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Telenor has shared sensitive customer data with military since the coup: industry sources

February 7, 2022/in News

The revelation comes as Telenor prepares to finalise the sale of its Myanmar unit to a military-linked company later this month Norwegian telecoms company Telenor, a leading operator in Myanmar serving more than 18 million users, has complied with multiple requests from the military junta for sensitive user data since last year’s coup, according to […]

Soldiers and Pyu Saw Htee militiamen murder four, burn hundreds of homes in Sagaing

February 7, 2022/in News

The mob also looted several villages and carried the stolen goods away on several trucks, locals said Junta soldiers and Pyu Saw Htee militiamen murdered four people, burned hundreds of homes, and looted villages during a three-day rampage through Sagaing Region’s Pale Township last week, local residents have told Myanmar Now. The mob of about […]

Telenor has shared sensitive customer data with military since the coup: industry sources

February 7, 2022/in News

Soldiers and Pyu Saw Htee militiamen murder four, burn hundreds of homes in Sagaing

February 7, 2022/in News

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Telenor has shared sensitive customer data with military since the coup: industry sources

February 7, 2022/in News

The revelation comes as Telenor prepares to finalise the sale of its Myanmar unit to a military-linked company later this month

Norwegian telecoms company Telenor, a leading operator in Myanmar serving more than 18 million users, has complied with multiple requests from the military junta for sensitive user data since last year’s coup, according to industry sources.

The junta-controlled Ministry of Transport and Communications (MOTC) made at least 200 requests to Telenor over the past 12 months for information, including records of calls, call locations and the last known location of a number, a source with inside knowledge of the situation told Myanmar Now.

The company complied with all of these requests, as well as with instructions to shut down specified mobile numbers, the source said.

Myanmar Now has seen a number of the MOTC’s recent requests to Telenor. Some were for the one-month call histories of customers, while others asked for four- to six-month call histories.

Each request included multiple numbers, with some requests numbering in the hundreds. The 200+ requests therefore impacted thousands of Telenor customers.

The ministry cited Myanmar’s 2013 Telecommunications Law in its requests to the company. Article 77 of the law allows the ministry to suspend services, intercept communications, and temporarily control services in “emergency situations”.

According to the source, Telenor complied with all of the ministry’s requests despite concerns that they were based on information obtained by the junta through torture.

“We can generally say that the mobile numbers mentioned in the data requests were extracted during the interrogation of political detainees. So we can say that these numbers really are blood-stained,” the source said.

In response to questions from Myanmar Now regarding the company’s sharing of personal data, Telenor confirmed that the company has received directives from the military junta, and implied their compliance with those requests.

“Violating or not complying with directives issued under the existing legal framework, would have severe and completely unacceptable consequences for our employees,” Telenor communications director Cathrine Stang Lund said.

Myanmar Now asked Telenor if they were aware of any individuals arrested, tortured or killed after the company had shared data with the junta, and whether they had taken any steps to protect customers targeted in junta directives. Telenor did not respond.

Violating or not complying with directives issued under the existing legal framework, would have severe and completely unacceptable consequences for our employees – Telenor’s communications director

It is not uncommon for authorities to ask mobile service providers for customers’ data. In Telenor’s 7th Sustainability Briefing, published before the coup, the company disclosed it had received 327 data requests from the authorities between 2014 and December 2020 and complied with 217 of them.

The company wrote that “the data disclosed were related to life-or-death situations such as murder, drug and missing person investigations.”

On February 14, 2021, Telenor stated that they would no longer disclose directive from authorities and Telenor Myanmar did not make a sustainability briefing in 2021.

In most cases, data requests made before the coup were approved by different ministerial departments.

“Now the military doesn’t make any reference to other government departments. Even when it does, it only refers to the Ministry of Home Affairs,” the source said.

Under Myanmar’s military-drafted 2008 Constitution, the Ministry of Home Affairs is one of three ministries under the direct control of the commander-in-chief of the armed forces.

Some of the data requests made by the military in the first few weeks after last February’s military coup were related to the phone numbers of well-known actor Kyaw Thu, his wife Shwe Zee Kwat, and popular rock singer Lynn Lynn. All three had been charged with incitement and spreading rumours shortly after the military takeover.

The military authorities also raided the Yangon office of Kyaw Thu’s Free Funeral Service Society, seizing office documents and property.

