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Tools behind Belarus internet censorship potentially revealed:
According to a Bloomberg report, the technology used to block much of the internet access during the recent presidential elections in Belarus has come from a US-based company.
The report states that Sandvine Inc., had supplied the necessary equipment to the Lukashenko government a few months earlier through an intermediary.
On August 9, Belarus held the presidential elections where Alexander Lukashenko was elected for the sixth consecutive time. However, the Election Day was marked by irregularities that cast doubt on the transparency of the elections.
In addition to the barricades built by security forces that prevented the passage of civilians to Minsk, Belarus' capital, the internet services in the country had a major disruption that affected access to websites such as social networks, news pages, and messaging applications.
The disruption lasted for up to three days, and there are still websites that are inaccessible in a normal way, so citizens need to use tools such as VPNs or specialized browsers.
[...] This would not be the first time the technology has been accused of being used to repress a nation. Citizen Lab, a Toronto security firm, had indicated that in 2018 equipment from this manufacturer was used in internet blocks that occurred in Egypt and Turkey. Sandvine Inc. said this investigation was false.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Mojibake Tengu on Sunday August 30 2020, @02:27AM (6 children)
According to pictures, the Belarussian liberal oppositionists are waving white-red state flags used during German Nazi occupation 1942-1944.
Where did they got them delivered from?
Respect Authorities. Know your social status. Woke responsibly.
(Score: 2, Touché) by fustakrakich on Sunday August 30 2020, @02:44AM
Hamburg?
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 1) by khallow on Sunday August 30 2020, @03:37AM (2 children)
Probably some sinister place like Bangladesh or Jordan, the places where you get cheap textiles. Unless, you're suggesting that someone kept a zillion Nazi flags stored for 70 years. In which case, I'd suggest Russia as the most likely source.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 30 2020, @09:17AM (1 child)
It's not so much where the Nazi flags were made, more the fact that someone had already ordered up sufficient quantities of said flags for them to magically appear in numbers and then having available a sufficient percentage of the population knowing full well the history of said flags but who don't care about the obvious connotations or consequences of them waving the things in public at this point in time.
As to who?, simplifying the mess to pro-anti Russia factions where both sides and their 'international sponsors' are all scheming shitheads, on the one hand the flags will be a rallying point for the 'nostalgic' anti-Russian factions of the Belarus population whose 'ideals' naturally lead them to collaborate with the Nazis back then in their 'glory days', on the other they're a red rag to the bull for the pro-Russian factions ('remember the great patriotic war...').
It benefits both sides here in the game of shit stirring for these flags to be there, but, I'd say that the pro-Russian factions probably have a bit more to gain by their presence apropos propaganda. They can point them out to the neutral section of the international community and say 'see, this trouble, it's bloody Nazis that we're fighting against here again', and they'll also cause unease and division within their opposition Belarus faction who, although they might be anti-Russian, they're also anti-Nazi.
Welcome to 21st century humanity, despite our alleged technical sophistications, it's depressingly fucking amazing how much trouble you can still cause by merely waving simple bits of coloured rag around...
Sheep herding, eh?
(Score: 2, Informative) by khallow on Sunday August 30 2020, @11:35AM
They aren't Nazi flags BTW - they've been in use since 1918. But sounds like you don't care about the obvious connotations.
Only one side is shit-stirring in this thread.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 30 2020, @09:01AM
It was used in 1991-1995 (after the fall of USSR, basically), until Lukashenko decided he wants it different.
(Score: 1) by Nomad on Monday August 31 2020, @08:15AM
Long time lurker here, I just created an account to correct your misleading statements. My wife is Belarusian and during the last ten years I have been lots of times there, I have now family and friends in that country and I know it much better than the average westerner.
The white-red-white flag was devised as the national flag of Belarus when it became independent in 1918, until it joined by the Soviet Union. After joining the Soviet Union this flag was used by some political an non-political organizations against the Soviet regime, finally it was forbidden in 1939 by the USSR. During the nazi occupation some belarusian collaborators used this flag for a couple of years (possibly precisely because it was a flag not accepted by the Soviet government) but they never got to make it their own. When Belarus became independent in 1991 the new country again made this their national flag, just like in 1918. One of the first measures Lukashenko took when he got the power in 1994 was to adopt a new flag very similar to the old soviet belarusian flag. Since 1995 the opposition to Lukashenko adopted the white-red-white flag as one of their symbols against the dictator.
Nobody in Belarus thinks it has anything to do with the nazi occupation (for example: my wife's grandmother had to run from her village when she was a child, her parents and most of the village population were massacred by the German army, and she had to live for a long time in the forests with the partisans. She is very proud of the white-red-white flag hanging in her bedroom). As to your question about where they buy these flags, they don't buy them, most people make them themselves, and there are also volunteers who work in the clothing industry in Belarus who make the big flags for the manifestations as long as they have the materials they need. The first week of protests they ran out of white and red fabric in Minsk.