The Action Network has launched an online petition calling on the Telenor Group and the Norwegian government to stop the sale of Telenor Myanmar to military-linked Investcom over data breach fears.
The petitioners fear mobile telephone data could get into the wrong hands.
The following is their petition:
Norwegian Telenor is planning to sell Telenor Myanmar by February 15, allowing the user data of more than 18 million Telenor customers in Myanmar to fall into the hands of Myanmar military-affiliated Investcom. Telenor Group must stop the sale completely and safeguard its users’ data to protect their lives.
There are high risks of unpredictable violence, including murder.
Users have entrusted Telenor with highly sensitive information including SIM card registration, call logs, internet logs, location data, mobile money usage, and historical activity records.
All Telenor users and their affiliates, including their family members, are at risk and could be arrested, or murdered based on the user data shared by Telenor to the new owner and the military, by proxy.
Shwe Byain Phyu Group is a crony business that initially started its first company in the 1990s, and it has been allowed to operate a number of businesses involved in gem mining, the import and export of fuel for military- owned businesses under successive military regimes.
Thein Win Zaw, the president of Shwe Byain Phyu, held his position as one of the directors of Mahar Yoma Public Company until November 2021.
Mahar Yoma company is a major shareholder in Myanmar National Telecom Holding Public Co. Ltd which owns shares in MyTel in which the terrorist Myanmar military is a major shareholder.
Through companies registration database, Thein Win Zaw was found to step down from his position from Mahar Yoma just two weeks before acquiring the shares from Investcom Pte Ltd under the name of Shwe Byain Phyu Telecom.
This action could be an attempt to hide links with the military conglomerate, Myanmar Economic Corporation (MEC), which is sanctioned in the EU,US and UK. Tin Latt Min, the wife of Thein Win Zaw, and the current managing director of the group, is also a shareholder in the EU-sanctioned Forest Products Joint Venture Corporation.
Investcom's remaining shares are owned by the Lebanese-based M1 Group, which has been linked to the terrorist military and conducts business through the Cayman Islands, a tax haven and secrecy jurisdiction.
The sale of Telenor Myanmar to a group of companies that support the interests of the terrorist military will support the military junta, which has been prosecuted in international tribunals for a number of crimes, including genocide and crimes against humanity.
There is no guarantee owners of the newly obtained telecom business will respect human rights and protect users, with proceeds continuing to fund the junta’s atrocities in the future.
Telenor must follow international human rights norms and legal frameworks to protect users and employees
As a member of both the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and Global Network Initiative (GNI), Telenor has committed to business and human rights guidelines as well as the European Union privacy rules (GDPR).
Telenor is solely responsible for the security of its users’ data in Myanmar. Telenor is also responsible for any harm that users might suffer, including loss of life, as a result of a security breach, and for the deletion of their information if requested by the user.
