How easy would it be to shut down the internet..

[JimC]

Actually, I have got a headache, but that will soon be a thing of the past, banished by my secret mixture of paracetamol, codeine and gin...

[Ronja]

As I posted on Facebook yesterday: Internet technology was designed to survive a full scale nuclear attack - so it sure does survive one puny Mubarak. The Egyptians are building back their Internet outside government / "normal" ISP control:
http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2011 ... ckout.html

Also, inside Egypt people are apparently volunteering to max everyone's potential to communicate. So if even one person gets a hold of relevant information, it is likely to spread. To wit: when the government forced the closing down of cellular phone networks nearest to Tahrir Square, where the protesting has been very active, residents nearby took passwords off their home WiFi networks to help messages get through. Source: http://globalvoicesonline.org/2011/01/2 ... y-of-rage/

[Ronja]

Regarding if the Internet could be closed down elsewhere, this story (apparently by AP), with a focus on the US, has been published in several places. The gist of it:

Experts say it's unlikely that what's happened in Egypt could happen in the United States because the U.S. has numerous Internet providers and ways of connecting to the Internet. Coordinating a simultaneous shutdown would be a massive undertaking.

and

In fact, there are few countries anywhere with all their central Internet connections in one place or so few places that they can be severed at the same time. But the idea of a single "kill switch" to turn the Internet on and off has seduced some American lawmakers, who have pushed for the power to shutter the Internet in a national emergency.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world ... 96987.html

Mai is definitely right about keeping an eye on the lawmakers and the government. Also keeping an eye on alternative connectivity technology is a good idea (satellite phones appear to be almost impossible to block). And who knows what could be done by coordinating local WiFis and a few, say, microwave links?

[Robert_S]

More philosophically, the internet is an idea: that we get the computers to agree on a way of talking to each other and let them do so freely. If they shut down all the service providers, we'd eventually come up with something like FidoNet because we are used to the idea of freely sharing information worldwide. We would miss it so we would rebuild it.

[Gawd]

There is always encrypted Morse code over telegraph lines.

[Robert_S]

There is always encrypted Morse code over telegraph lines.

and the airwaves.

[Gawd]

There is always encrypted Morse code over telegraph lines.

and the airwaves.

Or you could do something radical like talk to the neighbors or send a handwritten letter.

[Clinton Huxley]

The carrier pigeons finest hour may yet lie before it

[Geoff]

a few EMP pulses might work, though there are side effects...

[Ronja]

a few EMP pulses might work, though there are side effects...

So not a likely strategy for one's own government (they need their computers and other tools, too).

For some other government or other kind of adversary, though... :twisted:

[Robert_S]

What kind of dimwit would want to rule over a society that had no internet?

[Gawd]

What kind of dimwit would want to rule over a society that had no internet?

A dictator with American dollars, that's who.

[RandomGuyOnCouch]

Relevant: http://www.smh.com.au/technology/techno ... 1aah3.html

[Ian]

What kind of dimwit would want to rule over a society that had no internet?

A dictator with American dollars, that's who.

Like Kim Jong-il?
No internet in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea except for the inner circle.

[Mac_Guffin]

oops