Backg d This section of the research study provides relevant background information regarding Myanmar s political context as well as the country s online connectivity surveillance practices and restrictions P i ica T b e ce Myanmar operated under the rule of a military regime from 1962 until 2011 This period of rule was followed by the 2010 election which was criticized for allowing only government sanctioned political parties to participate and declaring the opposition party the National League for Democracy NLD to be illegal After the election the country was led from 2011 to 2015 by a former leading member of the military who maintained close ties to the prior junta In 2015 the NLD came to power with a landslide electoral victory Today despite the presence of the ruling NLD government the military still maintains a strong influence over politics with 25 of the seats in the parliament reserved for the military Civil war still continues since the country s political transition began nearly a decade ago Although the NLD government has attempted to broker a ceasefire agreement via a series of peace conferences known as the 21st Century Panglong Conference civil strife continues to exist in Rakhine State Kachin State and the northern parts of Myanmar August 2020 marked the third anniversary of the displacement of more than 730 000 Rohingya from Rakhine State to Bangladesh after a military crackdown was triggered by an attack on Myanmar security posts in August 2017 by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army Amidst COVID 19 outbreaks and civil war another election is scheduled to occur on November 8 2020 According to the Rakhine State Election Sub commission however the government has not been able to publicly post preliminary voter lists in 15 village tracts in northern Rakhine due to armed conflicts between the Myanmar military and the Arakan Army U ec ed C ec i i After Myanmar transitioned to a civilian government in 2011 the country experienced a connectivity revolution Operating licenses to provide internet service were issued to foreign telecommunication companies following the 2013 passage of the Telecommunications Law Yet although the market s opening enabled millions of people in Myanmar to access the internet it also created new concerns for online rights Overly broad and rights abusing laws jeopardize online freedom of expression and privacy enabling government authorities to harass and oppress their critics O i eS ei a ce Phone surveillance state sponsored hacking attempts and internet censorship and surveillance are common concerns for activists and journalists in Myanmar For example in 2017 the NLD government spent 6 42 billion kyats approximately 4 6 million to set up and purchase tools for the Social Media Monitoring Team SMMT According to an interview with the Minister of Transport and Communication MoTC the SMMT was established to track events that could potentially damage the stability of the state Notably however the SMMT s mandate goes beyond monitoring social media and no information was made public regarding what devices or hardware were purchased