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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

#21

Post by anaganisk »

Contrary to popular belief, at least in my country (India). I feel bad for the citizens of Pakistan. There has not been a single stint of govt that has lasted peacefully since independence. A country can never grow without a peaceful transfer of power, and constant political imbalance will just not allow anything to advance.

A shared history/culture with us and it's a shame our govts have differences. We fought together to gain freedom and just drifted apart.

Average citizens of both the countries, have nothing against each other, but propaganda doesn't just shut up on both sides, and tries to keep riling people up, and becomes the main topic to get elected.

A peaceful south Asia, would've been the glorious and powerhouse of the world like in the past.

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

#22

Post by matthewdgreen »

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…

We now have the ability to train entire language models that contain information, can regurgitate it in the form of articles, and can even interact through conversation. Right now they’re big, but with continued improvements we could likely have useful and accurate models that fit on USB sticks and can be distributed through Bluetooth.

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

#23

Post by xxpor »

JimmyAustin wrote: post #13
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.

there is no world where using Starlink won't be easily detectable. You're beaming radio waves up into space, all you need is a helicopter with a $100 antenna.

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

#24

Post by naravara »

plugin-baby wrote: post #19
nickpeterson wrote: post #5

“Show me a man that gets rich by being a politician, and I'll show you a crook” -Truman

> gets rich Presumably this is meant to imply something about Khan. Was he poor before he became a politician?

He was a cricket legend

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

#25

Post by kibwen »

JimmyAustin wrote: post #13
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.

Indeed, a future where you'll never lose access to the internet as long as you agree to never make fun of Elon Musk on Twitter.

Jokes aside, corporations are no better than governments when it comes to censorship. They're corruptible, centralized points of failure.

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

#26

Post by alephnerd »

mildmotive wrote: post #16
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.

Lots of Pakistani journalists publish in Indian newspapers due to censorship in Pakistan. Just about every English language Indian newspaper has a column published by senior Pakistani journalists and press offices in every major city in Pakistan.

There's a very healthy cross-border journalism ecosystem in South Asia.

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

#27

Post by acdha »

JimmyAustin wrote: post #13
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.

StarLink is beholden to at least one major power and directly has business interests exposed to something like 50 more. Its mercurial owner has more obligations and does not want retaliation against his other struggling businesses. For example, if someone protests in China do you really think he’s going to risk Tesla’s investments on their behalf?

Also, consider that ratio triangulation is a century-old technique. It seems exceedingly unlikely that a hostile government would forget this and not take out the transmitters.

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

#28

Post by Dalewyn »

lazide wrote: post #20
mlyle wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?).

Generally speaking, any kind of radio transmission is detectable. It's why radio silence is a thing when stealth is important.

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

#29

Post by mc32 »

anaganisk wrote: post #21

Contrary to popular belief, at least in my country (India). I feel bad for the citizens of Pakistan. There has not been a single stint of govt that has lasted peacefully since independence. A country can never grow without a peaceful transfer of power, and constant political imbalance will just not allow anything to advance. A shared history/culture with us and it's a shame our govts have differences. We fought toget…

The whole world seems to be aligning with this type of politicking, unfortunately.

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

#30

Post by tiedieconderoga »

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'd need more than an internet that could not be shut off. You'd also need an internet where communication could not be tracked.

One of the most effective ways to maintain an authoritarian regime is to proactively prevent a critical mass of revolt from forming. You just need to keep a steady low volume of arrests and disappearances going for people who express discontent. If not enough people are actively expressing discontent, you fill your quota with members of a group or area that you see as a risk. History shows that your people will stay silent and meek, clinging to the belief that they personally have done nothing wrong.

A means of communication which authorities cannot snoop on is absolutely essential for any oppressed population that yearns to breathe free.

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