There may be almost double the number of people online, but internet freedom in Myanmar has actually declined since 2014, according to a new report from Freedom House published this week.
The US-based non-profit dubbed the Myanmar web ‘not free’, ranking it 63/100 in a rating where 0 is the most free. Last year, the country scored 60 and was ‘partly free’.
Internet penetration increased following the entrance of foreign telocs in 2014, but the ongoing criminalization of online speech – especially involving criticism of the military – means the web is less free.
“The government and security forces stepped up intimidation of internet users during social protests, intensifying conflict in ethnic minority regions, and during preparations for the 2014 national elections,” the report reads.
The growing list of people detained over their online activity includes three men jailed for two years each over insulting religion on Facebook. See our op-ed: ‘Why Myanmar needs to stop prosecuting people over Facebook posts.’
Freedom House citied international and local civil society representatives, as well as diplomats, as saying they believe the military has increased surveillance through wiretapping, hacking and intercepting Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) calls amid “intensifying social protest and political rivalries” that developed in the research period for the period (June 2014 until May).
The report also cited the failure to nullify a 2004 Electronic Transaction Law which the junta used to criminalize online politics and clauses in the Telecommunications Law which allow censorship and surveillance to continue – despite the abolition of pre-publication censorship for media outlets in 2012.
“The government of former military leader President Thein Sein officially ended media censorship in 2012, and internet freedom improved in 2013, but the situation began to deteriorate in late 2014 as the practices of the old regime were revived,” the report reads.
Photo / Flickr
