The government of Canada has considered these concerns and determined that the benefits of engagement outweigh the dangers. LIRNEasia believes that engagement is important and that the amounts of aid involved in this activity are too small to make any discussion of conditionality meaningful. The economic benefits to impoverished, currently unconnected citizens of Myanmar of increasing connectivity are well established. The concern that remains is that the new means of communication may be used for propaganda and/or surveillance. It is true that the agreements between the government and the principal telecom licensees require them to provide free-of-charge SMS broadcasts to the government. This facility may be used for good purposes such as disaster warnings and bad purposes such as election propaganda for one party. The fact that telecommunication networks can be used for surveillance has been well demonstrated by the Snowden disclosures. The actions that can be taken to mitigate these bad behaviors in Myanmar are no different from those that can be taken against them in countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom. That is, eternal vigilance, disclosure and situation-appropriate resistance within the law. MIDO is an organization deeply committed to civil rights. We believe that working with MIDO we can address any ethical issues that arise. Another concern is that the newly available connectivity can be used by non-state actors such as the 369 Movement to foment religious or other forms of hatred. This phenomenon has already been observed in Myanmar, even before the acceleration of network rollout. MIDO has been at the forefront of efforts to negate the dissemination of hate speech. The topic was among those covered in the training course for Parliamentarians in July 2014. This is what can be done and this is what will continue to be done. The other major ethical issue that we may have to face is the endangerment of MIDO personnel in the event the political situation deteriorates. There is little reason to believe that the relatively neutral policy and regulatory issues that we address in this project can pose a danger to the members of MIDO who have to live and work in Myanmar, unlike those from LIRNEasia. Nevertheless, all precautions will be taken to minimize risks. Finally, there are the (more routine) ethical considerations arising due to research activities (specifically, the surveys and qualitative research protocols) that study, observe or interview human subjects. As in the past, LIRNEasia will strictly follow IDRCs guidelines on these matters. Routine actions such as obtaining the subject consent (to being interviewed, and separately, to being photographed or videotaped, where applicable), and informing the subject to opt-out of the research at any point will be done. Also as routine, no personally identifiable information about the subjects will be maintained in research databases, including those of field research firms that may be hired (these conditions are specified in the contract LIRNEasia signs with the research firm). 8 Information on aspects related to gender The household/individual level surveys will provide (perhaps the only) data on use of ICTs by men vs women of Myanmar. The qualitative research protocols will be designed to obtain richer insights, and 17