Internet Traffic In Libya Goes Dark Amid Upheaval

We've been keeping an eye on the Libyan internet censorship surrounding the revolution going on there, the latest word is that now their Internet is completely shut down as of a few hours ago. They also point out that this isn't quite as significant as in Egypt, where many people have net access. In Libya just 6% of the population have any internet access at all.

Comments

more bit.ly jokes

[alain94040]

bit.ly is still up... It puts in perspective the most recent annoucement on Libya's (.ly) registrar: " FREE DNS Management Only with Libyan Spider". (http://libyanspider.com/ - which still works fine too, go register .ly domain names now before it's too late!)

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Founder Conference - join 500 entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley

Re:more bit.ly jokes

[Anonymous Coward]

I''m trying to register Oreil.ly and the fuckers won't let me!

Re:more bit.ly jokes

[bmo]

I would rather drink my own piss.

Mod parent down -1 "silly buggers"

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BMO

Dupe, hello?

[RichM]

http://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/03/04/1732232/Libyan-Internet-Flatlined

Re:Dupe, hello?

[Anonymous Coward]

That was posted over six years ago, though.

Re:Dupe, hello?

[Anonymous Coward]

hours != years

Re:Dupe, hello?

[Anonymous Coward]

like slashdot gives a flying fuck, you clicked on the article didnt you? I just cant wait till america shuts down their internet, so we can get rid of all the filibustering idiots in washington, I used to believe in free america, now i beleive in a corporate free america...

For God sake

[Anonymous Coward]

The front page still has the previous article about the exact same thing one it.

Egypt made it look too easy

[Anonymous Coward]

By simply rolling over, Hosni Mubaruk may have ended up costing more lives in the long run than if he had just dropped a daisy cutter on Tahrir Square.
Instead, he helped to inspire hope in the hearts of dissidents who will continue to try to follow in the footsteps of Egyptians, but will be massacred.

Re:Egypt made it look too easy

[morari]

It is better to die on your feet than live on your knees.

Re:Egypt made it look too easy

[Anonymous Coward]

Says someone who's never had to make the choice.

Re:Egypt made it look too easy

[pushing-robot]

Says someone who's never had to make the choice.

Really?

Re:Egypt made it look too easy

[Ginger Unicorn]

Yeah I'm pretty sure he meant the poster, not the person he was quoting.

Re:Egypt made it look too easy

[Anonymous Coward]

No, because the alternative was to attempt to maintain the status quo, and Mubarak had to go eventually, even if it was by dying in office years from now. It was going to happen. The longer the issue was put off the more frustrated people would get and the more violent the change would become from the start because people would see no alternative. People have been saying for a long time that the autocratic regimes in the Middle East were not sustainable. Choosing to step aside and allowing change to unfold -- for good or for ill -- was the best choice possible in Tunisia and Egypt. Crucially, the military was professional enough that they were not willing to start shooting their own people in an attempt to maintain the situation.

And that fundamentally is the problem in Libya: that Ghaddafi is too stupid, too self-interested, and too uncaring about his own people to go, and he's managed to bribe enough people, including ones brought in from other countries for $1000/day, to shoot his own people on his behalf. Compared to Ghaddafi, Mubarak was a patriot that actually cared about his people, and Mubarak was pretty darn cruel.

Not as significant?

[JimWise]

I do not think the number of people being prevented from having internet access dictates how "significant" the issue is in this case. Egypt was mostly trying to prevent people from organizing protests when they cut off internet access. Libya on the other hand is trying to keep news of the government's attacks upon their own people from getting out.

Re:Not as significant?

[TheRealMindChild]

We need to enroll Mike Tyson and get some IP over Pidgin going

Re:Not as significant?

[luther349]

yep with the victory in egypt the portest spead all over the middle east. this is no longer a matter of 1 country having a revoution. the entire middle east goverment is in danger of collaps. it was a smart move by the people in realty they knew egypt wasent enough it would just been more of the same after the dust settled. to me its the beggning of the middle east getting out of the dark ages there relgion has kept them in forever. the usa isnt starting any fights being the more chois coused by the people the more oil we get. even thow we will rape everyone with bs price raises and eat the profits.

Re:Not as significant?

[paltemalte]

I agree. And I wonder what kind of information it is that Obama and his administration think it is they need to prevent the spread of by using that internet kill switch they have been talking about.

Re:Not as significant?

[xnpu]

You mean the lack of information from getting out.

So far all I've seen are edited video's where nobody dies. How come we can have journalists there who get video out but show nothing?

Re:Not as significant?

[TheRealMindChild]

perhaps because the ones who had anything worth "getting out" are arrested or dead?

Re:Not as significant?

[countertrolling]

The blackout could just as easily be an US/UK one to cover ongoing operations on the ground. There's a reason Qaddafi has been able to hold out this long. The players haven't found a replacement yet.

Re:Not as significant?

[currently_awake]

Tools are made for a purpose. If you don't know what something does then watch what people do with it. In Egypt they used the internet kill switch to stifle dissent/protests, in Libya they use the internet kill switch to block reporting of government crimes.

Re:Not as significant?

