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Can government shutdown the Internet?
- Thread starter oscarlets
- Start date
scudsucker
Executive Member
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Yes. All it would take is shots of Jacob Zuma, naked, popping a bottle of champagne that pours into a glass balanced on his ass.
That would break the internet for years and years to come.
That would break the internet for years and years to come.
Hamish McPanji
Honorary Master
They shut down all ISP's for nearly 3 weeks earlier this year in DRC. So no gprs/edge/3g , no wireless internet , no internet at all.
It was hardly mentioned anywhere in the news internationally. We refunded our customers for 1 month of service , cost us close to $20000
Er, I'm sorry about your business losing that kind of money, But how government do that? Can it happen to us here in SA?
crackersa
Honorary Master
The govt can force their will on the businesses that have control the international connectivity. Most countries where there is a dictatorship have shut down Internet during uprisings.
Hamish McPanji
Honorary Master
I don't think so. There is too much at stake here, and everything is internet based now. So, the majority of communication, banking, payments, etc.
crackersa
Honorary Master
There's what 4 or 5 pipes going out of the country?
Mephisto_Helix
Resident Postwhore
it would take a bit more effort but the current group of clowns could do it if needed ..... all 3rd world/dictator led countries especially, can/do as it suits them
Hamish McPanji
Honorary Master
With some redundancy.
Without international connectivity, things will start breaking locally to an extent as well.
http://qz.com/864617/dr-congo-calls...idnight-sunday-ahead-of-anti-kabila-protests/
I think last time they shut down the entire internet in DRC. This time it's mainly social networking .
They installed firewalls at all the ISP's with control sitting with government. One of our sister companies may have supplied those firewalls, as the order for them was at the previous time of the internet shutdown
.
crackersa
Honorary Master
Thanks..
Govt has touch involvement down here. You would struggle to shut down the net in the US or Europe.
koeksGHT
Dealer
^ The most they would do is block Google/Facebook etc
Hamish McPanji
Honorary Master
Yeah, the internet is almost the LAN there. But don't kid yourself. Am sure there is some sort of kill switch in place ...Probably on the switches
crackersa
Honorary Master
I belive the main public dns servers
Yes I read article here on MyBroadband about that, and those 5 companies are private companies. So they can just ignore the call? Mahlobo won't do anything? The order probably must go through court and the court must agree that the state security is at risk for that shutdown to be implemented. And the current administration don't understand the law.
crackersa
Honorary Master
They could ignore the government and risk being arrested. Trumped up charges.
Im just glad judiciary is not captured. Those guys respect their oath of office and would not entertain some paranoia from current leader.
But to block these companies it must be done through the courts. Our only hope. They can't just wake up and say enough with this Google and Facebook. We are blocking them.
koeksGHT
Dealer
I belive the main public dns servers
na VPN to IP would bypass. They would kill the submarine landing stations so no international and pretty much force the data center/ISP's to desist.
koeksGHT
Dealer
Well yes and no. Next week Zuma could turn into dictator and yea.