being used by the military to surveil those opposed to
the coup.307
Since the coup, the police and military have reportedly
seized the mobile phones of people they detain, and are
thought to use the aforementioned extraction
technology on such devices. The authorities are also
believed to use drones and security cameras equipped
with facial-recognition technology to surveil the
public.308
The confiscation of phones—particularly from human
rights defenders, activists, and journalists—also
occurred prior to the coup.309 The police reportedly
demanded passwords for social media accounts and
other applications from people accused of criminal
activity, including in cases where the allegations were
unrelated to social media use.310 For example, shortly
after Reuters journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo
were arrested in 2017 (see C3), the police were accused
of using Wa Lone’s confiscated phone to send a
WhatsApp message on his account.311 The police used
the Israeli phone-breaching product known as
Cellebrite to collect data from the journalists’
smartphones.312 Cellebrite technology has been used by
the police since 2016, and although the company
ceased selling its products in Myanmar in late 2018,
authorities continue to employ them. In 2019, FinSpy
malware developed by Germany’s Gamma Group was
reported to be in operation in Myanmar.313 It is unclear
who purchased the spyware.
In 2018 the MoTC announced its intention to build a
data center that would serve as a secure base for its
planned e-government services in Naypyidaw, and in
December of that year the ministry requested that the
parliament approve a $95 million loan from South
Korea to support the project.314 The Mandalay regional
government launched a data center in January 2019 to
provide e-government services.315 Concerns have been
raised that these data centers will lack adequate privacy
and security safeguards.316
C6: ၀န်ေဆာင်မ1ေပးေသာ က&မjဏီများ[.င ့် အြခားနည်းပညာက&မjဏီများသည် အစိ&းရအား ၎င်းတိ၏
& ့ အသံး& ြပ$သ=များ၏
၁ မ.တ်
C6: Are service providers and other technology companies required to aid the government in monitoring the
communications of their users? (0–6 points)
1
ဆက်သယ
ွ ်မ1ကိ& ေစာင့8် ကည့်ရာတွင ် က=ညီရန် လိ&အပ်ပ ါသလား။ (၀-၇ မ.တ်)
Service providers are increasingly obliged to hand data
over to the state without sufficient oversight or
safeguards.
The Law Protecting the Privacy and Security of
Citizens, passed in 2017 and partially suspended since
the coup,317 prohibits the interception of personal
communications without a warrant, but it contains a
vague exception allowing surveillance if permission is
granted by the president or a government body.318 The
law does not outline clear procedures to prevent data
from being collected and stored, nor does it provide for
judicial review. Critics argue that the law’s definition of
privacy is inadequate and inconsistent with
international human rights standards.319 Other privacyrelated laws demanded by a range of private-sector and
civil society stakeholders, including a robust data
protection law, have not yet been introduced.320
The Telecommunications Law grants the government
the power to direct unspecified persons “to secure any
information or communication which may harm
security, rule of law, or peace of the state.”321 A
provision stating that any interception should not “hurt
the fundamental rights of citizens” is an inadequate
safeguard against abuse.322 The Telecommunications
Law also grants the government the power to inspect
the premises of telecommunications license holders
and to require them to hand over documents—for the
ill-defined purposes of defending the “security of the
state” or “the benefit of the people”—without
safeguards for individuals’ privacy and other human
rights.323 A 2018 amendment to the Narcotic Drugs and
Psychotropic Substances Law included a new provision
requiring telecommunications providers to disclose
user information without due process.324 There are no
requirements for judicial review.
Free Expression Myanmar (FEM) and Freedom House - Freedom of the Net: Myanmar - အင်တာနက်ေပ*တွင် လွတ်လပ်မ/ - ြမန်မာ2ိ4င်ငံ - Page 24