| Hi, this is Jamie, a reporter for the cybersecurity team based in Hong Kong. It's a deadly time in Myanmar, where military leaders seized power on Feb. 1 and hundreds have died in violent protests since. I recently spoke by phone with a 26-year-old protester who was in Yangon, the country's largest city, trying to keep a low profile while simultaneously attempting to navigate the communications blackout the junta was seeking to enforce. Protesting often means pushing the bounds of technology to organize outside of public view. In Myanmar, coup leaders have largely cut local mobile internet data and squeezed telecommunications and network providers to deliver scant bandwidth during the day and shut it down entirely between 1 and 9 a.m. Locals adapted. "People like me, my generation, we've been to foreign countries to get educated, we know about this technology," said the woman in Yangon who asked not to be identified because she fears for her safety. "We started telling each other, and I think that's how it grows." When Facebook Inc. was blocked, downloads of virtual private networks, which mask a user's location, soared by 7,200%. Downloads of Tor, an open-source network that thoroughly anonymizes data, surged, too. Myanmar citizens also embraced lesser-known software like Bridgefy, which bypasses the internet altogether by using Bluetooth to wirelessly send messages to other users of the app within a certain range. Another tool that was widely shared: Mysterium Network, which says it offers the privacy of Tor with the speed of a traditional VPN. In the recent history of resistance movements, the embrace of new technologies is a well-worn path. When the Arab Spring erupted a little more than a decade ago, it was hailed as the social media revolution. Using smartphones, millions of people were able to connect directly to the rest of the world—telling their own stories rather than having their governments purportedly speak for them. Where mobile phone networks were shut down, walkie-talkies were deployed. Where the internet was cut, dial-up modems found connections on other continents. When authorities tried to track protesters by their locations on Facebook, supporters in other countries changed their profiles to show the same location as the people on the ground to confuse officials. Many efforts failed. Some succeeded. Every now and then, an unstoppable force can dislodge a seemingly immovable object. Protesters displayed an ingenuity during those years that continues to evolve today. Pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong had tipped off Myanmar protesters to Bridgefy. Jorge Rios helped create the app seven years ago as a way for people to communicate with neighbors during earthquakes in Mexico, where seismic shifts often disrupt networks for hours, sometimes days. For Rios's business, 2019 was a turning point. Suddenly, Bridgefy recorded tens of thousands of downloads from Hong Kong, prompting a cyber-attack from apparent Beijing sympathizers that forced the website offline for a day. The Black Lives Matter protests brought hundreds of thousands more downloads in the U.S. Bridgefy wasn't prepared for its new role as a tool for dissent. Researchers from the University of London warned last year that the app contained serious flaws that could be exploited to compromise users' privacy. The company said it has taken steps to address those vulnerabilities and is working on adding encryption protocols to the app. "Data privacy and user safety should always be top of mind for any technology company," Rios said from Monterrey, Mexico. For protesters, it's a race to acquire new tools, said Savannah Lee, who works in research and development at Mysterium Network. "Though technology has evolved since the Arab Spring, the fight for its access remains as relevant as ever," she said. Activists are looking to come up with creative solutions faster than authoritarian governments can figure out how to shut them down. And as more people become digitally literate, the internet revolution will be harder to control. —Jamie Tarabay | 
Post a Comment