Introduction The desperate situation of the Rohingya people has been routinely covered in the international news since the beginning of ethnic violence in Rakhine State in 2012, and particularly since the socalled “clearance operation,” conducted by Myanmar’s military, which pushed hundreds of thousands of Rohingya out of Myanmar and into Bangladesh in 2017. It is less well known, however, that in addition to other forms of persecution, deprivation, and indignity, Rohingya and other displaced ethnic minorities have faced historically long targeted internet shutdowns, both in Myanmar and in the world’s largest refugee camp in Bangladesh. In the current era, internet connectivity is necessary to meet many of the basic needs of life and core protected human rights: education, work, healthcare, free expression and access to reliable information. For displaced people and those in conflict situations, the internet can function as a literal lifeline, and for this vulnerable population, it is a lifeline that has all too often been cut off. An internet shutdown is defined as “an intentional disruption of internet or electronic communications, rendering them inaccessible or effectively unusable, for a specific population or within a location, often to exert control over the flow of information.”2 Targeted internet shutdowns, like those ordered by the Myanmar government in Rakhine and Chin state, and by the Bangladesh government for Rohingya refugee camps near Cox’s Bazar, do not affect people in the aforementioned countries outside of the targeted areas, but they do further marginalize historically vulnerable communities. For example, the over year-long and ongoing internet shutdown in Myanmar--one of the world’s longest running shutdowns3--affects ethnic minority communities, namely Rakhine, Rohingya, and Chin internally displaced persons (“IDP”) residing in IDP camps and conflict-affected townships. Across the border, the 11 months long4 internet shutdown in Bangladesh affected more 2 Defined by a diverse set of stakeholders including technologists, policy makers, activists, and others at RightsCon Brussels in 2016: “No more internet shutdowns! Let’s #KeepItOn,” Access Now, March 30, 2016, https://www.accessnow.org/no-internet-shutdowns-lets-keepiton/. 3 The Myanmar Ministry of Transport and Communications (MoTC) directed all mobile phone operators in Myanmar, to temporarily stop mobile internet traffic in nine townships in Rakhine and Chin States on June 21, 2019. As of August 2020, 2G service has been restored but the restriction is to remain in place until October 31, 2020: “Continued network restrictions in Myanmar from 1 August 2020,” Telenor Group, https://www.telenor.com/network-restrictions-in-myanmar-1-august-2020/. 4 Internet shutdown in place since September 2019 was lifted after almost a year in late August 2020: Humayun Kabir Bhuiyan and Syed Samiul, “Govt decides to restore 3G, 4G internet in Rohingya camps,” 3