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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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]

hours != years

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

[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.

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?

[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.

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.

Nope

[BioticBeaver]

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

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/

hi

[viceneky]

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