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this video is brought to you by
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Aura hi welcome to another episode of
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Cold Fusion imagine this a group of
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students have taken to the streets
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they're angry about the reintroduction
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of a controversial policy that affects
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public sector jobs the protests have
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been mostly peaceful but over the span
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of a few weeks chaos unfolds and
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violence erupts many are killed and
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hundreds injured the government gets
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involved police roam the streets
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cracking down on protesters concerned
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you're seeing all of this unfold things
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are really getting out of hand now so
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you go online to keep tabs on what's
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going on are your friends and family
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safe and what are other people saying on
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social media then all of a sudden every
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website that you visit stops loading
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every text that you send keeps bouncing
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back a slow realization Dawns on you the
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internet has gone dark and to your
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horror it was the government who had
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shut it down this sounds like an episode
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of a new season of Black Mirror but in
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reality this was indeed the story of
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citizens in Daka Bang adesh on July 18th
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2024 along with a curfew the sudden
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removal of the internet didn't last for
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a few hours or even a day there was no
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internet for an agonizing 5 days for the
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entire country think about this for a
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second how do you do your banking
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communication and commerce as a whole we
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observed the network in in Bangladesh
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started going down and we found
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statements from the government that they
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intentionally shut it down people
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weren't able to communicate for 5 days
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they had a change of prime minister and
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the Prime Minister resigned left the
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country the internet shut down again for
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a couple of hours around that departure
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so you can imagine that that was also
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government mandated it's insane but
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Bangladesh isn't alone in this according
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to access now 2023 was the worst full
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year of internet shutdowns at a record
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283 incidents so I know what you're
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thinking some of you might look at this
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map and think H this only applies to far
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away countries with tyrannical
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governments but the fact of the matter
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is that the mechanisms to achieve this
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do exist in Western countries the UK and
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Australian governments have an internet
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kill switch in place but we'll get to
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this later in the episode this is a
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topic that I haven't seen much
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discussion about but really for
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something as important as the internet a
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tool that allows us to express ourselves
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connect with others and do Commerce it's
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a topic worth looking into so in this
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episode we'll look into government
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internet shutdowns a topic overlooked
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but underrated I also sat down with
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internet analysis expert John heiderman
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to get his thoughts on all of this okay
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so let's get into it while we still have
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an internet
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connection you are watching T Fusion
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TV before we continue I just want to
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QR code okay thank you now back to the
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episode
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it seems so unbelievable that the
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internet could be completely shut down
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but the world's second largest economy
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did that in one of its regions for
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almost an entire year we all know about
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China's great firewall it's an advanced
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system for filtering the internet for
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population control China runs the
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world's most complicated censorship
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machine the government actually requires
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Chinese internet companies to employ
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armies of human sensors to police user
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generated content on their platforms but
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the Chinese government also has control
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over internet service providers this
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allows them to enforce National or
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Regional shutdowns as needed in 2009 the
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internet was cut off for 312 days in the
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Xing Jang region in response to riots
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meanwhile in 2019 Russia passed the
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quote Sovereign internet law that gives
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the government the power to isolate its
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internet from the rest of the world CH
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commmunications companies are large
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corporations and there's usually only a
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few of them it's very easy for the
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government to reach out to the heads of
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those corporations and say we think it's
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in the interest of the nation to make a
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change the internet has something called
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routing which is how we decide where to
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send traffic and routing is managed by
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telecommunications companies other
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countries sometimes have very
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sophisticated means of intercepting some
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Communications but not all but where
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does the USA stand in all of this the
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Obama Administration tried to pass an
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internet kill switch bill called the
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quote protecting cyberspace as a
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National Asset Act of 2010 it was
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introduced to the Senate but was heavily
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criticized and never passed in the
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United Kingdom if there's an emergency
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that can cause quote serious damage to
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political administrative or economic
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stability the government can shut down
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the internet the communications Act of
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2003 and the Civil contingencies Act of
