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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

#231

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What you suggest is impossible, because you are attacking a wrench on the head problem with a coding solution. You can always get a dish and connect to your choice of orbital provider, if your ISP - which is regulated - is blocked. The problem is, guys with guns will come to your door, beat you with a wrench, and put you in jail. Now if we solve for the real issue - lack of freedom because of a ruling class, the tech…

>The reason for the oppression is, a large portion of every country actually wants to be oppressed. Nobody wants to be oppressed. A large portion of the population often wants to be oppressors themselves. They are addicted to controlling others. This might be raising tax on X group, or criminalizing Y minority. Many people don't like voluntary association and choice. They want compelled behavior that conforms to thei…

are you familiar with the lower middle-class rednecks who form the republican party, and elect people who at every turn scam them, screw them, and try to take away their medical benefits and social security? yes, they do want to be oppressed - but by their own people. not by your people.

my wife is a chinese xpat who got her master's here and stayed. when we go to visit her old parents who have a picture of mao on the wall, half the sites she visits are blocked. She can't get to the things she spends half her free time on. But it's "good that youtube is blocked, there's bad stuff on it."

Most of that country is like that. The millions you see protesting on the street - there's over a billion who are against them and love their firewall which keeps out western propaganda. and when they get their door nailed shut from outside and die of starvation? we don't talk about that, that didn't happen, gramma just died of old age.

i have friends who live in moscow. lots of people - way over half, support the war. when their son gets drafted, given a non-working rifle with no bullets, and shot, and they don't get paid as promised - they get mad at putin for a day. they next day though, they blame the Ukrainians and support the ugly little bald troll even more.

trust me - you are very wrong. probably not in your local social circle - but that has a huge selection bias. go to the DMV, sit there for an hour, and just listen to people talking.

being under the boot is safe, you don't have to make decisions, you don't have to thing as your opinions are provided - as is at whom you should be angry. it's paradise for many a housecat.

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

#232
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?

What you suggest is impossible, because you are attacking a wrench on the head problem with a coding solution. You can always get a dish and connect to your choice of orbital provider, if your ISP - which is regulated - is blocked. The problem is, guys with guns will come to your door, beat you with a wrench, and put you in jail. Now if we solve for the real issue - lack of freedom because of a ruling class, the tech…

> Most people are bootlickers

Not you though, right?

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

#233
If Secure Scuttlebutt had taken off at scale, blocking access to content could have been harder. It is not without security risks, but I found data transfer via local mesh networks a powerful capability.

I'll explain a bit. If Alice has some content to share but no internet access, Alice will sync posts (automatically) with Bob when he visits her. Then when Carol meets Bob, she gets uploads from Bob and 2 levels of his friends (not all of whom Carol might know). If Carol had some way to get online (or if she travels outside), Bob and his friends' data become available much more widely. It's basically a mesh network of friends, so much like the real world.

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

#234
post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In South Asian politics, bribes are a way of life. No one goes to prison for bribes. They go to prison, and then it's decided which bribe will be used an excuse to put them there. Imran is currently ushering in an 'Arab Spring' style movement in Pakistan. I use that phrase with all the positive and negative connotations that go with it. The army wants to maintain dictatorial-ish control and want to do to Imran what t…

Please dont resort to South Asia here, Pakistan is a very unique country that has the history of killing almost all the PMs it has ever had.

Yes, but bribes are a fact of life in India as well. (Indian here)

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

#235
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?

What you suggest is impossible, because you are attacking a wrench on the head problem with a coding solution. You can always get a dish and connect to your choice of orbital provider, if your ISP - which is regulated - is blocked. The problem is, guys with guns will come to your door, beat you with a wrench, and put you in jail. Now if we solve for the real issue - lack of freedom because of a ruling class, the tech…

[dead]

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

#236

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In theory sure, but practically, it won’t. Even in the US, only 15% of households have any backup at all [1]. That number it drops even more in the rest of the world. And to add to it, just having a backup isn’t enough if the outage is sustained for a longer period of time. For the rest of the world, especially countries like Pakistan, solar power or a battery backup is out of reach for the majority of the population…

> Even in the US, only 15% of households have any backup at all That's because people in the US rarely, if ever, lose power, so there's no need for backups.

That's because people in the US rarely, if ever, lose power, so there's no need for backups

This just isn't true. I had regular power outages when I lived in the US. Usually they'd only last some hours and usually they were caused by weather (the midwest has storms) or animals. This could have been solved by burying the cables, but that probably wouldn't happen any tine soon. In more than one location, it would have been helpful since the no power meant no water from the well.

Weather causes a lot of power outages - thunderstorms, tornadoes, hurricanes, heat, and icestorms cause this. In other areas, the electrical grid is barely holding up and just can't always take the demand well. (Example: Hot areas during the summer)

Losing power happens regularly.

Most people can't afford to have a backup system, and a good chunk of the folks that can have a backup simply can't install such a thing in their rental or the apartment they own.

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

#237
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?

What you suggest is impossible, because you are attacking a wrench on the head problem with a coding solution. You can always get a dish and connect to your choice of orbital provider, if your ISP - which is regulated - is blocked. The problem is, guys with guns will come to your door, beat you with a wrench, and put you in jail. Now if we solve for the real issue - lack of freedom because of a ruling class, the tech…

As a EU citizen I’m a bit offended, how do EU citizens have no freedom of speech?

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

#238
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?

What you suggest is impossible, because you are attacking a wrench on the head problem with a coding solution. You can always get a dish and connect to your choice of orbital provider, if your ISP - which is regulated - is blocked. The problem is, guys with guns will come to your door, beat you with a wrench, and put you in jail. Now if we solve for the real issue - lack of freedom because of a ruling class, the tech…

> EU citizens have no freedom of speech

First, technically there are no EU citizens, only citizens of EU member states. Speech is handled at member state level (e.g. hate speech, as in inciting violence against an ethnic or religious group, or displaying Nazi affiliation will be handled very differently in Portugal that never had direct Nazi rule, Germany that is doing it's best to make sure there are never Nazis again, and Poland that suffered centuries of massacres from violent oppressors, including the Nazis) so it's even less correct of a saying in this case.

Second, just because it doesn't fit your ideal of free speech, it doesn't make it non-free. Free is directional (from or to), on a spectrum and a matter of perception.

There are no public places on Earth with absolute free speech, and the vast majority of people prefer it that way.

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

#239
post #234

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Please dont resort to South Asia here, Pakistan is a very unique country that has the history of killing almost all the PMs it has ever had.

Yes, but bribes are a fact of life in India as well. (Indian here)

You have 55 countries between rank 85 and rank 140 that are better match to Pakistan than India: https://www.transparency.org/en/cpi/2022 , why this privilege to only us Indians? I read the above comment as "See we are as good as Indians, this is just a blip".

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

#240

I love when authoritarian nations just block internet. India did it in Kashmir for a fuckton of time, and it was practically unusable for a longer period (2G speeds). they also do it at even little bit of protests. How dare the citizens protest their own governments, no, no internet for you! ---- The world will be a better place without these govts.

Riots fuelled with religious/tribal zeal can kill thousands in mere hours.

Blocking phone internet seems to an efdective solution to this for now.

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