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Congo Shuts Down Internet Services 'Indefinitely' (nytimes.com)
On Saturday Engadget wrote:
Authoritarian leaders are fond of severing communications in a bid to hold on to power, and that tradition sadly isn't going away. The Democratic Republic of Congo's government has ordered telecoms to cut internet and SMS access ahead of planned mass protests against President Joseph Kabila, whose administration has continuously delayed elections to replace him. Telecom minister Emery Okundji told Reuters that it was a response to "violence that is being prepared," but people aren't buying that argument. Officials had already banned demonstrations, and the country has history of cutting communications and blocking social network access in a bid to quash dissent.
And today in the wake of deadly protests, Congo announced that the internet shutdown will continue "indefinitely." The New York Times reports: At least eight people were killed and a dozen altar boys arrested in the Democratic Republic of Congo on Sunday after security forces cracked down on planned church protests against President Joseph Kabila's refusal to leave office before coming elections... Congolese security forces set up checkpoints across Kinshasa, and the government issued an order to shut down text messaging and internet services indefinitely across the country for what it called "reasons of state security."
And today in the wake of deadly protests, Congo announced that the internet shutdown will continue "indefinitely." The New York Times reports: At least eight people were killed and a dozen altar boys arrested in the Democratic Republic of Congo on Sunday after security forces cracked down on planned church protests against President Joseph Kabila's refusal to leave office before coming elections... Congolese security forces set up checkpoints across Kinshasa, and the government issued an order to shut down text messaging and internet services indefinitely across the country for what it called "reasons of state security."
N/t
If technology is a monster - aren’t the Congo leaders acting appropriately?
Look for it in your local 1st-World western society everywhere!
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
A country that includes the words "Democratic Republic" in its name is neither democratic nor a republic.
I'm interested in any good ideas, countermeasures, rube goldberg devices that could be employed in or outside of a country like DRC that could restore, maintain, or circumvent a communications banhammer.
mesh wifi? blimps? ad hoc 3g network? femtocells? type beam microwaves? airdrops of Pringles? angel investor for TamTam? Bonus points for ideas that are bespoke to Africa itself.
As this movie opens around the world, the protests rage.
She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
The media that screams the loudest about supposed tyranny and injustice will be the least interested in this story. It might get 30 seconds on the back end of the news, near the feel-good story of the dog who can walk on his hind legs.
That's most likely true, but in a page taken from the administration over in the USA, what they're up to is being projected as the "other side's".
Congo is shutting down internet services in preparation of the violence *the government* is preparing to unleash against those who would dare question their ruler. If the citizens of Congo have any wisdom or have ever read a history book, then they will strew their government's entrails across the capital before the military and "law-enforcement" forces have been fully mobilized.
Otherwise the loss of life will be far greater, and almost entirely on the side of innocents.
If your not suppressing information you risk losing power. North Korea a perfect example of this type of rule. But even countries like China still try and suppressing information or at the very least monitor it. Congo is just another dictator type government bent on keeping its people in the dark.
Time to dust of these Fidonet Technical Standards printouts!
bash$
It's neither democratic, nor a republic.
They have internet???
There I was, there I was, there I was, in the Congo.
Trump would like to do the same here. Heâ(TM)s. bitch so he canâ(TM)t.
Look at the Fourth Amendment to the US Constitution. Now look at the Fifth Amendment. Understand those? The Fourth says the government can't just bust open your door and go looking for stuff, they need a warrant. The Fifth says they can take your stuff, but only after they've either determined you've had your day in court or they've compensated you for it.
Now, look at the Second Amendment. All that says is that the Fourth and Fifth Amendment applies to your weapons too. The Second Amendment can be repealed but that does not allow the government to go searching houses and taking people weapons. The people still have the right to keep their stuff, guns included.
What keeps government agents from just using strong arm tactics and breaking the rules on confiscating the guns any way? The risk of getting shot for trying. Oh, you think that people can't just shoot a cop and get away with it? That's where the Fourth and Fifth Amendments come in again. The government has to give the accused their day in open court. What keeps them from violating that rule too? The risk of getting shot.
The Second Amendment is redundant. Those that know the law also know it's redundant. Those that don't understand this think that repeal of the Second Amendment would make them safe from getting shot too. Tell me, what's a weapon? In truth just about anything is a weapon. If we have a government that capable of taking your guns then they are capable of taking anything you own.
The Constitution says, "this is mine and you can't have it", while the Second Amendment just adds an exclamation point to that statement.
I am armed because I am free. I am free because I am armed.
... just like recently enacted elsewhere in the world, just a little more effective.
No, the point of the Second Amendment was that the Founders did not want a standing army. It burned to the ground with the Capitol in 1814. Your guns are completely useless against any modern military.
Those who advocate genocide deserve every protection afforded by law, and none afforded by common human decency.
Really? Afghanistan has kept modern armies from invading with little more than riflemen on the backs of camels.
The United States got their freedom from a nation with the largest and most powerful military in the world at the time. They had farmers with turkey guns, on foot.
I am armed because I am free. I am free because I am armed.
IIRC during Arab springs, blocking Internet caused more people to go outside, because they could not just watch anymore.
China and Russia taught us it is much more efficient for the government to keep internet online, and to inject propaganda into social medias.
Riflemen and funneled US and Soviet arms.
If you think that the American colonists defeated Britain by themselves you know nothing about the Revolution. To a first approximation they weren't even involved.
Those who advocate genocide deserve every protection afforded by law, and none afforded by common human decency.
ISIS destroyed. You're claiming that? LOL.
You really are just a bunch of stupid cunts, really. No curing that.
I do not want your cheap brainburning drugs. They are useless for work. And I am a working man today.
The independence of the USA was won in large part by the French, who were able to deny the world power one of her largest colonies. And then turn around and say the French lose all their wars because of the world wars. But we portray ourselves in the best possible light in our history books.