Myanmar junta calls for spyware to monitor citizens

Norwegian telecoms firm pulls out of country amid fears installing software would put lives at risk

MYANMAR’S junta is piling pressure on telecoms companies to activate spyware on citizens’ phones – prompting a major European company to pull out of the country amid fears it would put activists’ lives at risk if it complied.

Since seizing power in February, the junta has jailed the country’s leaders and launched a violent crackdown on mass protests. Now the regime is taking its fight to the technological sphere.

A telecoms firm is set to sell up and withdraw from Myanmar over demands it run software that would allow the army to eavesdrop on private communications.

Norwegian Telenor said it had come under “continued pressure” from the military leadership and was “deeply concerned by the deteriorating situation in Myanmar”.

It said: “It has become clear to us that our continued presence would require Telenor Myanmar to activate intercept equipment which is subject to Norwegian and EU sanctions. For Telenor, respecting and promoting human rights is integral... We took into account the broader human rights impact [and] believe a sale is the least detrimental solution for the Myanmar society.”

The Lebanese investment firm M1 will likely step in to fill the gap in a $105million (£76 million) deal, prompting an outcry from democracy activists who have accused the group of profiting from authoritarian regimes without due regard for human rights.

Other activists criticised Telenor for leaving the country rather than standing up to the junta.

Yadanar Maung, of Justice for Myanmar, called the “reckless fire sale” a “deplorable breach of the company’s human rights responsibilities and that of its owner, the Norwegian government”. The transfer of historical data could easily be seized by the military, he said.

“Exposing this data will be a death sentence for activists and journalists and a mass violation of privacy for millions of Myanmar people,” he added.

“Telenor and the Norwegian government must immediately halt this irresponsible sale.”

The incoming M1 group has pledged to invest $330 million (£239 million) in infrastructure projects in Myanmar over the next three years. But it has not ruled out acceding to military demands to allow surveillance or to access call data records among 18million subscribers when it takes over.

Azmi Mikati, M1’s chief executive, told The Daily Telegraph that the company would follow the relevant telecoms laws, but would comply with the rules transparently and not in secrecy.

Customers knew there was a risk of being surveilled, he argued, adding the alternative would be to completely shut down the network.