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Internet disrupted in Pakistan amid arrest of former PM Imran Khan

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Re: Internet disrupted in Pakistan amid arrest of former PM Imran Khan

#11

Post by mlyle »

skeaker wrote: post #6

I would like to believe there is a future where blocking access to the internet is unilaterally impossible. Major powers being able to pull the rug on what has become a foundation of modern society like this is too scary of a thing to allow. What could the answer be? Satellite-powered relays and DIY-able user devices to talk to them?

Maybe the internet as a whole is intractable. But perhaps we can get a meaningful digest of snapshots of the important stuff that can work over slow links, intermittent links, and one-way links? Perhaps we can mechanize the selection of important content.

The real question is how you do this in a way that doesn't encourage one-sided propaganda, sybil attacks, etc.

I'm reminded of systems like Secure Scuttlebutt and the Othernet satellite transport. https://othernet.is/

I know the internet is fundamentally two-way. It seems there's always a few competent users who know how to get information out of a conflict zone or disaster area... getting information in beyond a few choke points seems to be the hard part.

Re: Internet disrupted in Pakistan amid arrest of former PM Imran Khan

#12

Post by anaganisk »

skeaker wrote: post #6

I would like to believe there is a future where blocking access to the internet is unilaterally impossible. Major powers being able to pull the rug on what has become a foundation of modern society like this is too scary of a thing to allow. What could the answer be? Satellite-powered relays and DIY-able user devices to talk to them?

Any major/minor form used for communication/currency will be regulated in the end in the name of national security. No amount of democracy, socialism, communism or any ism for the fact cannot overcome it. As long as govts don't behave like a service provider but like a ruling class this won't change. Power corrupts, anyone. Hard limits on power, individuals instead of parties, extreme transparency(including defence, yes), and war free world is the only way we ever achieve freedom. As long as we allow govts to function in secrecy, someone will not care about ethics and morals.

Re: Internet disrupted in Pakistan amid arrest of former PM Imran Khan

#13

Post by JimmyAustin »

skeaker wrote: post #6

I would like to believe there is a future where blocking access to the internet is unilaterally impossible. Major powers being able to pull the rug on what has become a foundation of modern society like this is too scary of a thing to allow. What could the answer be? Satellite-powered relays and DIY-able user devices to talk to them?

You are describing StarLink once they get laser-based relaying between satellites working.

Re: Internet disrupted in Pakistan amid arrest of former PM Imran Khan

#14

Post by alephnerd »

asynchronous wrote: post #8
skeaker wrote: post #6

I would like to believe there is a future where blocking access to the internet is unilaterally impossible. Major powers being able to pull the rug on what has become a foundation of modern society like this is too scary of a thing to allow. What could the answer be? Satellite-powered relays and DIY-able user devices to talk to them?

Peer-peer wifi mesh based intranet could become a solution

HK protesters tried mesh networking in 2014-2019 as well as anti-Covid protesters in China in 2022 but both were quickly shut down by blocking the service providers (Bluetooth mesh sharing apps were removed in HK app stores and Apple Airdrop for the latter).

Re: Internet disrupted in Pakistan amid arrest of former PM Imran Khan

#15

Post by mandmandam »

polishdude20 wrote: post #9
skeaker wrote: post #6

I would like to believe there is a future where blocking access to the internet is unilaterally impossible. Major powers being able to pull the rug on what has become a foundation of modern society like this is too scary of a thing to allow. What could the answer be? Satellite-powered relays and DIY-able user devices to talk to them?

Whoever provides the infrastructure needs to be paid though right? How do you pay the satellite provider?

If you want to learn about the many different ways to accomplish goals like this, you can look into the terms 'decentralization' and 'post-scarcity society'.

Re: Internet disrupted in Pakistan amid arrest of former PM Imran Khan

#16

Post by mildmotive »

adolph wrote: post #3

Khan has been arrested in connection with the Al-Qadir Trust case, in which the former prime minister and his wife have been accused of receiving “billions of rupees from a real estate firm for legalising a laundered amount of Rs 50 billion”, Dawn reported. The former PM has been facing a clutch of cases since his ouster through a no trust vote in April last year. At present, he is facing over 140 cases related to te…

>https://indianexpress.com/

India hates Pakistan. Knowing this, it’s hard not to take what they have to say about Pakistan’s politics with a grain of salt.

Re: Internet disrupted in Pakistan amid arrest of former PM Imran Khan

#17

Post by acdha »

asynchronous wrote: post #8
skeaker wrote: post #6

I would like to believe there is a future where blocking access to the internet is unilaterally impossible. Major powers being able to pull the rug on what has become a foundation of modern society like this is too scary of a thing to allow. What could the answer be? Satellite-powered relays and DIY-able user devices to talk to them?

Peer-peer wifi mesh based intranet could become a solution

That’s pretty risky, though: the authorities can track radio signals easily enough and they can hammer the exit nodes. One mole uploads a video to a known destination and they take down each IP seen delivering those packets.

Re: Internet disrupted in Pakistan amid arrest of former PM Imran Khan

#18

Post by acdha »

mandmandam wrote: post #15
polishdude20 wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Whoever provides the infrastructure needs to be paid though right? How do you pay the satellite provider?

If you want to learn about the many different ways to accomplish goals like this, you can look into the terms 'decentralization' and 'post-scarcity society'.

Rather than wasting everyone’s time, why don’t you enlighten us about how you think those different concepts should combine? Be sure to include examples.

Re: Internet disrupted in Pakistan amid arrest of former PM Imran Khan

#20

Post by lazide »

mlyle wrote: post #11
skeaker wrote: post #6

I would like to believe there is a future where blocking access to the internet is unilaterally impossible. Major powers being able to pull the rug on what has become a foundation of modern society like this is too scary of a thing to allow. What could the answer be? Satellite-powered relays and DIY-able user devices to talk to them?

Maybe the internet as a whole is intractable. But perhaps we can get a meaningful digest of snapshots of the important stuff that can work over slow links, intermittent links, and one-way links? Perhaps we can mechanize the selection of important content. The real question is how you do this in a way that doesn't encourage one-sided propaganda, sybil attacks, etc. I'm reminded of systems like Secure Scuttlebutt and t…

This isn't really a technical issue, per-se.

It's a social one, because social means are what are used to enforce the lockdowns - and those social means exist because of socially justified purposes in the societies.

Unless it was literally impossible to block internet access at all (some kind of unjammable starlink with undetectable receivers/transceivers?).

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