Whenever you see a government – or a group, in the case of the Taliban – expressing autocratic, authoritarian and repressive views, it follows that they could do what they say they want to do, which is to restrict access to information and communication. I am very concerned about the situation in Afghanistan. It is essential to ensure that people there have access to information, the ability to communicate and receive news.
How complicated does one have to be to make one of these exclusions? Can anyone with a significant level of control over the Internet infrastructure participate in these activities?
You have the right to point out that the way they are stopped is often related to how much the government has control over the telecommunications infrastructure in a country. And it varies: it varies from country to country and it varies over time.
One of the things we have seen that is well reported by others is that a number of governments are considering laws that would increase their control over telecommunications infrastructure. This is part of three simultaneous trends. First, you have an increasing frequency of internet outages. Second, you have more attention from governments on how they control the telecommunications infrastructure in their countries. You also see a recession of democracy around the world and an increase in autocratic governments exercising power over civil society.
What is the real risk?
This is certainly more than an inconvenience. In some cases it is a matter of life and death. It is certainly a matter of losing livelihoods – restricting civil society, restricting access to information and restricting freedom of expression. I think that as more and more people live their lives online and as democratic institutions increasingly rely on the internet as a way to facilitate civic participation – to share news and information, for people to communicate with each other and for people to organize – the risk of the government shutting down the internet leads to increased costs.
Deliberate global internet shutdown
January 2020 – May 2021
What can the average citizen who uses the Internet do in this regard? What can we do to better recognize when it is happening and prevent it?
Much depends on your circumstances. There are a number of tools that can allow you to access free and open internet – such as virtual private networks (VPNs). There are certain tools that allow you to protect yourself from specific types of censorship. DNS poisoning is a common form of censorship in which the government manipulates individual URLs. We have a tool called Intra (there are other tools) that protects users and allows them to circumvent these restrictions.