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2004 gives emergency powers to the
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government to suspend the internet and
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this is done by ordering service
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providers to shut down internet
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operations a UK government
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representative said quote it would have
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to be a very serious threat for these
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powers to be used something like a major
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Cyber attack these powers are subject to
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review and if it was used
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inappropriately there could be an appeal
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to the competition appeal tribunal any
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decision to use them would have to
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comply with the public law and the Human
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Rights Act end quote and the passing of
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this act hasn't been without its
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detractors and critics but as usual with
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government power there is the risk of
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abuse and some governments flat out just
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abuse this power
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after Libya's devastating flood disaster
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in 2023 Dera one of the Cities hit
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hardest by the floods experienced a
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significant communication blackout and
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complete internet shutdown initially
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some people thought it was because of
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the natural disaster but the real reason
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was to stop online criticism and
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potential riots against how badly the
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government was handling the crisis and
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this was at a time when 11,300 were
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reported dead and 40,000 displaced the
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government obviously didn't have their
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priorities right and if this isn't an
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absurd abuse of power I don't know what
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is a lot of countries have proposed we
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should have a kill switch the United
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States the UK Australia have all
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proposed kill switches and I was just
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looking before joining you what I saw
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was a news report saying Australia
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actually has a kill switch in Australia
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an internet shutdown mechanism exists
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under Section 581 of Australia's
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Telecommunications Act of 1997 it grants
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the Australian government significant
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authority over telecommunications
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networks including the power to stop
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internet access in the interest of
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National Security in 2003 in the wake of
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the war on terror the Act was amended so
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that the attorney general who was the
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chief law officer of the Commonwealth of
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Australia could direct a
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telecommunications carrier to kill the
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internet quote either generally or to a
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particular person or particular persons
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end quote before executing the ACT he
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must ask the Prime Minister and Minister
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for communications approval first the
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amendment was rushed through giving only
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four working days for anyone to raise
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concerns concerns were indeed raed so
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the language was changed the law now
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couldn't be used to turn off the
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internet for an individual or
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organization only the internet as a
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whole so that's comforting I guess in
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2024 Malaysian Minister aelina oan SED
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recently announced the government's
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plans to implement an internet kill
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switch the minister issued a statement
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that the quote new legislation that
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includes the provisions regarding the
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procedure and enforcement of a kill
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switch end quote is for the purpose of
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analyzing digital security that's
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probably as thinly veiled as it gets the
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legislation will reach the Malaysian
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parliament in October as mentioned
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earlier around 39 countries around the
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world have in one way or another
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completely shut down access to the
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internet we as citizens of Nations need
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protection if only in the interest of
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being
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prudent in 1948 the United Nations
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General Assembly adopted something
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called the UN Declaration of Human
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Rights an international legal document
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that outlines fundamental Human Rights
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and Freedoms such as the Right to Life
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Equity and non-discrimination right to
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freedom of work freedom of education and
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so on but what about a right to the
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internet just 15 years ago this might
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have sounded absurd but today the
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internet is the infrastructure on which
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modern society is built because of this
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it's no wonder that the UN has declared
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internet access a human right and deemed
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internet kill Es as illegal and this was
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in 2016 in practice however while
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there's significant International
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pressure against internet shutdowns
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there's no binding international law
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that bans governments from doing such
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actions in Bangladesh the primary
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reasons to shut down the internet as
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cited by the government was to stop
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misinformation and rumors from spreading
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but does it actually help the busy
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streets of taka are deserted with burnt
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vehicles and Bricks strewn across the
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roads and the protesters have gone on a
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rampage at many police stations in
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government establishments there's a
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complete internet and Telecom shutdown
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that is in effect in a move to curb the
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violence so misinformation is a real
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Challenge and I guess if you shut the
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internet off nobody's looking at
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Facebook in that sense it's quote
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successful it's a very heavy-handed
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maneuver though the other thing I was
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thinking about in misinformation I mean
