Slashdot Mirror
We'll Likely See a Rise in Internet Blackouts in 2019 (newamerica.org)
We'll likely see a rise in internet blackouts in 2019, for two reasons: countries deliberately "turning off" the internet within their borders, and hackers disrupting segments of the internet with distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks. Above all, both will force policymakers everywhere to reckon with the fact that the internet itself is increasingly becoming centralized -- and therefore increasingly vulnerable to manipulation, making everyone less safe.
From a report: The first method -- states deliberately severing internet connections within their country -- has an important history. In 2004, the Maldivian government caused an internet blackout when citizens protested the president; Nepal similarly caused a blackout shortly thereafter. In 2007, the Burmese government apparently damaged an underwater internet cable in order to "staunch the flow of pictures and messages from protesters reaching the outside world." In 2011, Egypt cut most internet and cell services within its borders as the government attempted to quell protests against then-President Hosni Mubarak; Libya then did the same after its own unrest.
In 2014, Syria had a major internet outage amid its civil war. In 2018, Mauritania was taken entirely offline for two days when undersea submarine internet cables were cut, around the same time as the Sierra Leone government may have imposed an internet blackout in the same region. When we think about terms like "cyberspace" and "internet," it can be tempting to associate them with vague notions of a digital world we can't touch. And while this is perhaps useful in some contexts, this line of thinking forgets the very real wires, servers, and other hardware that form the architecture of the internet. If these physical elements cease to function, from a cut wire to a storm-damaged server farm, the internet, too, is affected. More than that, if a single entity controls -- or can at least access -- that hardware for a region or even an entire country, government-caused internet blackouts are a tempting method of censorship and social control.
In 2014, Syria had a major internet outage amid its civil war. In 2018, Mauritania was taken entirely offline for two days when undersea submarine internet cables were cut, around the same time as the Sierra Leone government may have imposed an internet blackout in the same region. When we think about terms like "cyberspace" and "internet," it can be tempting to associate them with vague notions of a digital world we can't touch. And while this is perhaps useful in some contexts, this line of thinking forgets the very real wires, servers, and other hardware that form the architecture of the internet. If these physical elements cease to function, from a cut wire to a storm-damaged server farm, the internet, too, is affected. More than that, if a single entity controls -- or can at least access -- that hardware for a region or even an entire country, government-caused internet blackouts are a tempting method of censorship and social control.
It's not going to happen in Canada, where prices are so high that companies have to be investing all those profits in upgrades and maintenance... I mean, surely they're just not pocketing the profits, right?
Anyway, I think tha -- Hey! Wait! Don't pick up the ph{#`%${%&`+'${`%&NO CARRIER
#DeleteFacebook
This way we know it's just another fluff panic piece.
Thanks, msmash, for wasting our time.
power grid is affected too - in on of the (still) industrial countries called Germany the grid is on the verge of collapse - every year in january and february is the same story - the windmills stand still, the sun is too low or there are clouds everywhere yet people still cook with electricity. On 12.1.2019 the frequency fell from 50 to 48.8 - there are industries where taking off the grid on order from the government to easy up temporary spike of demand or fall of production. To some it may come as a shock but there are quite some electrically powered devices between them and the pr0n server of choice.
Satellite Internet should help with this, surely? Our boy Elon Musk has us covered.
The internet is more diverse than ever before. There are more peers and routes now than previously, and this number is ever increasing. I think the author means the WEB is more centralized, as global service behemoths (Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Netflix, and others at this scale) take an increasingly larger share of the web based content web consume, while simultaneously making it harder for smaller players to enter the market.
The internet is quire resilient. The content transmitted over the internet, however, is not.
I don't really agree with the summary. Blackouts are mostly ineffective, and represent a last resort of a regime. Once it's gotten to that stage, it's over.
Far more effective is the strategy of the professional totalitarian states. China and Russia. China has their great firewall and internal censorship. Last I heard it seems to work. Russia has no firewall, but are masters of trolling an manipulation.
The reason these are effective is that they aren't so noticeable. The best form of censorship and manipulation is the one you don't see, impose on yourself, or are manipulated into thinking is the truth. I'd look for these forms of internet control to expand greatly as the minor players realize this actually works, and "turning off the internet" doesn't.
will force policymakers everywhere to reckon with the fact that the internet itself is increasingly becoming centralized -- and therefore increasingly vulnerable to manipulation,
The big thing that policy makers have always despised about the internet is that it's decentralized. The more centralized it becomes, the happier they are! It's very hard to censor (I mean, "protect the children" or "eliminate hate speech") a decentralized internet. It's far easier to just knock on facebook's door and tell them to take something down, or to give up the identity of the poster.
