5/17/22, 11:25 PM Myanmar’s post-coup Internet: dangers and alternatives people are protesters. Saijai added that phone checks conducted by the SAC are one of the key concerns of activists and journalists. ‘This technique has created fear among the people,’ she said— not only among high-level protesters, but also for regular civilians who are concerned that their phones may incriminate them. Is the SAC’s digital repression complete? The panellists concurred that digital repression in Myanmar was incomplete, highlighting two challenges that the military faces in imposing complete controls over the internet. Firstly, the SAC is caught in what Stephen Feldstein calls the “dictator’s digital dilemma”: an authoritarian regime’s trade-off between the gains derived from repression and a loss of benefits they accrue from free access to the Internet. Alex pointed out that contrary to popular belief, the internet was not shut down in the early hours of 1 February, while the putsch was taking place, as the military used the internet to coordinate between coup-makers. The internet was only cut at about 7.30 am to stem immediate public outcry. The nightly internet blackouts instituted from 6 February, between approximately 1 am and 9 am, were also a response to the SAC’s digital dilemma. According to Alex, these too were a result of the junta’s struggle to maintain a business-friendly image, by allowing businesses to use the internet during regular working hours, while pursuing a countervailing desire to propagate fear, terrorize civilians, and disrupt protest coordination at night. In addition, military operations require the internet. A blanket internet shutdown would make it impossible for troops to communicate, and would hamper the morale of foot soldiers. ‘We’ve all seen soldiers taking rest, on their phones, going through TikTok videos,’ Alex said. These videos are not innocuous: photos and death threats posted on social media have allowed the military to spread a culture of impunity within its ranks. The SAC’s economic interests and legitimacy among its troops depends on some measure of access to the internet, making a complete shutdown unlikely. The question is whether the SAC can implement sophisticated controls which maximize forms of internet usage that serve business and military interests, while minimizing the internet’s capacity for engendering resistance. The panellists pointed out a second challenge that the SAC faces: namely, that it currently lacks the means to formulate an overarching surveillance strategy. According to Myo, even though a full picture of the military’s surveillance capacities remains unavailable, ‘one thing is for sure: [the SAC] are very keen to buy hardware and to install software. But the team’s capacity to direct and utilize those resources is very questionable… They lack a strategy.’ Myo implied that the SAC appears to be throwing money at the problem, rather than coming up with a forward-thinking strategy. As a result, they consistently underestimate the population’s adaptability and resilience. The SAC’s lack of overarching strategy is evident in the scattershot manner in which it has implemented digital repression in the five months since the coup. First, they blocked all internet access at specific times. Then, they brought the internet back online while blacklisting specific https://teacircleoxford.com/essay/myanmars-post-coup-internet-dangers-and-alternatives/ 3/11