How Egypt did (and how your government could) shut down the Internet

How Egypt did (and how your government could) shut down the Internet

arstechnica.com

How hard is it, exactly, to kill the Internet? Egypt seems to have been able to do it. But Egypt's situation isn't exactly the same as that in the Western world. And even though Egypt only has four big ISPs, the fact that everything went down after midnight local time suggests that it took considerable effort to accomplish the 'Net shut-off.
Cables and routing:
But back to the "how," and "would this also work in a Western democracy?"
Could this happen elsewhere?
Like in Egypt, in Europe....

(visit the link for the full news article)

Well, there has been a shortage of available IP's, if the government doesn't need them, I say we take them back and re-use them. That'll teach them to screw with free speech.
I mean this in jest of course if its not obvious.

I was wondering how many passive protesters were turned into active protesters when their internet got cut off.

"Under Egyptian legislation the authorities have the right to issue such an order and we are obliged to comply with it," it said.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/59ce6c9fc464.jpg[/atsimg]

I wonder when this will reach the rest of the world


arstechnica.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

reply to post by RUSSO
the first move in battle is to disrupt enemy communications,and more often governments are seeing the citzens as the enemy.

Many Egyptians got around the shutdown with old fashioned 56k modems. I have one, do you? We may end up needing them ourselves sooner rather than later.

Someone point out in the TV that shutdown the TV, internet and others telecom services really backfired at the end because more people have gone to the street.

reply to post by sonofliberty1776


And who exactly would you "dialup" to?

Or are you referring to the old school bbs' we used to use before the days of the internet.

Silver

reply to post by abe froman


Very observant! Control of information, and what it contains, is all important as a weapon of modern day information warfare! Presenting misleading and false information is a weapon in the hands of those conducting psyops! To say that its not going on is to live with your head in the sand!

Well I had a friend write this morning and say this had happened, and it was a test run, next would be europe, and soon live ammunition would come out in the protests and I guess roundups, heading towards North America. Who knows why he said this, but its upset me all day.

I said BRING IT!!!!!! I would rather the sun supernova'd than nazis mess with this planet.
By the way, whatever you think of Alex Jones, please pay attention. They don't like the BULLHORNS. Did you check out their expressions and outrage, then it was duck and dodge!!!!

So......we all need bullhorns and lining up at their offices until they, their para military and black ops, leave.

reply to post by RUSSO


Communications can be jammed so that it looks as though its been turned off! Strictly military technology! It can be done using stand-off systems based on land, in the air, at sea, or in space!

Originally posted by S1LV3R4D0
reply to post by sonofliberty1776

 

And who exactly would you "dialup" to?

Or are you referring to the old school bbs' we used to use before the days of the internet.

Silver

Yes. BBS's are better than nothing. Additionally, we might be able to contact other nations. Apparently net zero and other dial up providers are still around....though they would likely be shut down also.

Here this is what I mean, we all need these.

megaphonedesign.com...

I do not think the Internet is as hard to kill as everyone thinks it is. I believe that a kill switch was built into the system from day one. I heard this wild story once that every computer sold in the last 20 years has a hidden program in it that if it receives a code over the Internet that it will just stop connecting to the Internet or maybe even refuse to boot up or could even format the hard-drive. Not sure if any of that is true but I have heard crazier things that turned out to be true.

If the WWW were killed, and the major ISP's were blocked at hubs and backbones... What would we do?

We'd pick up our smartphones and start Tweeting and Facebook updating with a vengeance. We'd set up small Wifi and bluetooth networks, and then begin to spiderweb those together without the need for a backbone. We'd call relatives in other nations, if nothing else, and feed them updates and receive relevant information.

But the reality is that the Internet is our drug. It keeps up indoors, inactive, and distracted. In the event of some kind of insurrection or civil situation turning that off would be the last thing the government would do. Turning off the Internet would wake the masses.... And they'd be pissed.

So kids, don't worry, as Rome burns, and Nero fiddles... you will most certainly be able to watch it all on streaming video while playing online Texas Hold'em.

~Heff

Originally posted by blackcube
Someone point out in the TV that shutdown the TV, internet and others telecom services really backfired at the end because more people have gone to the street.

edit on 28/1/11 by blackcube because: (no reason given)

This is great

All that is needed to shut down the internet is a government agent with a fairly hefty axe just think about how easy it would be for an axe to cut threw optical cables, or a pipe cutter, or a blowtorch, blasting cable.

I actually heard a talk show host ask today "Why would they shut off the internet?"

Obviously he had no clue about how powerful a tool it has become.

I felt like telling him that, if I had breaking news, I could spread word of it around the world within 5 minutes - that's the power of sites like ATS.

Originally posted by pikestaff
All that is needed to shut down the internet is a government agent with a fairly hefty axe just think about how easy it would be for an axe to cut threw optical cables, or a pipe cutter, or a blowtorch, blasting cable.

You're kidding, right? The way the net has evolved, you'd cause a local disturbance at most. Traffic would be re-routed before you could blink an eye.

reply to post by Hefficide

We'd pick up our smartphones and start Tweeting and Facebook updating with a vengeance. We'd set up small Wifi and bluetooth networks, and then begin to spiderweb those together without the need for a backbone. We'd call relatives in other nations, if nothing else, and feed them updates and receive relevant information.

If they dont kill the satellite too.

But the reality is that the Internet is our drug. It keeps up indoors, inactive, and distracted. In the event of some kind of insurrection or civil situation turning that off would be the last thing the government would do. Turning off the Internet would wake the masses.... And they'd be pissed.

I dont know if this would be true because TVs still are the 1'st tool of ptb. Internet still is to elite, and there is few people in the world that know where to look to find good information. But you are right, one day the web will be the new TV. Like TV was the new radio once.

So kids, don't worry, as Rome burns, and Nero fiddles... you will most certainly be able to watch it all on streaming video while playing online Texas Hold'em.

Im really not sure about this.