...all we need to do is get it working on and compatible with iPhone/Android/Computers and then we can literally use any direct-communications protocol to transmit messages. (TCP/UDP/BlueTooth/Radio/SomethingNotInventedYet) It'll be slower for sure, but if it could be game-ified somehow (like Pokemon Go), I'm certain we wouldn't have much of a problem with communicating messages - even over long distances. Centralized infrastructure works until governance is outside the will of the people. And we're getting closer to that every day - the world over. ----------- Did I mention DTN is already being investigated/implemented by NASA and has a potentially great role in emergency communications when infrastructure completely fails?
Neo-Venezuela: What are you trying to tell me? That I can dodge the Internet?
Morpheus-China: No, Venezuela. I'm trying to tell you, when you're ready, you won't have to because we've built for you a system like in Black Mirror where everyone get a citizen rating and if they get too uppity, they can't get loans or rent.
(-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
Not only for political reasons.
Algeria switches off the Internet during the annual high-school exams.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world...
...reckon with the fact that the internet itself is increasingly becoming centralized...
As countries around the world tighten control of the internet within their borders, we can expect to see some governments with relatively centralized internets—particularly authoritarians or those with authoritarian leanings—literally disconnect their domestic internet networks from the rest of the globe
If you read carefully you'll see that the author's concern is that some countries are building infrastructure in a way that it can be controlled by a central authority. This is always a concern when the state controls communication of any kind, and is a good argument for leaving telephone, television, and internet infrastructures in private hands.
...and it's called the Innernette!!!
Dead, double the pay out. Alive, but with limbs cut off. One and a half the pay out. Alive with no damage, just the pay out.
They attack banks, hospitals, and any cooperation just hurts people that rely on those services.
They don't care, so they should be treated the same way. Death
Been to conferences where the "visionaries" are so excited how every flip of a switch will be sent to the cloud, with a followup action to then turn on/off my light. Or.. where my thermostat will signal a cloud services to tell my heater to turn on. What kind of utopia are they expecting? internet goes down and my Heat or lights or toilet dont work? Someone.. .please.....
Time for a new Political party in the US (or two!) One is off the rails Other cant pony up a leader.
in on of the (still) industrial countries called Germany [...] On [2019-01-12] the frequency fell from 50 to 48.8
It looks like your country needs a Tesla battery like the one at Hornsdale, South Australia, to help even out peaks on the grid. In 2017-12, Hornsdale Power Reserve immediately compensated for a failure at a power plant nearly 1,000 km away. Or is sustained power loss on the German grid during calm, cloudy winter days bigger than even a 400+ gigajoule battery can correct?
Build better networks that can take over when one part is down.
Hire real experts to make that network change over possible at any time.
Have the needed networks in ready for such events.
Hire skilled staff on merit who can direct the internet around any networking problems.
That protects the wider surrounding internet. What a nation does internally to its own telco system is a policy for each nation.
Any nation can alter its telco system in any way to find/stop "freedom fighters".
Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
Wite-Out leaves a sticky film on the monitor. Blackouts do not.
As long as the internet expands the number of anything to do with the internet will likely increase.
During December, 2018, the Democratic Republic of the Congo had a nationwide election to replace their outgoing president, Joseph Kabila. The internet was shut down during the election, making it difficult for parties and candidates to communicate with their constituents.
See subject & DNS suffers from DNS redirect poisoning on a good 95++% of ISP dns servers being unpatched. DNS also tracks you via requestlogs.
Bring that ARROGANT effete SNOB Paul Vixie in here so I can BUST HIS ASS publicly & DESTROY him for his bullshit (e.g. ala "oh, we didn't think security" you STUPID FUCK, lackey of the "powers that be" motherfucker loser, PhD PILED HIGHER & DEEPER LIAR bullshit artist with that CRAP!)
* Those things can be avoided by using local hosts files!
P.S.=> For the best hosts file multiplatform:
APK Hosts File Engine 2.0++ 64-bit for Linux h t t p : / / a p k . i t - m a t e . c o . u k / A P K H o s t s F i l e E n g i n e F o r L i n u x . z i p (remove spaces between chars & download)
APK Hosts File Engine 10++ SR-1 32/64-bit for Windows https://hosts-file.net/?s=Down... (DL link @ bottom)
Soon for MacOS too (I just got a NEW Mac-Mini to port it there too)... apk
Q has foretold "ten days of darkness"
Do not forget corporations in your little tirade. Very few have done more than Alphabet to suppress speech or book burn(or its equivalent). Due to technology, no one has been able to censor more people so effetely so fast. With centralization, it could be even more effective at slashing any idea it disagreed with. Just imagine...
"Liberalism is a very noble idea, currently controlled by some very bad people. Be sure you do not get the two confused.