Internet Access Amid Darkness and Lives Amid Threats You’re not connected Chapter 2 Returns to Dark Age in 2021 or Human Rights Violations Concealed Under Internet Blackout The military shut down internet and mobile phone connection at a nationwide level at the dawn of 1 February 2021, hours before staging a coup d'état. Myanmar saw two common types of internet disruption after the coup: (1) Nationwide internet blackout and (2) regional internet blackout. (2.1) Nationwide Internet blackout In terms of practising nationwide internet shutdown, there are three types of blackout: (1) Blackout for Several Days (2) Blackout for a Specific Period and Number of Days, and,(3) Internet Speed Restriction and Internet Tax Increase. The military junta instilled nationwide long-term internet outages initially after the coup. (2.2) Blackout for several days Disruption of mobile phone access and mobile internet connectivity commenced in a nationwide internet shutdown on early 1 February 2021 when the coup was staged. Internet access was restored on 1 February afternoon until another nationwide shutdown between 6 February and 7 February, which lasted for about 30 hours. Wi-Fi internet and mobile internet were cut off from 1 am to 9 am daily between 14 February and 15 March. Another nationwide internet blackout was staged between 15 March at 1 am and 28 April.13 (2.3) Blackout for Specific Period and Number of Days (a) Internet Blackout During NUG's Meeting The brutal military junta issued a directive ordering telecommunication service providers across the country to cut mobile internet access on 4 June 2021, to prevent people from watching an online meeting held by the NUG, with another blockage of Wi-Fi internet from 5 pm to 6 pm.14 (b) Blackout Observed on 12 February 2022 A nationwide mobile internet shutdown was imposed from 4 am to 11 am to prevent anti-junta protests on “Union Day” which was named by the successive authoritarian regime, observed on 12 February 2022.15 13 Article 19. (2021). “Unplugged in Myanmar, internet restrictions following the military coup”. Available at (Unplugged in Myanmar, “Internet restrictions following the military coup”, 9 July 2021, Article 19.) 14 15 NetBlocks. https://twitter.com/netblocks/status/1400788015518306304?lang=en အင်တာနက် ဖုန်း် လိုင်း် ဖဖတ်၍ အာဏာသိမ််းခသ ဲ့ ည်ဲ့ အဖွဲ့က ဖြည်ထ ာင်စုထန အခမ် ်းအနာ်းကိုလည််း ဲ့ အင်တာနက်လင ို ်း် မျာ်း ဖဖတ်ထတာက်ပြ်း ကျင််းြမည်။ (2022, February 11). Tachileik News Agency 4