Internet Shutdown Adds To Venezuela's Woes

Slashgear reports that many state-run internet links in Venezuela have been shut down by that country's government, as censorship efforts there step up along with widespread turmoil, partly in the form of widespread anti-government protests. The article begins: "Don’t expect one whole heck of a lot of tweets coming out of Venezuela in the immediate future as President Nicolas Maduro’s government has shut down the internet and select TV channels. Having shut down Twitter access for the area this past week, Venezuela’s state-run ISP CANTV has been cut in areas such as San Cristobal. This area is a regional capital in the west of the country and CANTV controls the vast majority of internet connectivity in the area. The Electronic Frontier Foundation made note that Venezuelans working with several different ISPs lost all connectivity on Thursday of this past week. Users lost connectivity to the major content delivery network Edgecast and the IP address which provides access to Twitter’s image hosting service while another block stopped Venezuelan access to the text-based site Pastebin."

Comments

This is true

[Skatox]

I'm Venezuelan and I live in San Cristobal, my Internet service was cut 36 hours by my ISP (Cantv which is the biggest in the country and fastest, but it's owned by the goverment). This was due to prevent comunication because my city is one with the most prostest in the country, also, a the same time where it was shutdown, the Minister of Defence annouced militar strategies to control riots in the city. People are using Twitter and Zello app, to comunite and to know what's happening because traditional media is not publishing this events.

Re: This is true

[SuperKendall]

I'm glad you can speak for all users of the internet across Venezuela, very impressive.

Re: This is true

[cslibby]

You say your internet was cut off... By posting on the internet?

Please note, he said it was cut off for 36 Hours. He posted after the cutoff ended.

Re:This is true

[CodeBuster]

How is it that Maduro and his allies can continue to persist with economic policies so patently stupid that even an undergraduate student of economics at any American or European university can predict and explain their inevitable failures? I mean bare supermarket shelves in a country with some of the largest oil reserves in the Southern Hemisphere? That's humiliating. How can Maduro possibly explain this with a straight face other than to admit that currency controls and confiscation of private property for redistribution to his supporters is not the way forward to economic prosperity? Don't they realize that the American and European financiers are laughing at them even now? What a bunch of balloon heads. Why don't Venezuelans living abroad, especially economists, call them out? A public shaming of Maduro and his cronies might achieve what street protests and violence have so far failed to deliver, a return to economic sanity in Venezuela.

Re:This is true

[CodeBuster]

Who is hurt most by empty shelves at the supermarket or shortages of even such basic items as cooking oil, toilet paper and milk? Is it big business or the poor? As much as Maduro and the Chavistas would love to blame the US for "sabotaging" their socialist paradise, they have none but themselves to blame for the obvious harms visited upon the economy or the sufferings of ordinary Venezuelans in whose interests they claim to be acting.

Re: This is true

[xelah]

Because this sort of politics is not based on using rational understanding of the world to make good governmental decisions to achieve some goal, it's based on group dynamics. Look at how the US and 'saboteurs' are blamed for everything, and how people are prepared to attack others for mere membership or association with the other group. It's about orchestrating an us and a them, creating insiders to fight and to hate for you to defend your tribe, so the powerful can keep themselves there.

It seems like some people can't see politics or government any other way. Look at the partisan hatred in the US, or those who respond to climate change arguments by ignoring the science and concentrating on defining 'scientists' as a group and questioning their motivation. It's everywhere, from more benign forms to the extreme, from biology teaching in schools to traditional religious wars to nazism and the soviets, and extreme politicians always make it their weapon.

Re:This is true

[Bing Tsher E]

Clearly "the rich" should pile more goods onto those shelves to be sold at a loss. If they refuse, then soldiers should point guns at them to force them to do so. If entities from outside the country subsequently refuse to continue shipping in goods, after all the "rich" people's money is gone, clearly the UN will have to be empowered to force these outside companies to ship more goods, at a loss, into Venezuela.

