-cases-missing-persons.html.
505
Personal communication with a senior manager from a civil society organization working on telecommunications reform, Yangon, June 2018.
506
“Report: Myanmar’s media not free or fair,” Free Expression Myanmar, May 3, 2020, http://freeexpressionmyanmar.org/myanmars-media-notfree-or-fair/.
507
“Report: Myanmar’s media not free or fair,” Free Expression Myanmar, May 3, 2020, http://freeexpressionmyanmar.org/myanmars-media-notfree-or-fair/; Htike Nanda Win, “Media freedom declining in Myanmar: experts, journalists,” Myanmar Times, April 2, 2018,
https://www.mmtimes.com/news/media-freedom-declining-myanmar-experts-journalists.html.
508
“Myanmar journalists 'harassed' for reporting on Rohingya crisis,” Al Jazeera, October 16, 2017,
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/10/myanmar-journalists-harassed-reporting-rohingya-crisis-171016070429902.html.
509
“Reuters journalists freed from Myanmar prison [Timeline],” Reuters, https://www.reuters.com/subjects/myanmar-reporters.
510
Shoon Naing and Thu Thu Aung, “Black hoods, kneeling, no sleep: Reuters reporter details Myanmar custody,” Reuters, July 24, 2018,
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-myanmar-journalists/black-hoods-kneeling-no-sleep-reuters-reporter-details-myanmar-custodyidUSKBN1KE1PM; “Myanmar: Free Reuters Journalists, Drop Case,” Human Rights Watch, July 1, 2018,
https://www.hrw.org/news/2018/07/01/myanmar-free-reuters-journalists-drop-case.
511
“Journalist stabbed in Sittwe,” Democratic Voice of Burman (DVB), December 20, 2017, http://english.dvb.no/news/journalist-stabbedsittwe/78914.
512
Panel discussions at the Myanmar Digital Rights Forum in Yangon, February 28-29, 2020.
513
“Report exposes arbitrary detention, torture of Myanmar activists,” Al Jazeera, April 23, 2020, https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/04/reportexposes-arbitrary-detention-torture-myanmar-activists-200423010723815.html.
514
Lawi Weng, “Buddhist Monk Accused of Aiding Ethnic Armed Group Tortured by Myanmar Military,” The Irrawaddy, October 31, 2019,
https://www.irrawaddy.com/news/burma/buddhist-monk-accused-aiding-ethnic-armed-group-tortured-myanmar-military.html.
515
Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG), “Hpa-an District Interview: Arbitrary arrest and detention, torture and intimidation by BGF soldiers and
village authorities, March 2020,” Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, June 26, 2020, https://reliefweb.int/report/myanmar/hpadistrict-interview-arbitrary-arrest-and-detention-torture-and-intimidation-bgf.
516
“Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar,” Human Rights Council, March 5, 2019,
https://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/HRC/RegularSessions/Session40/Documents/A_HRC_40_68.docx.
517
“Daring to defy Myanmar’s patriarchy,” Free Expression Myanmar, December 2018, http://freeexpressionmyanmar.org/wpcontent/uploads/2018/12/daring-to-defy-myanmars-patriarchy.pdf.
518
11 percent of children and 17 percent of adults claimed to have experience some form of cyber-bullying, see “Realising Digital Myanmar,” Telenor,
February 2018, https://www.telenor.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Telenor-Realising-Digital-Myanmar-Report-06-February.pdf.
519
“Report: Myanmar’s media not free or fair,” Free Expression Myanmar, May 3, 2020, http://freeexpressionmyanmar.org/myanmars-media-notfree-or-fair/.
520
“Report: Myanmar’s media not free or fair,” Free Expression Myanmar, May 3, 2020, http://freeexpressionmyanmar.org/myanmars-media-notfree-or-fair/; Htike Nanda Win, “Media freedom declining in Myanmar: experts, journalists,” Myanmar Times, April 2, 2018,
https://www.mmtimes.com/news/media-freedom-declining-myanmar-experts-journalists.html.
521
“Myanmar journalists 'harassed' for reporting on Rohingya crisis,” Al Jazeera, October 16, 2017,
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/10/myanmar-journalists-harassed-reporting-rohingya-crisis-171016070429902.html.
522
“Reuters journalists freed from Myanmar prison [Timeline],” Reuters, https://www.reuters.com/subjects/myanmar-reporters.
523
Shoon Naing and Thu Thu Aung, “Black hoods, kneeling, no sleep: Reuters reporter details Myanmar custody,” Reuters, July 24, 2018,
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-myanmar-journalists/black-hoods-kneeling-no-sleep-reuters-reporter-details-myanmar-custody492
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