"How Myanmar’s Junta Uses Telecom Companies to Target Journalists"

... “The military in Myanmar has continued to oppress human rights online in the face of ongoing civil disobedience, political opposition, and armed conflict,” Freedom House researcher Kian Vesteinsson said...

Myanmar’s military did not reply to VOA’s request for comment about its use of telecommunication companies to track people in the country.

Myanmar has four mobile service providers: Mytel, ATOM, Ooredoo and MPT. Before the coup, the military already owned Mytel and MPT. Following the coup, ATOM — formerly the Myanmar operation of Norwegian telecom giant Telenor — and Qatari-owned Ooredoo’s Myanmar operation came under ownership of junta-affiliated firms, according to media reports.

But even before the coup, telecom and internet service providers had been ordered to install intercept spyware that could give the military power to listen in on calls, view texts and web traffic including emails, and to track user location, Reuters reported...

In an email to VOA, ATOM’s communications team said the telecom company respects its customers’ rights and privacy.

“ATOM Myanmar will never facilitate or allow unlawful interception requests or equipment,” ATOM said. “Our telecom operation will always act in a law-abiding, ethical manner.”

“We continue to provide essential communication services to the people of Myanmar while respecting local and international laws; upholding human rights; and advocating for consumer protection regulations, especially in terms of data security, data resilience, privacy, connectivity, roaming, internet access, and others,” ATOM said.

The other three telecom companies did not reply to VOA’s requests for comment...