Re:This is true

[alantus]

How is it that Maduro and his allies can continue to persist with economic policies so patently stupid that even an undergraduate student of economics at any American or European university can predict and explain their inevitable failures?

Stupid or genius? Depends on the goal.
If its to improve the economy and life quality, plain stupid. If its to stay in power forever, genius!

1. Ruin the economy, make people poor and easy to manipulate
2. Create many social programs to "help" the poor, the poor depend on the state
3. Confiscate and nationalize everything, the state must run as much as possible, have everyone working for the state
4. Make it clear that they have to support and vote for you, or they lose their job and "hard earned" state benefits
...
6. Profit! You get all the votes from the poor, and most people are poor now :)

This strategy worked well for Chavez, and now his golem, Maduro.

Read this enlightening interview with the ex CEO of PDVSA (the oil company):
http://globovision.com/articul...
For the Spanish-impaired, a google translation is quite decent:
http://translate.google.com/tr...

Here is an interesting bit of this interview, just in case the page is removed (because Globovision is now controlled by the government):

"Look General, you still don't understand the revolution! Let me explain: This revolution aims to make a cultural change in the country, change the way of thinking and living, and those changes can only done being in power [in office]. So the most important thing is staying in power to make the change. We get the political floor from the poor: they are the ones who vote for us, that is the reason for our speech of defending the poor.
So, THE POOR MUST CONTINUE TO BE POOR, WE NEED THEM LIKE THAT, until we can achieve a cultural transformation. Later, we can talk about economy of production and wealth distribution. Meanwhile, we must keep them poor and with hope."

Re:This is true

[esaulgd7195]

How can Maduro possibly explain this with a straight face other than to admit that currency controls and confiscation of private property for redistribution to his supporters is not the way forward to economic prosperity?

State-controlled media, which is all most people have access to, have kept pumping propaganda about how the downturn is due to an "economic war" waged by the capitalists to damage the government. Over 15 years the govt has managed to create a polarized climate where, if you disagree with the government, you're lying b/c you're a CIA shill. The poor are inclined to believe the government not just because of the 24/7 propaganda, but because they're uneducated and the government very overtly gives them minor aid (while screwing them behind their backs using mechanisms they don't understand). It's a tragedy.

Re:This is true

[schnell]

he has underestimated the way the rich and the US are trying to sabotage his policy.

Of course it's somebody else's fault, preferably the US. I mean, it's just not possible that Chavez and then Maduro were running a terribly unsustainable economic model where they got very popular by subsidizing consumer goods with massive oil profits and then as soon as oil prices went down the country was exposed to the real economic world, is it?

Here's a pretty good explanation of the situation economically.

And while Maduro murders Venezuelans...

[jmichaelg]

...Joseph Kennedy sings his praises

Re:The Internet cannot be shut down.

[cold fjord]

That doesn't really work for you if you are in the damaged / isolated area.

Poor hams

[mattr]

So.. ham radio. Radio Club Venezolano. National Emergency Network. Satellite Dishes. ISS. Free hosting. Google... Facebook... friends.
There are probably a bunch of ways to get information in/out of Venezuela, at least in a one-way burst.
On the other hand http://www.yv5rcv.org/ tweets pane shows "Hmm, an empty timeline. That's wierd." Ouch.

Venezuela thinks it is Madagascar

[js3]

Only Madagascar can shut down everything

a very bad decision

[Anonymous Coward]

I don't know why incumbent governments ever think this is a valid why to curb public sentiment. In every single situation where they try to do this to control the population it does the exact opposite and incites them to get off their lazy bottoms and rebel. They must not realize that cutting off internet access also cuts off pornography which means you have a lot of angry frustrated men with some serious aggression to work out roaming the streets. It is the worst move I can imagine.

Re:The Internet cannot be shut down.

[Anonymous Coward]

It senses any attempt to do so as damage and routes around it.

Yes, but with less bandwidth.

