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Deliberate Internet Shutdowns

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81–90 of 189 posts

Re: Deliberate Internet Shutdowns

#81
post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Arguably CTA isn't exactly an obscure acronym. It's multi-disciplinary - quite common in UI/UX design and marketing; and also decently common in any branched of software engineering that interact with these topics, like... web development.

CTA is very obscure. As a mobile dev I refuse to call CTA as anything other than click or tap to action in which case it should be TPA. Also many folks (esp. PMs confuse CTAs with button clicks). Anyway, CTA in this context didn’t even ring a distant bell either for call or click and I am glad it didn’t.

I think in UI design it usually is intended to refer to the main thing you want/expect a user to do in any given situation, i.e. having multiple CTAs is a bit of an oxymoron while having multiple buttons is not.

Re: Deliberate Internet Shutdowns

#82
post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think that is necessarily the case. If you use certain words all the time, shortening them makes sense. They might just forget which abbreviations are and aren't common knowledge. You wouldn't get mad if people use PC, CPU, ATM and RAM, right? Even SSD would be fine on HN, but it probably wouldn't be fine outside HN. (neither would using "HN")

Without context ATM could be Asynchronous Transfer Mode or automated teller machine.

[deleted]

Re: Deliberate Internet Shutdowns

#83

The post is mainly just a CTA against further internet centralization and government control of core infrastructure, which is fine. We need more of these, and we need more examples of their harms for folks to draw on. HN often gets distilled down to a singular cause - EU's Chat Control, Elon's shutdown of Starlink over Ukraine, a regional outage of a public cloud provider - but generalized topics like these aren't re…

> From my specific perspective in IT, the increasing centralization across every vendor category (three major x86 server manufacturers, two CPU vendors, two GPU makers, three global-scale public clouds, ISP mono- and duopolies, a handful of commercial operating systems, a near-monopoly EUVL supplier - the list goes on) is a dire threat to not just the open internet, but open technology in general. Part of the reason…

Exactly... In fact this realisation has been the main reason why I shifted my views (in my teenage years) from libertarian to more centrist.

Having grown up in a falling communist state full of state sanctioned monopolies I thought free market will sort it out. Later I realised you need a balance between free market and interventionism, but for the latter to work you need a way to prevent corruption and a good justice system. Things that are very hard to come by in many parts of the world

Re: Deliberate Internet Shutdowns

#84
post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It would leave most developed countries in chaos, people would die because of it.

Centralized infrastructure is fragile and to the extent that the internet has become centralized unscheduled Internet shutdowns are bound to happen. The benefit of scheduled Internet shutdown is that people can prepare for it while at the same time gaining experience which helps with dealing with an unscheduled Internet shutdown.

On the other hand, if we force all systems to be resilient to an internet shutdown then we'd end up regressing society by a lot. Think about how much more work a single doctor is able to handle more efficiently by having internet access (eg. charts, patient history, access to all the world's libraries) that would be lost without the internet.

Re: Deliberate Internet Shutdowns

#85
post #52
post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks. I don’t know why people use obscure abbreviations and acronyms.

Arguably CTA isn't exactly an obscure acronym. It's multi-disciplinary - quite common in UI/UX design and marketing; and also decently common in any branched of software engineering that interact with these topics, like... web development.

It might not be obscure in an environment that lives on 'social activity', but I can assure you -- and I am saying this as a person, who survives daily barrages of acronyms, CTA is not common.

Re: Deliberate Internet Shutdowns

#86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> Elon's shutdown of Starlink over Ukraine "In February 2022, two days after Russia's full-scale invasion, Ukraine requested that the American aerospace company SpaceX activate their Starlink satellite internet service in the country, to replace internet and communication networks degraded or destroyed during the war.[2][3][4] Starlink has since been used by Ukrainian civilians, government and military.[3][5] The sa…

I am sure it is against Terms of Service to use Starlink to bomb people! Last time starlink was used to sank tanker near Turkey. It was miracle tanker was empty, and there was no ecological catastrophe!

It is a fascinating thought. War being against TOS. And enforced thusly. As an abstract idea that is not connected to reality on the ground it offers a.. view into today's mind and what it can be compelled with.

Re: Deliberate Internet Shutdowns

#87

While it may not be practical from a technical perspective, the current US president has suggested shutting down parts of the Internet to ostensibly combat terrorist recruiting. https://time.com/4150891/republican-debate-donald-trump-inte...

Lets be honest about it. There is no political power on this planet that does not see information flow as a vector that needs to be controlled ( and if they don't, sadly, they likely will not remain in power for long.. ). If true, we are just very lucky, it did not happen sooner. In a weird sense, it helps that corporate interests prevent it.

Re: Deliberate Internet Shutdowns

#88
post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Living without the Internet is still doable. Just a little bit harder. You gonna lose some time and money (buying bus tickets physically and not buying cheap junk over the internet, BUT you're gonna gain like literally 6h per day :) Been there, done that. Its net positive experience. Just like going back to 1999.

You are aware of the fact that a lot of the payment infrastructure relies on the internet today?

Sure, but it does not mean it is not possible as OP notes.

More to your point though, even if it does, maybe it should not realy on it.

Re: Deliberate Internet Shutdowns

#89
post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Living without the Internet is still doable. Just a little bit harder. You gonna lose some time and money (buying bus tickets physically and not buying cheap junk over the internet, BUT you're gonna gain like literally 6h per day :) Been there, done that. Its net positive experience. Just like going back to 1999.

You are aware of the fact that a lot of the payment infrastructure relies on the internet today?

Depends where one lives. In my location there is zero dependency on the internet. It's just a convenience thing and the growing number of miscreants on the internet is negating that balance for me personally. Sooner than later I am going back to a landline and ditching the cell phone.

Re: Deliberate Internet Shutdowns

#90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am sure it is against Terms of Service to use Starlink to bomb people! Last time starlink was used to sank tanker near Turkey. It was miracle tanker was empty, and there was no ecological catastrophe!

It is a fascinating thought. War being against TOS. And enforced thusly. As an abstract idea that is not connected to reality on the ground it offers a.. view into today's mind and what it can be compelled with.

If Starlink does not enforce its TOS, it is a weapon used in the war (guidance system for drones), and its satellites are legitimate targets for air defence.

West uses the same logic to bomb neutral tankers, because they may carry weapon or stuff!

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