Myanmar activists to sue Norway’s Telenor for handing data to military | Privacy News

Claimants say authorities used knowledge to trace and goal activists within the wake of 2021 coup.

A gaggle of civil society organisations in Myanmar plans to take authorized motion towards Norwegian telecoms agency Telenor, accusing it of passing buyer knowledge to the nation’s navy authorities to be used in repression.

The activists despatched Telenor a discover of intent to sue on Monday, based on an announcement from the Netherlands-based nonprofit Centre for Analysis on Multinational Companies (SOMO), which is backing the case. The case states that the information shared by the telecoms big was utilized by the navy following its 2021 coup to hint and goal civilians.

The claimants allege that Telenor, majority-owned by the Norwegian authorities, disclosed knowledge from thousands and thousands of shoppers to the navy authorities, which, after toppling the nation’s elected authorities, launched into a marketing campaign of violence and repression.

They are saying the data helped the navy goal anti-coup activists, a number of of whom have been tortured in detention and one in every of whom was executed.

Telenor, which has beforehand confronted investigations over its actions from Norwegian authorities, asserts it was trapped by the state of affairs in Myanmar with “no good choices”.

One claimant, Thazin Nyunt Aung, mentioned she is “terribly disturbed and shocked” by the information disclosures, which occurred weeks earlier than her husband, lawmaker Phoe Zeya Thaw, was arrested and executed.

Ko Ye, one other claimant, mentioned she feels “betrayed” by an organization that had a fame for integrity.

“We have been in peril, in battle, in a really troublesome place. However Telenor didn’t shield us. Quite the opposite. Our knowledge was used as a weapon towards us,” mentioned Ye.

Jan Magne Langseth, a lawyer with Norwegian agency Simonsen Vogt Wiig representing the shoppers, mentioned Telenor “ought to by no means have handed over this data” and “should be held accountable for its failures”.

‘No good choices’

Going through stress from Myanmar’s authorities to implement surveillance expertise that would have provoked European Union sanctions, Telenor in the end sold its business in Myanmar in 2021 to Lebanese funding agency M1 Group and majority-owner Shwe Byain Phyu, an area conglomerate whose chairman has a historical past of navy ties. The claimants say the sale gave the navy “unfettered entry” to buyer knowledge.

Langseth mentioned Telenor “ought to have deleted all delicate knowledge earlier than promoting its operations and exiting Myanmar”.

In an announcement to the Reuters information company, Telenor mentioned it believes the authorized discover raises points which have already been addressed, together with in earlier police and courtroom investigations in Norway.

The corporate mentioned it confronted a “horrible and tragic state of affairs” in Myanmar following the coup, with “no good choices”, as disobeying orders from the navy authorities would have “been perceived as terrorism and sabotage, and would have put workers in direct hazard”.

“Like all operators in any nation, Telenor Myanmar was legally required to supply site visitors knowledge to the authorities,” the corporate mentioned.

Myanmar has been in disaster for the reason that coup and ensuing navy crackdown, which prompted a nationwide armed rebel.

The navy authorities has killed nearly 7,000 folks and arrested near 30,000, based on the Help Affiliation for Political Prisoners, a nonprofit monitoring group. The navy denies accusations that it has focused civilians.