I use a private ISP (Intercable) and while my ping to www.google.com usually sits around 100 ms, now it's usually at 800 ms or so.

Now it might be backbones shutting down or it might just be that everyone is on youtube and twitter trying to get news and clogging the links.

There's also a lot of people recommending VPN apps for their computer or phone to get around censorship, others using zello or other apps to get news and communicate, and so on.

Funny this is what gets talked about rather than Maduro kicking CNN out of the country, the dead protesters or the armed 'non-government' supporters atttacking them. But hey, this is /. I guess.

AMA

[esaulgd7195]

I'm from Venezuela. Ask me anything. :)

Most of what you may want to ask is probably already covered here, tho: http://caracaschronicles.com/2...

BTW, full Internet shutdown seems to be in effect only in San Cristobal. In most other places, you can bypass the blocks by using the Tor Browser.

Re:Follow the money

[esaulgd7195]

The Venezuelan regime treats every problem as a nail to be hammered, so it THINKS the Internet shutdown will help them. And if the OAS and the rest of the Latin American governments don't see this as "crossing the line" and start treating Maduro like the tyrant he is, the regime might as well be right.

I have no idea of what other party are you implying might benefit? Is Google expanding Fiber to South America?

Re:Follow the money

[hjf]

The rest of the latin american governments, except Chile and maybe Paraguay are controlled by "socialists". Argentina has expressed "full support" for Maduro's governent. Ridiculous, really.

He's s shill probably

[Sycraft-fu]

If you look at his account, it is brand new and this is his only post. I've noticed this kind of thing on various sites when there's a story on Venezuela that is critical of the government or that talks about the problems happening. People who have never posted before pop up and say it isn't true, or blame the US, or whatnot.

Now maybe they were longtime readers who just happened to suddenly decide to participate, but I kinda doubt it. I think it is a bunch of pro-government types that are out to shill. Could be officially sanctioned, could just be a bunch of nationalist types (which all countries seem to have) that are doing it of their own accord.

Seems to be happening fairly often with Venezuela stories though, so one way or another I think this is a concerted effort on the part of some people, and not just happenstance.

Re:He's s shill probably

[lgw]

Welcome to Communism. Totalitarian leader. Oppressive regime. Total economic collapse. Continuous propaganda internal and external.

Re:He's s shill probably

[Anonymous Coward]

Under capitalism, man exploits man.

Under Communism, man exploits man, and they censor the Internet.

Re:He's s shill probably

[circletimessquare]

with venezuela, the kneejerk "blame america" is pretty swift and is standard

when venezuelans started protesting last week, they kicked out some american diplomats in response

http://www.cnn.com/2014/02/17/...

either:

1. the usa is pushing magic buttons in washington dc and making venezuelans revolt (and not the actual issues and problems about venezuela the people revolting articulate)

2. it's a tired bullshit cynical ploy that, unfortunately, still works with large enough of the population that it is still worth doing

or... i dunno, as an american, maybe i have dark magical powers over venezuela i have not fully explored

Re:He's s shill probably

[kasperd]

Under Communism, man exploits man, and they censor the Internet.

I think that is not communism but rather corruption. I suspect communism might be so prone to get corrupted, that many people cannot tell the difference between communism and corruption.

Re:He's s shill probably

[TheGratefulNet]

join the club!

at this point in the US's history, I can't tell the diff between capitalism and corruption.

Re:He's s shill probably

[DarkOx]

No under capitalism no one is exploited. Values exchanges for value and nobody does anything forcibly against their will. It's only when you add government activity beyond the protection of private property that you get exportation. Suddenly there all these regulations and tax requirements and other things that require people to do things.

Re:He's s shill probably

[DarkOx]

People never seem to understand is Communism just exchanges one currency for another, instead of trading gold or dollars of people just trade political influence and favors. Naturally favors and influence are much harder to account for the dollars, so the tendency is going to be of course toward corruption as transparency becomes nearly impossible.

