Internet shutdowns by governments have 'proliferated at a truly alarming pace':
The number of government-led internet shutdowns has exploded over the last decade as states seek to stifle dissent and protest by limiting citizens' access to the web.
Nearly 850 intentional shutdowns have been recorded over the past 10 years by nonprofit Access Now's Shutdown Tracker Optimization Project (STOP), and although the group acknowledges that data on incidents before 2016 is "patchy," some 768 of these shutdowns took place in the last five years. There were 213 shutdowns in 2019 alone, with this figure ticking down to 155 in 2020 as the world adapted to the COVID-19 pandemic (which delayed elections and led to lockdowns that kept populations at home more often). And already in the first five months of 2021 there have been 50 shutdowns across 21 countries.
"Since we began tracking government-initiated internet shutdowns, their use has proliferated at a truly alarming pace," Access Now's Felicia Anthonio, campaigner and #KeepItOn lead, said in a new report on the issue in The Current, a publication of Google's internet thinktank Jigsaw. "As governments across the globe learn this authoritarian tactic from each other, it has moved from the fringes to become a common method many authorities use to stifle opposition, quash free speech and muzzle expression."
(Score: 2) by legont on Monday September 06 2021, @11:26PM (1 child)
Odd. Presidents were overthrown in Ukraine, Moldova, Armenia, Georgia. In Ukraine the guy was actually elected and then overthrown twice. The same guy. The only country that managed to stop it was Belarus.
That's while in the West nobody overthrowing anybody. Well, there was a weak attempt in Washington, but they are all carefully being hunted down. May be it's because democracies tend to make revolutionaries disappear quickly and quietly?
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 2) by Opportunist on Wednesday September 08 2021, @06:32AM
It's easier to keep people from revolting if elections are honest, the person you elect is someone Russia likes so they don't try to stage a coup (which I guess must really piss the CIA off, that used to be their job after all, THEY TOOK UR JUUUBS!) and if your army is generally in favor of the idea of having a democratic system.
You need at least 2 of them.