A mobile number posted by Lynn Lynn on a Facebook page using his real name, Htwe Lynn Ko, on February 8 of last year was shut down by Telenor at the request of the military authorities. Lynn Lynn had been using social media to raise funds for state employees taking part in the Civil Disobedience Movement against military rule.

Kyaw Thu and Lynn Lynn have both managed to evade arrest together with their families and are now in exile outside of Myanmar.

Lynn Lynn said he and his wife, popular singer and actress Chit Thu Wai, hid with their two daughters in separate locations until they were able to leave the country.

The couple actively supported the ousted ruling party, the National League for Democracy, during its election campaigns. They are also personally close to the party’s leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been detained by the junta since the coup.

Lin_lin.jpg

Lin Lin participated in a mass protest in Yangon against the military coup in February last year (Photo: Htwe Lynn Ko/ Facebook)

In 2014, Lynn Lynn was a judge in a national ringtone competition Telenor held before their network launch.

Like many activists and journalists since the coup, Lynn Lynn primarily used Telenor, which was widely trusted, and boycotted mobile operators linked to the military junta.

“I feel sad that an organisation like Telenor, headquartered in the city that awards the Nobel Peace Prize, is sharing personal data with a terrorist military junta,” said Lynn Lynn.

People stand in front of a Telenor-branded screen at an event in Magway, Myanmar on February 12, 2018 (EPA-EFE)

The Shwe Byain Phyu Group, which has a long history of serving military-owned MEHL, is to be the majority owner of the new partnership that will acquire Telenor’s Myanmar operation

‘Alarming’ revelation

A spokesperson for activist group Justice for Myanmar called on the Norwegian government to urgently investigate whether Telenor has aided and abetted crimes committed by the military by sharing data, and said it must also ensure remedy for victims.

“It is alarming that Telenor has been sharing call and location data with the terrorist military junta, with full knowledge of how this endangers Myanmar people’s lives,” said Yadanar Maung, the group’s spokesperson.

“The junta has been conducting mass arrests, torture and murder since its attempted coup, and these acts amount to crimes against humanity. By sharing data, Telenor’s cooperation with the junta in its brutal crackdown makes the company complicit in these international crimes,” she said.

Myanmar Now reported last week that Telenor’s sale of its Myanmar subsidiary will becompleted by February 15.

Internal documents seen by Myanmar Now from the junta’s Post and Telecommunications Department under the Ministry of Transport and Communications indicate that the buyer will be Investcom Myanmar, a company that has not yet been registered.

The documents state that Shwe Byain Phyu, a military-linked gems and petrol conglomerate, will be the majority owner of Investcom Myanmar.

Shwe Byain Phyu Telecom is a registered company in Myanmar. Until it changed its name on November 3, 2021, it was registered as Shwe Byain Phyu Manufacturing Co Ltd.

The company recently acquired a 49-percent stake in Investcom Pte Ltd, a company created by the Lebanon-based M1 G roup that was registered in Singapore after Telenor announced last year that it was selling its Myanmar unit to the M1 Group for $105m.

On January 30, on behalf of the 168 civil society organisations in Myanmar, the Norwegian Forum for Development and Environment sent a letter to the Norwegian prime minister demanding a stop to the sale of Telenor Myanmar to M1 Group and Shwe Byain Phyu on human rights grounds.

Lynn Lynn also appealed for the sale to be called off.

“I expect Telenor Group management would sympathise with the Myanmar public’s struggle for democracy,” he said.

Telenor explained the company’s legal and human rights predicament as a reason for the sale of their Myanmar unit.

“Telenor is facing a conflict between local law and international law, employee safety and human rights principles which makes continued presence in Myanmar impossible for Telenor Group,” Cathrine Stang Lund said.

Myanmar Now News

Soldiers and Pyu Saw Htee militiamen murder four, burn hundreds of homes in Sagaing

February 7, 2022/in News

The mob also looted several villages and carried the stolen goods away on several trucks, locals said

Junta soldiers and Pyu Saw Htee militiamen murdered four people, burned hundreds of homes, and looted villages during a three-day rampage through Sagaing Region’s Pale Township last week, local residents have told Myanmar Now.