Re:He's s shill probably

[reboot246]

Whatever the system of government, the best thing to limit corruption is a free and unbiased press. Any form of government is subject to getting out of hand and/or being corrupted.

Governments have long known how to stifle the press, and they're learning now how to stifle even communication between people who are using the internet.

The main problem we have here in the U.S. is corruption - at all levels of government. We don't even have real Capitalism; we have crony Capitalism, and I personally lay the blame at the feet of the press. They just won't hold anybody accountable who is on their side politically. Our republic is long gone and we may never see it again.

Re:He's s shill probably

[sumdumass]

Sure. And people can just decide not to eat for prolonged time whenever no acceptable way to generate income is available.

That was largely the way it worked back when America was great and there was supposed to have been plenty of opportunities that we can't seem to find now. Hunger seems to be a perfect motivation to try harder. But as it is now, hunger is the government's fault because they didn't give you enough food stamps in order to sell half for booze or drugs and feed yourself with the other half.

You mean, government activity like protection of lives? Protection of freedom? Or protection of any other human rights?

How can you claim it is protecting freedom when it costs something on the order of 10k just to legitimately open a business in government regulation and permits alone in some places today? Is that like how snooping on every citizen is also protecting your freedom and rights against unreasonable searches and seizures?

Here is your problem. Obviously he wasn't talking about protecting your freedom or whatever shady words you want to contrive into this. He was talking about over regulation and the unnecessary involvement of government that creates a limiting burden on the people who attempt to do more then work at McDonald's or Burger King flipping whoppers for a living. Why people like you think laws like no spitting on the side walk is some valiant effort to protect everyone's freedoms or lives or human rights or something. There is such thinking that there can be too much of a good thing and often the government falls right in line with that. But as an example, Warfarin- a common blood thinner given to humans is used as a pesticide for rats and mice. So a good thing can be too much.

So how about you use that cognitive reasoning ability and actually think about what you are replying to before doing so. Maybe it would be better is you actually think a bit about what it is that you believe in concerning your worldviews as they seem to be completely jaded from reality.

Re:He's s shill probably

[SuperKendall]

In capitalism, corruption lasts until someone comes along with something better.

In Communism, corruption lasts until the corrupt are unable to kill everyone with a better idea.

With any luck, you can learn to see the difference before one becomes the other.

Re:Follow the money

[ShanghaiBill]

The rest of the latin american governments, except Chile and maybe Paraguay are controlled by "socialists".

Colombia and Mexico are both run by right-of-center governments (at least by Latin American standards). Both are firmly anti-Maduro, especially Colombia, since Venezuela has actively supported the FARC guerrillas operating inside Colombia.

Re:The Internet cannot be shut down.

[Opportunist]

...like the US?

Re:Follow the money

[psmears]

The Venezuelan regime treats every problem as a nail to be hammered, so it THINKS the Internet shutdown will help them.

I was in Egypt when the government shut down the internet for several days to prevent protests, prior to the ousting of Mubarak. It was a very short-sighted move: to a great extent, the only thing keeping a lot of people off the streets was Facebook - take that away, and people's only option (for information and/or entertainment) is to go outside...

Days of the Dictator are Ending

[BoRegardless]

False information and no information to people in a country (ala the old Pravda in the USSR) as a means of achieving a politically repressive end is coming to a close.

Cuba, Ukraine and Venezuela are the proving grounds to show that governments can no longer keep the free will of the populace from exerting itself.

But the old dictators will hold on until they are thrown out. It could still take decades in some places where the dictatorship is effectively run by the military and they are the true power, like N. Korea.

The trend of history is clear over the last 150 years as countries have moved to freer and freer elections. The king is dead.

Utopia ?

[m0s3m8n]

But hasn't Venezuela been turned into a socialist utopia by taking over and tossing out all the bourgeoisie. I see no reason for the government to need to censor the people who clearly benefit.