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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

#31
post #20
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?).

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

Yah, these types of things would be hard to detect (just point an LNB at the southbound sky... no dish... cheap electronics...)

What it's not is turnkey or filled with a good feed of information that people would want at baseline. There's no adoption model besides being a dissident, and people tend to start planning for that too late.

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

#32
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?

The underlying issue in groups of people is that there is always a means of control (which is always good AND bad for different groups), which always wraps around a means of wealth (to various degrees and in various ways for different groups), so it is fundamentally a battleground between conflicting interests.

It can be civil (friendly arguments resolved directly to lawsuits) or it can be violent (cartels dissolving people in barrels of acid), but it always has the same problems - who has control/sets the rules. Those almost always include control of the money, control of women/men in their respective domains of producing kids/violence, and the definition of 'the truth'.

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

#33

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…

[flagged]

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

#34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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).

> 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).

It doesn't help that even if app sideloading was made possible on iOS, the significant drop in installations will still happen once the apps are pulled from official stores. Most people are not familiar with installing apps from outside of their phone's sponsored ecosystem.

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

#35
post #31
post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?).

> Unless it was literally impossible to block internet access at all (some kind of unjammable starlink with undetectable receivers/transceivers?). Yah, these types of things would be hard to detect (just point an LNB at the southbound sky... no dish... cheap electronics...) What it's not is turnkey or filled with a good feed of information that people would want at baseline. There's no adoption model besides being a…

Starlink dishes are trivial to detect with even 1990s military technology when active. There's no way any satellite uplink can be hidden from a motivated adversary.

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

#36
post #33

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…

[flagged]

That doesn't preclude empathy for fellow humans, or wishing for a better future.

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

#37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

He was a cricket legend

Who figured it's a great idea to latch to the ultimate power playing "religion" and then some.

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

#38
Its unfortunate because, common people of Pakistan are reeling under high inflation and lack of jobs and opportunities. There are the political parties involved - corruption run amok. The army profits in cash, whichever party is in power. I guess the dried up US financial handouts means the army has to steal money from its own people.

Mobs burning Armed forces buildings - this is a new one because the Army has always been successful in selling their narrative to the common people.

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

#39
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.

That's a lot of trust to put in one erratic billionaire
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