The mob of about 100 members of the junta’s forces entered the village of Min Taing Pin firing their guns at around 11am on Thursday, bringing with them and then killing four captives who had their hands tied, two residents there said.

They then raided homes and detained around 100 people, including 15 who were elderly, inside a local school. One woman named Htay Kyi was reportedly beaten while being detained.

The soldiers then ransacked and looted houses, a jewellery store and mobile phone shops. “It was nothing more than a massive robbery,” one of the residents said.

“They started firing shots even before they entered the village,” he added. “Some people started running but others didn’t because the other junta forces that came into the village before didn’t cause much trouble. It’s just so bad this time.”

The second villager said that the soldiers and militiamen stole around 700 million kyat ($393,000) worth of cash and gold from the jewellery store and around 45 million kyat in cash and phone top-up cards from a money exchanger.

The soldiers broke down doors to enter houses, the second villager said. “They took rice, oil and food supplies for the most part. They also broke into three mobile phone shops and took every single phone, set of earphones and power bank. They even broke open the safes.”

After the robberies, the junta forces loaded the stolen goods into seven military trucks and carried them away.

“Nothing is left in Min Taing Pin,” said a person who is helping residents who fled the village. “They ransacked all the jewellery shops and garment shops. The village is nothing but a huge pile of garbage now. They took all the valuables.”

Residents did not know the names of the four captives who were killed, but recognised them and said they were from the nearby villages of Inn Kan and Ohn Hnauk. Soldiers shot the four of them to death and burned their faces before leaving the bodies outside of Min Taing Pin.

“They burned the bodies before they left the village so we wouldn’t be able to identify them,” the man helping the displaced villagers said.

Both he and the two Min Taing Pin villagers said the junta’s forces detained five women in their early 20s, and that others they spoke to believe the women were raped because they heard them screaming.

“The girls were hiding when the military arrived but they were found and taken by the military,” he said. “I don’t want to say their names for their own safety. Some said they heard the girls screaming. I didn’t hear them though as I was trying to flee.”

Myanmar Now was unable to gather further information about the women or verify what happened after they were detained.

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Locals found bodies on the side of the road after the military left Min Taing Pin village on February 3 (Supplied)

Houses torched

After spending the night in Min Taing Pin, the junta forces marched to the nearby villages of Kaing Twin and Hlaw Kar on Friday evening. All three villages lie along the road connecting Pale to the Magway Region township of Gangaw.

As in Min Taing Pin, they robbed houses and businesses in Kaing Twin and some of them carried the loot away on ten military vehicles to a village called In Pin Htee, where Pyu Saw Htee is known to be active.

The soldiers and Pyu Saw Htee members then began setting fire to houses.

“Almost the entire village of Kaing Twin is lost,” said a man who lives in Pale Township. “We are trying to get there to investigate. We still don’t know the exact number of casualties or amount of damage.”

It was a similar story when the junta’s mob later marched a mile north to the village Hlaw Kar. Hlaw Kar has 800 houses, while Kaing Twin has 400– and a total of 800 houses were burned down across the two villages, a Hlaw Kar resident said.

The fires began in Hlaw Kar village at around 1:30am on Saturday morning and soldiers set fires again at 7am, he added. “The village burned the whole night. All the pigs and cows died in the fire. Even when we went back to check after the military left, three houses were still burning.”

He and others found remnants from bottles used for molotov cocktails and wooden torches used to start the fires, he said. “I think they used the torches to spread the fire from one house to another. It’s just so cruel.”

Another Hlaw Kar local said that Pyu Saw Htee members started fires and the soldiers took pictures of themselves pretending to put out the flames before torching more houses. They did the same thing in Kaing Twin, he added.

“The Pyu Saw Htee came into our village first and then they started torching the houses. Then, the junta forces arrived, took photos and torched more houses,” he said.

On Saturday, the soldiers and militiamen travelled to nearby Ingyin Su village, which has a population of around 1,000.

Myanmar Now News

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ND-Burma formed in 2004 in order to provide a way for Burma human rights organizations to collaborate on the human rights documentation process. The 13 ND-Burma member organizations seek to collectively use the truth of what communities in Burma have endured to advocate for justice for victims. ND-Burma trains local organizations in human rights documentation; coordinates members’ input into a common database using Martus, a secure open-source software; and engages in joint-advocacy campaigns.

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