Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Belarus has shut down the internet amid a controversial election

wired.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

61–70 of 295 posts

Re: Belarus has shut down the internet amid a controversial election

#61

Post by core-questions »

jammucoder wrote: post #54
aaomidi wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Shit like this has no place on HN. Using random statistics to justify taking away the freedom to access internet is NEVER okay.

Well, I'm affected by the 2G connection as well here, and have lived all my life seeing state govts here shielding terror groups. Things are improving now since the 370 abrogation and bringing J&K under central govt administration. And govt action isnt a one-dimensional thing, this is one of several measures the Indian govt has taken and people here are optimistic about the future.

Have you got a link to anything that someone interested can read that tells your side of the story? I'm okay with reading something partisan if it's not egregious and sheds some light on how people are actually experiencing this where you are.

Re: Belarus has shut down the internet amid a controversial election

#62

Post by bhupy »

aaomidi wrote: post #59
core-questions wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your anti-argument statements are what have no place here. If you don't like what the person is saying, you need to either engage with them, or downvote and ignore. > x is NEVER okay is a just-so assertion, not an argument.

Are we really at the stage where we argue about if we should have area-wide censorship?

Um, yes? Nothing is off the table for discussion. If you don't like it, don't participate in the discussion, or downvote, or move on. Don't police other's willingness to engage certain arguments.

Re: Belarus has shut down the internet amid a controversial election

#63

Post by core-questions »

aaomidi wrote: post #59
core-questions wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your anti-argument statements are what have no place here. If you don't like what the person is saying, you need to either engage with them, or downvote and ignore. > x is NEVER okay is a just-so assertion, not an argument.

Are we really at the stage where we argue about if we should have area-wide censorship?

Well, you seem to be trying to implement microscale censorship, and the other poster seems to be able to post, so I'm not sure what your deal is.

I mean, you probably participated in and even supported the Coronavirus lockdowns, yeah? Why is a terror lockdown so philosophically different?

Re: Belarus has shut down the internet amid a controversial election

#64

Post by keenmaster »

bhupy wrote: post #50
aaomidi wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Shit like this has no place on HN. Using random statistics to justify taking away the freedom to access internet is NEVER okay.

I don't agree with jammucoder that information restriction is a justifiable way to reduce terrorist attacks, but I think HN is exactly the sort of place that tolerates this exact kind of viewpoint, especially directly underneath a comment that argues the opposite.

What if you wrote the following? (I'm being serious): "I don't agree with CubsFan that information restriction in the South Side of Chicago is a justifiable way to reduce the looting downtown, but I think HN is exactly the sort of place that tolerates this exact kind of viewpoint, especially directly underneath a comment that argues the opposite."

Re: Belarus has shut down the internet amid a controversial election

#65

Post by fuoqi »

obogobo wrote: post #7

wondering what / if any impact "the space internet" (or like networks) will have on national government's ability to disrupt comms. or if it just shifts the goalposts to a different network operator

Unfortunately it's very easy for governments to make ownership of unblockable receivers illegal and to simply jam appropriate wavelengths on top of that. Just look at how radio was regulated after its invention.

Usually there is no proper technical solution for a political problem.

Re: Belarus has shut down the internet amid a controversial election

#66

Post by bhupy »

keenmaster wrote: post #64
bhupy wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't agree with jammucoder that information restriction is a justifiable way to reduce terrorist attacks, but I think HN is exactly the sort of place that tolerates this exact kind of viewpoint, especially directly underneath a comment that argues the opposite.

What if you wrote the following? (I'm being serious): "I don't agree with CubsFan that information restriction in the South Side of Chicago is a justifiable way to reduce the looting downtown, but I think HN is exactly the sort of place that tolerates this exact kind of viewpoint, especially directly underneath a comment that argues the opposite."

Yes, there is nothing wrong with that statement.

Arguing in favor of censorship is not the same as censorship. The whole point of free discussion is that you can talk about the philosophical merits of anything, regardless of whether or not the argument itself is "correct".

On the flipside, policing other's willingness to engage certain arguments is itself a form of micro-censorship. The pushback is against arguments like "This argument has no place on HN", which is not a useful argument and doesn't address the merits of GP's comment.

Re: Belarus has shut down the internet amid a controversial election

#67

Post by 3pt14159 »

hamiltont wrote: post #49
caleb-allen wrote: post #8

I have coworkers in Belarus who have been cut off from our (US based) company since the weekend. I've been able to hear from one of them intermittently, but it's a scary thing, I can't imagine what they're going through.

FYI - we have been able to get regular SMS and voice calls through (using Google Fi as our carrier). It was great to go from "absolute zero communication" to "we know you're currently OK"

Surely if there are telephone communications then someone can modem out? Or are they scanning for non-human communication over telephony?

Re: Belarus has shut down the internet amid a controversial election

#68

Post by keenmaster »

bhupy wrote: post #66
keenmaster wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What if you wrote the following? (I'm being serious): "I don't agree with CubsFan that information restriction in the South Side of Chicago is a justifiable way to reduce the looting downtown, but I think HN is exactly the sort of place that tolerates this exact kind of viewpoint, especially directly underneath a comment that argues the opposite."

Yes, there is nothing wrong with that statement. Arguing in favor of censorship is not the same as censorship. The whole point of free discussion is that you can talk about the philosophical merits of anything , regardless of whether or not the argument itself is "correct". On the flipside, policing other's willingness to engage certain arguments is itself a form of micro-censorship. The pushback is against arguments…

We're probably on the same page. We just have a different definition of "tolerate." I swiftly downvoted the comment and hope that others do too, and to me that's not tolerating the comment. I will gladly engage with the comment...by pointing out how insanely wrong and inhumane it is.

Re: Belarus has shut down the internet amid a controversial election

#69

Post by gpm »

3pt14159 wrote: post #67
hamiltont wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

FYI - we have been able to get regular SMS and voice calls through (using Google Fi as our carrier). It was great to go from "absolute zero communication" to "we know you're currently OK"

Surely if there are telephone communications then someone can modem out? Or are they scanning for non-human communication over telephony?

The number of people with the hardware and know how to send data over a telephone line is probably very small.

Re: Belarus has shut down the internet amid a controversial election

#70

Post by fuoqi »

danielam wrote: post #11

I just posted a link[0] with some of Friedman's response to what's going on. TLDR: aside from Belarus' geopolitical importance and predicament, it sounds like what's going on is largely a matter of speculation, though the events of the last decade read in light of geopolitical realities seem to suggest Russian involvement. [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24121275

>suggest Russian involvement

I highly doubt it. You don't instigate protests and congratulate "winner" on the next day after election at the same time. It's far easier to pressure known leader, who has bad relations with the West (and elections only made them worse), than risk instability and weak government puppeteered by foreign forces installed after a "revolution" (see Ukraine).

I previously wrote about it here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24104304

Post reply on HN