About the authors: Mi-Kun is the pseudonym of a Burmese journalist based in Yangon who specializes in new technologies. Laure Siegel is a French correspondent for Mediapart based in Bangkok covering politics in South and Southeast Asia and a media trainer. In the wake of the February 1st coup, they co-founded The Myanmar Project Collective, a network of reporters who document the post-coup events across the country from the ground. Their curated work can be followed and supported on Visual Rebellion Myanmar, a platform where Burmese photographers, filmmakers and artists can showcase their productions about life and resistance under and against the military regime. Together they researched and wrote this feature on how the most recent political earthquake impacted the development of telecommunications and issues of cyber-security and how the Internet became a crucial battleground between the pro-military and pro-democracy sides. About Researchers’ Republic: we are a team of about a dozen researchers from across Myanmar, led by our director, May Zin Thaw, who founded the organization in 2016. Many of us have worked together for a number of years. Most of us are still based inside Myanmar, and some of us have left the country since the military coup of February 1st, 2021. Our aim is to document the situation in Myanmar, and put it in perspective, looking into the past, not just the present, and with the future in mind. We believe that almost every aspect of life has been made so much worse by the coup and the criminal and exploitative nature of the military regime. But we also believe that it is important to see that the situation was already difficult, for the people and for the environment, long before the coup. So that the democracy movement and the people of Myanmar can identify solutions today, and when democracy returns to Myanmar. That day could not come soon enough! Our work has a strong focus on northern Myanmar and the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor. It focuses particularly on issues of climate change, the environment, land rights, labor rights, business and human rights, natural resources management, drugs, health, education, conflict, displacement, and gender. About the Project: This paper is the first in a series produced by Researchers’ Republic, in collaboration with the Myanmar Project Collective. Mael Raynaud, a political analyst specializing in decentralization, federalism and education reform in Myanmar, serves as a Team Leader, and Laure Siegel as a Lead Researcher. Dr Matthew Mullen, CEO of Article 30, a business and human rights organization, is a Senior Advisor on the project, and his colleague Hyeonju Wang has edited and laid out the report. This paper falls within a broader research initiative that was made possible through financial support from the United States Institute of Peace. DISCLAIMER: Not all prices in Myanmar Kyat (MMK) in this report have been converted into USD as the rate is so fluctuant since September 2021 that it would not paint a fair picture of the real value of goods pre-coup.