[pushing-robot]

You're begging the question:

First, "Obama and his administration" aren't pushing the bill. Tom Carper (D-DE), Susan Collins (R-ME), and Joe Lieberman (I-CT) are, and I'd challenge you to find any information connecting any member of the President's administration to the bill.

Second, you're making the claim that this "Internet kill switch" has anything to do with preventing the spread of sensitive information, which makes no sense:
In the real world, disconnecting the entire country from the Internet to stop a leak would (a) ensure that the embarrassing information gets read by every person on Earth (thanks, Streisand Effect!), and (b) go over about as well as dropping a nuke on a major city or instating a $100/gallon gas tax. Any president who thinks he (or she) can cut off everyones' communication and shut down most businesses without a really fucking good reason would be extremely lucky to make it to the next election before getting tossed out.

Third, the bill itself has several provisions that specifically prevent it from being used in the manner you describe. I put "Internet kill switch" in quotes because it's a gross exaggeration and not at all the point of the law; the law itself is designed to force network operators to develop disaster plans to prevent disruptions in service, and spells out that emergency powers can only be invoked in response to a cyber-warfare attack on national infrastructure, must use the least disruptive means feasible, and not restrict the free flow of information on a network unless there is no other way to preserve the reliable operation of the network. Using this as your private censorship tool would have the judicial branch on your ass in no time... unless you have no fear of of legal process, in which case you don't need laws to begin with.

Which brings me to my last point; if there was really was open revolt and martial law, no one would care about "Internet kill switch" legislation: The powers that be could simply introduce the network operators the the proverbial $5 wrench.

So congratulations on wrapping several layers of lies, misinformation, and outright stupidity into a single sentence. For what it's worth, I suspect you're either a clever troll, a libertarian conspiracy whack-job whose world view comes from yellow journalism and people named Rand, or a blithering fool who believes Obama to be a Terrorist Socialist Muslim Kenyan Magic Negro Who Happens To Be The Antichrist, and Fox News, Rush Limbaugh & co. to be Guiding Lights Sent Directly from God Above By Christ Reagan The First.

Or whatever we're calling right-wingers this week.

OMG !! CALL THE MARINES !!

[Anonymous Coward]

We need to hit the shores of Tripoli. Appler Pie Marines !!

Libya may have WMDs

[countertrolling]

The UK and US are spearheading the drive to insure that these *widely misplaced documents* are located and safely secured so they can cause no harm.

I sense a pattern here...

[vrythmax]

Maybe the US gov should be working on a way to carpet bomb dictators with castable mesh networks? I mean, how do you think Americans will liberate themselves from TimeWarner, Comcast, AT&T and the rest of the communication dictators?

The end justifies the means

[cryfreedomlove]

By simply rolling over, Hosni Mubaruk may have ended up costing more lives in the long run than if he had just dropped a daisy cutter on Tahrir Square

I have a pretty thick skin but that comment is just too flippant and jaded to not be totally offensive. Perhaps you would have gleefully flown the plane and dropped the daisy cutter yourself, big man? After all, it will save more lives in the end and the end justifies the means. Right dude?

US vs Libya

[darkpixel2k]

When Libya's connection goes dark, everyone shouts "Oh no, Libya's off the internet".

When the United States goes dark, everyone shouts "Oh f*ck, the Internet's off!!"

Nope

[BioticBeaver]

That makes no sense. THere's really not any Facebook Warriors in Libya.

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[semone]

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Exemplary Streisand Effect

[Kyusaku Natsume]

Two days ago the documentary "Presunto Culpable" (Presumed Guilty) that deals with the incredibly corrupt and inefficient mexican judiciary was subject to an injunction by a female judge that would have stopped the screenings of the movie nation wide. Instead of the desired effect, it managed to make it the most viewed mexican documentary to date and provided additional embarrassment to the mexican justice system since that injunction was based on declarations of a man that was caught in the movie lying accusing an innocent man of murder.

Another documentary that the powers that be in Mexico want buried, Sicario (Gunman) was subject to a boycott by all movie distributors here in Mexico but, being the third largest market for piracy in the world, by word of mouth it became one of the most viewed movies in this year. Really, the use of an internet kill switch in USA to censor some information will make it the most commented story for decades in the whole world.

Not Exactly Dark - just seems so

[Pabugs]

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Cloud-Computing/Libya-Goes-Dark-Again-Even-While-Internet-Servers-Continue-Running-382131/

So this is officially a trend now?

[Anonymous Coward]

As governments think it's OK to take away people's hard-won connectivity, perhaps it's time to start thinking about setting up some alternative digital communication networks. The internet was designed to work around this kind of thing, after all. As fortune favours the well-prepared, perhaps the time has come to dust off the old HAM radio. Put up the old Pringles cantenna. How's that distributed bluetooth/cellphone-based thing coming along? Any suggestions what to do about broken DNS other than a giant hosts file?

hi

[viceneky]

That is so cooll http://freedownload-eky.blogspot.com/

Internet in Libya

[Anonymous Coward]

Sad to know in Libya the internet shut down. It is important to communicate our friends in Libya specially this present situation, It needs someone to solve this kind of problem.postscript printer description