Can someone please explain why people keep doing this?
The government always falls amid the outrage of the people over losing their internet access.
At best you could (not encouraging or endorsing this by the way) build something like Chinese Great Firewall, but if you cut if off your government is going to tumble. Its happened twice already now
Libya did that and has not fallen yet. In fact, despite a significant intervention from Europe (which is unlikely to be repeated in Syria), Libya seems to be in some sort of stalemate right now.
The lesson that the Syrian's seem to have taken is that the way to stay in power is to double down on repression.
I think you’re right, many dictatorial regimes are figuring out that shutting down or censoring the Internet forcefully is a losing battle over the long haul. The Syrian regime may be successful in the short run by cracking some skulls, but if history has anything to say about it, they are using the wrong tactic. The medieval regimes of the middle ages could not reign in the Printing Press that decentralized information in Europe during the Enlightenment period. Yes, the regimes in Europe were successful at first and many peasants lost their lives early on, but in the end, Pandora’s box had been opened. And once those books were out, there was no getting them back in. Mubarak learned this the hard way when he shut down the Internet in Egypt, nothing pissed the Egyptians off more than that.
There are two viewpoints on how totalitarian regimes will wield power in the 21st century. The first being the George Orwell 1984 camp, where Big Brother (the government) watches your every move, censors and blocks information – what many regimes in the Middle East are trying to do.
The second camp is Aldous Huxley's Brave New World scenario where governments team with corporations to offer a litany of distractions and entertainment. Governments will not have to track us because we’ll voluntarily allow our entertainment outlets to do that for us. We’ll be offered all the entertainment and information we could ever want on cable and the Internet, as long as it is not too critical of the “establishment.”
The second dystopia seems to be where most regimes are heading, and with the massive consolidation of Internet Service Providers throughout the world, coupled with their merging with the largest entertainment providers in the world, the Internet as we know it will most likely look like Huxley’s model rather than Orwell’s.
Check out this trailer on kickstarter.com for more info on this topic:
Hi evangineer,
Yes, I do believe that Huxley's vision has proven to be more correct in 21st century America... although anything is possible. Thanks for sharing the Neil Postman link, I have not read that book, it looks fascinating.
The comic version of the argument is extremely good. Thanks for posting that as well, it was well worth the look.
Author, Evgeny Morozov poses a similar argument to Postman in the book, "Net Delusion" that came out this year. It gives an interesting analysis of the Internet in the 21st century and attempts to debunk a lot of cyber-utopian myths.
We are currently trying to get in touch with Morozov to interview him for our documentary.
Possibly worse than outraging people, you kill commerce. We're at the point where economies can not operate without the internet. Explains why so many want to regulate/control it now. It's too entrenched to ignore.
The government always falls amid the outrage of the people over losing their internet access.
At best you could (not encouraging or endorsing this by the way) build something like Chinese Great Firewall, but if you cut if off your government is going to tumble. Its happened twice already now