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The 61 Countries a Mad Despot Could Instantly Unplug From the Internet

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Re: The 61 Countries a Mad Despot Could Instantly Unplug From the Internet

#11

Post by pjmlp »

Adirael wrote: post #5
runarb wrote: post #2

Shouldn't having a "Mad Despot" also be a requirement? Both Island and Greenland are on the list, but are both democratic. They probably have few internet providers because they are so small. Greenland has a population of 56K. Iceland 320K and almost all live in the same city.

I don't think the map relates to the "Mad Despot", and I think it's only about risk of disconnection (including accidental disconnection). I was shocked to see Portugal there at first, but I guess they have transatlantic cables to USA or maybe to UK and not much to mainland / Spain, and that's why they are low risk. Original's Renesys (the map creator) here: http://www.renesys.com/blog/2012/11/could-it-happen-in-your…

Portuguese here.

I had a quick look at the link you provided, it has to do with the amount of national communication providers really route the traffic across borders.

Since most of the traffic goes over Portugal Telecom, switching them off, would already cut most of the traffic I imagine. Specially because they also own most of the internal cabling, even when the service is offered by other companies.

Re: The 61 Countries a Mad Despot Could Instantly Unplug From the Internet

#13

Post by marquis »

spitx wrote: post #8

How are India, Estonia and Latvia on the same rung as highly suppression-ist China? This is clearly facetious.

It's about being technically feasible, not about having the political will. New Zealand is on there for example, I believe it has a single pipe therefore easily cut, but it would be highly surprising to see it happen by government cause (more likely an undersea accident). I thought Australia would be the same but I guess it has a lot more infrastructure going across the pacific and also north.

Re: The 61 Countries a Mad Despot Could Instantly Unplug From the Internet

#14

Post by potatolicious »

spitx wrote: post #8

How are India, Estonia and Latvia on the same rung as highly suppression-ist China? This is clearly facetious.

The same India that has been charging people with crimes for voicing criticism of politicians on the internet?

Re: The 61 Countries a Mad Despot Could Instantly Unplug From the Internet

#15

Post by jordan0day »

spitx wrote: post #8

How are India, Estonia and Latvia on the same rung as highly suppression-ist China? This is clearly facetious.

Not sure if you're taking offense on India, Estonia, or Latvia's behalf, or you believe that China is totally monolithic.

Either way if you look at the legend, the color coding indicates that India, Estonia, Latvia, and China are at "low risk" to a "mad despot" being able to unplug the whole country.

That indicates that each nation has quite a few connections to the outside world.

Re: The 61 Countries a Mad Despot Could Instantly Unplug From the Internet

#17

Post by Simucal »

spitx wrote: post #8

How are India, Estonia and Latvia on the same rung as highly suppression-ist China? This is clearly facetious.

Did you read the article? This is about the resilience of the internet in these countries based on the number of connections they have to the outside world.

This article wasn't about politics, it was about technical feasibility.

Re: The 61 Countries a Mad Despot Could Instantly Unplug From the Internet

#18

Post by runarb »

barking wrote: post #16

Do they even have the internet in N. Korea? I guess senegal in white means 'no information available' rather than 100% safe from despots

Apparently they have internet in North Korea. Even have a single Internet cafe in Pyongyang according to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_in_North_Korea .

However they could have a hundred internet providers there, but if Kim wanted to collectively log off it wouldn't help much I suppose.

It's probably not the number of service providers that matters. It's the power of the Mad Despot.

Re: The 61 Countries a Mad Despot Could Instantly Unplug From the Internet

#19

Post by eshvk »

potatolicious wrote: post #14
spitx wrote: post #8

How are India, Estonia and Latvia on the same rung as highly suppression-ist China? This is clearly facetious.

The same India that has been charging people with crimes for voicing criticism of politicians on the internet?

I presume you are talking about the recent "facebook related arrests". Just so you know, not every country outside the U.S., is a single monolithic block where just because some asswipe cop(s) decides to hassle kids, it means that the entire country has decided as an official policy to hassle people on that charge. Some other examples of similar specious arguments:

1. Austria is bad because a tor exit operator got raided.

2. The MPAA/RIAA decides to sue a bunch of kids for music torrenting. Ergo America is bad.

Also, presuming from the comment to the OP, I assume you are somehow leaping from "Charge people for criticism" to "unplug the internet": I would really love to hear your reasoning for this.

(FYI, this is not a defense of the Indian justice system or me "taking offense" or even an attempt to assert that India is not at low risk of being disconnected: I personally give 0 fucks. I just find these specious arguments silly and have no idea why intelligent people make these arguments when it comes to foreign countries. )

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