Mizzima-Apr 27
Myanmar’s military junta or the State Administration Council (SAC) has started using a suite of technologies to effectively identify, track and locate dissidents in Myanmar starting from March 2025, according to a report by the Myanmar Internet Project (MIP) released on 26 April. The digital repression tactics by the junta have escalated significantly four years after the coup. The MIP has documented 357 instances of internet shutdowns since the coup until the end of March 2025. Conflict affected and contested areas are frequently subjected to a form of internet shutdown and Sagaing Region and Kachin State are regarded as areas facing most instances of the internet shutdown situation in Myanmar. Internet shutdowns are often observed in contested or liberated areas while areas and the populace under military control are heavily subjected to the junta’s surveillance mechanisms. Throughout this four-year period, the military junta have undertaken steps to build up on the remnant and existing surveillance mechanisms that were implemented during the civilian government’s tenure. Additionally, the MIP has observed their strategy to transform Myanmar’s cyber space into a surveillance assemblage and an ecosystem. The military junta has been building up a National Database as a surveillance assembly, composed of NRIC (National Registration Identity-Identification Card), SIM registration as well as information from other services.
We regard recently emerged and widely discussed technologies such as Guest List Management System (GLMS) – implemented in accommodation facilities; Person Scrutinizing and Monitoring System (PSMS), Myanmar Advanced Passenger Processing System (MAPPS) – implemented at Airports, and National Service Information Management System (NSIMS) – for identifying conscription eligible travelers, as one of the functional apparatuses of an assembly of a centralized database containing identification information of citizens. In Facebook-dominant Myanmar, the junta and its apparatus not only block and censor access to Facebook, they also heavily dissenting opinions and users on social media. Read more at: https://eng.mizzima.com/2025/04/27/21748
