Google think tank reports that government 'internet disconnection' is increasing sharply
Jigsaw, a think tank under Google's parent company Alphabet, and Access Now, a non-profit organization, released a report on September 1, 2021 that government-led Internet blockades have occurred nearly 850 times in the last decade alone. bottom. This report reveals that the number of disconnections on the Internet for the purpose of suppressing protests and blocking speech is increasing rapidly in various countries around the world.
Internet Shutdowns | Jigsaw
Internet shutdowns by governments have'proliferated at a truly alarming pace'-The Verge
https://www.theverge.com/2021/9/1/22649909/internet-sthudowns-government-freedom-speech-data-access-now-jigsaw
According to a survey by Access Now, of the 850 'intentional Internet shutdowns' that took place in the last 10 years, 768 occurred in the five years since 2016. The annual number of shutdowns, which was 213 in 2019, decreased to 155 in 2020 due to the postponement of elections in many areas due to the pandemic of the new coronavirus. In 2021, 50 shutdowns have already occurred.
'Since we started monitoring shutdowns, government-led shutdowns have skyrocketed at an alarming pace,' said Felicia Antonio, head of Access Now's anti-Internet blockade #KeepItOn. Did.
The earliest shutdown recorded by Access Now was on January 28, 2011 in Egypt. Concerned about the spread of a series of protests against former President Hosni Mubarak, which began on January 25, the Egyptian government has shut down 3,500 Border Gateway Protocol routes for the country to connect to the world's Internet. Made 93% of Egypt's network completely inaccessible for five days.
Even before Egypt, there are records of Internet shutdowns and speed limits in Guinea and Iran, but Egypt is the first country to shut down so that more than a quarter of the population can use the Internet. It is said that. Former President Mubarak was eventually dismissed by the Egyptian Revolution of the year.
And the longest shutdown to date is Myanmar's Internet regulation, which has been in effect since 2019 until the time of writing. In the country, the Internet was cut off in Rakhine and Chin states in western Myanmar on June 19, 2019, when the clash between the Myanmar army and the rebel armed group ' Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army' intensified. After that, a military coup data that occurred on February 1, 2021 temporarily restored the Internet in western Myanmar, but this time the Internet was completely shut down in other parts of Myanmar. And from February 5th, the connection became unstable all over Myanmar, and it has not been improved until the time of writing the article.
Internet regulation intensified in Myanmar where a coup d'etat broke out, protesters develop a three-fingered demonstration named after the movie 'The Hunger Games' --GIGAZINE
Internet blockades around the world, including Asia and Africa, are most common, especially during protests and elections. Venezuelan lawyer Marianne Díaz Hernández, a participant in #KeepItOn, told IT news site The Verge, 'Increased shutdowns are making the Internet more useful as a means of organizing protests. As many people blame human rights violations and share voices of anxiety through social media, governments in some countries will see the Internet as a threat to control. Probably. '
Shutdown of the Internet not only hinders freedom of speech and assembly, but also has a major impact on the economy. For example, Myanmar, which has been shut down for the longest time in history, has suffered an economic loss of about 2.1 billion dollars (about 231 billion yen), which is equivalent to 2.5% of the country's GDP. This economic loss is estimated to be half the damage the United States' first global financial crisis caused to the country, and it is estimated that less than one-third of the time it took for the damage to spread.
At the end of the report, 'Multilateral organizations and civic movements play a central role in maintaining an open and free Internet for all to stop the damage caused by the shutdown of the Internet to individuals and communities. We have to do it, 'he said, arguing that the grassroots movement and the international community need to be in step with each other.
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