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Syria Falls Off the Internet Again
New submitter briancox2 writes with news that all internet traffic from Syria has disappeared. Umbrella Security Labs explains:
"Routing on the Internet relies on the Border Gateway Protocol (BGP). BGP distributes routing information and makes sure all routers on the Internet know how to get to a certain IP address. When an IP range becomes unreachable it will be withdrawn from BGP, this informs routers that the IP range is no longer reachable. For example, one of the name servers for the DNS zone .SY is ns1.tld.sy with IP address 82.137.200.85. Normally our routers would expect a BGP route for 82.137.192.0/18. Currently that route has disappeared and we no longer have a way to reach the nameservers for .SY that reside in Syria. ... Currently there are just three routes in the BGP routing tables for Syria, while normally it’s close to eighty. ... Effectively, the shutdown disconnects Syria from Internet communication with the rest of the world."
The "non-TOR" internet does not route around damaged sections.
Forgive me for a moment, but that's exactly what the Internet was designed to do. This is accomplished via routing protocols which store multiple routes to a single destination in the event of failure.
Unless you're trying to imply that TOR is a superior "type" of Internet, in which case it should be pointed out that TOR is simply an application which runs on top of all of the fiber, copper, and wireless links built by current providers. So it really doesn't matter if someone either physically cuts the cord or starts filtering your routes, TOR will not function without the underlying layers of physical and network connectivity.
If Syria has dropped off the internet due to the inaccessibility of the .sy domain, then, the internet is not routing around the damage.
I see where you are coming from, but I think you're still confusing the issue. The .sy domain is inaccessible as a result of Syria withdrawing its routes from the global BGP table. Since Routing Protocols like BGP operate at a lower layer than DNS and TOR, these services are unavailable as a result. So while TOR may be able to help if Syria were simply filtering DNS, this is not the case.
It's like having your arm chopped off and wondering why you can't move your fingers.
Get with the times and stop posting rubbish that is 20 years out of date.
The Internet is still built on routing protocol which is almost 20 years old. This is the reality that we face. Whether you believe it to be rubbish or not is irrelevant - if a country can control which routes it advertises in this manner, a major redesign (or a new global routing protocol) would be required to work around it.