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in the United States right now there's
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been some debate about what role the
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government should have in intervening in
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the spread of misinformation on social
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media I don't think anyone's proposing
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shutting down the internet but people
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are talking about the role of
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interactions between the government and
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social media sites and how do you label
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misinformation on social media and I
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think those are things we all have to
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Grapple with and there's different
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points of view about
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[Music]
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that shutting down the internet to
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curtel protest like in Bangladesh Egypt
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in 2011 during the Arab Spring and for
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election periods in Venezuela like in
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2019 are the more common excuses to kill
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the internet but there's a very strange
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reason why some countries might end up
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doing it in 2024 from May 26th through
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to June 13th the internet in Syria went
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dark the reason High School exams this
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is actually a common tactic used in many
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countries including Syria Iraq Algeria
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and many others the purpose is to stop
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students cheating in exams by using
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online methods if this method really is
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that effective remains to be seen but it
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hasn't stopped 12 shutdowns recorded in
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2023 alone but the question is what does
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everyone else in the country do at that
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time I guess they just sit around and
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twiddle their thumbs but it does bring
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up an interesting point though what is
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the cost of an Internet
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shutdown beyond the tragic loss of life
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and injuries the recent internet
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shutdown in Bangladesh has seen immense
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economic damage as you can imagine
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according to net block and their cost of
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shutdown tool the total Financial impact
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to Bangladesh has been around $393
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million for 5 days of Internet shutdown
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for the United States daily e-commerce
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trade is valued at $2 billion and the
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daily digital economy is about 5.5
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billion so a complete internet shutdown
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for one day in the United States could
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amount to losses in the range North of
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$7 billion at a bare minimum just for
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one day but back to Bangladesh and the
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internet shutdown it's estimated that
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there's over 1 million Freelancers that
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operate out of Bangladesh that's a
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million people who depend entirely on
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the internet for their careers and this
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isn't just for work within the country
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but to deliver projects abroad and
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suddenly their entire livelihood is gone
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and the worst part is that they have no
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idea when it's coming back and this
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isn't to mention the impact on hospitals
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Banking and other critical industries
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that rely on the internet to operate so
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it's not just the dollar value but
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humans and their daily life is at stake
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with internet shutdowns imagine the
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economic damage that would have if if
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your internet was shut off for 5 days
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you know I think a government's got to
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think very carefully before they take
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such a decision because of the economic
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implications much less the social
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implications according to the internet
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Society quote so far in 2024 four
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governments have ordered an internet
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shutdown or suspended internet services
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during or following elections
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time this number could grow and it's a
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tempting solution for authoritarian
00:14:03
governments but not only that as
00:14:05
discussed the mechanisms for an internet
00:14:07
shutdown do exist in Western countries
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and other countries you may not expect
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so what happens in the future if
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governments can readily order shutdowns
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of the internet what does it mean for us
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and is there anything that we can do
00:14:19
well one solution is satellite internet
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things like starlink and huset it's a
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pretty straightforward solution but Mass
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scale adoption of such constellations
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require government particip
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and a lot of Regulation I think the role
00:14:31
of starlink to help during internet
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disruptions is very important or other
00:14:36
kinds of Wireless Communications also
00:14:39
critical is the ability to quickly roll
00:14:41
out and do repairs a few years ago a
00:14:44
hurricane ran across the island of
00:14:46
Puerto Rico and they had major
00:14:49
infrastructure damage for many months
00:14:51
and so the ability to quickly recover is
00:14:53
critical to the people whose lives
00:14:55
depend on who who need to communicate
00:14:56
for Media or for work or for all all the
00:14:59
things we care about for there is a more
00:15:01
libertarian solution though you see
00:15:03
during the internet shutdowns of Hong
00:15:05
Kong and Iran protesters use something
00:15:08
called a decentralized mesh Network and
00:15:10
this allows devices like smartphones
00:15:12
computers or routers to connect directly
00:15:15
through each other instead of a central
00:15:17
ISP but perhaps the best shot we have
00:15:20
for future proofing internet access is
00:15:22
to make internet access a fundamental
00:15:24
human right it might sound like a funny
00:15:26
concept still now but in 50 years time
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we may be glad that we have it whether
00:15:31
that's through legislation or judicial
00:15:33
oversight yes we all hate political
00:15:35
flame Wars misinformation arguing
00:15:38
confusion fake generative AI content but
00:15:41
even in times of unrest there has to be
00:15:43
a better way to combat this without
00:15:45
shutting down the entire internet so I'm
00:15:47
going to pass the question off to you
00:15:48
guys what do you think about government
00:15:50
shutting down the internet and how do we
00:15:52
move forward in society where the
00:15:54
internet is not only available to
00:15:55
everyone but we all have a right to use
00:15:57
it free from the pressure of external
00:15:59
Powers I'd love to hear your thoughts
00:16:01
down below so also just some
00:16:03
housekeeping I've partnered with ABC
00:16:05
Australia again to make a miniseries on
00:16:07
online scams the first episode goes
00:16:09
through the types of wild scams that are
00:16:11
out there now and the second episode is
00:16:13
all about how to protect yourself I'll
00:16:14
leave a link to it in the description
00:16:16
below anyway that's about it from me so
00:16:19
that's what's going on with government
00:16:20
and shutting down the internet okay so
00:16:22
my name is goo and You' been watching
00:16:24
cold fusion and I'll see you again soon
00:16:26
for the next episode cheers guys have a
00:16:29
good
00:16:30
[Music]
00:16:37
one cold fusion it's new thinking
