Are Governments Denying Internet Access To Their Political Opponents? (technologyreview.com)

"Keeping your enemies offline can cripple their chances of overthrowing you," reports the MIT Technology Review. Slashdot reader schwit1 quotes their article: Whether or not your ethnic group has political power is a crucial factor determining your access to the Internet, according to a new analysis. The effect varies from country to country, and is much less pronounced in democratic nations. But the study, published today in Science, suggests that besides censorship, another way national governments prevent opposing groups from organizing online is by denying them Internet access in the first place, says Nils Weidmann, a professor of political science at the University of Konstanz in Germany.
Researchers used a geolocation database to create a map showing subnetwork activity for a large volume of internet traffic, then compared it with geographic data for the world's ethnic groups. "They concluded that excluded groups had significantly lower access compared to the groups in power, and that this can't be explained by other economic or geographic factors (like living in rural vs. urban areas)... 'You don't have to censor if the opposition doesn't get access at all.' "

Comments

Re:Don't know but Facebook and Twitter sure are

[BarbaraHudson]

"I'm in fine health. *cough* *cough*

-- Hillary Clinton

Translation: I have pneumonia.

After over 15 years ads force me to leave slashdot

[Dynedain]

As a max karma poster who's been here since 1999 or so, I give up.

The last couple weeks, every time I open an article I get a hijacked redirect to the App Store.

Since you can't be bothered to police your ad network, I'm leaving for someone less intrusive (ArsTechnica)

I suffered through John Katz, pink ponies, multiple acquisitions with cross promotion, the infamous Beta and 2.0 redesigns, multiple attempts to modernize. I was here when this was almost the only site still responding and active during 9/11. I was here for the marriage proposal. I was here when making a /. story meant your little site had "made it" and the first you found out was that your server was hosed by the /. effect. I was here for the community and insightful (and inciteful) discussing.

I'm leaving because of the ad abuse.

Re:Don't know but Facebook and Twitter sure are

[HanzoSpam]

I've seen this one before.

I just hope the old battle-axe doesn't croak before Trump has the opportunity to trounce her. The donks might actually replace her with someone who isn't entirely vomit inducing.