The military junta leading Myanmar has drafted a cybersecurity law that would ban the use of VPNs and digital currencies.
According to The Register, anyone found guilty of using VPNs would face imprisonment of one to three years and/or fines up to five million Myanmar Kyats ($2,800). The use of digital currency would lead to a six-month imprisonment and the same fine.
The law also requires service providers to provide the personal information of users to authorities if requested. Previously, Norwegian mobile carrier Telenor left Myanmar in September 2021 when the junta wanted to intercept calls carried on its network.
The Register also highlighted that for many in Myanmar, ‘Facebook is synonymous with the internet’. This is due to the fact that during the junta military coup in February last year, the new government banned Facebook, Twitter and Instagram – leading users to rely on VPNs to retail access to their preferred online communications services.
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