Re: Uganda Communications Commission shutdown order

[Ramakrishna Padmanabhan]

Hello folks,

Wanted to chime in to say that near-realtime outage data/graphs from the IODA 
(Internet Outage Detection and Analysis) system, at CAIDA, UC San Diego, are 
publicly available. For example, the following graph shows that the outage in 
Uganda began at ~4:00 PM UTC on Jan 13th and ended at ~9:00 AM UTC on Jan 18th:
https://ioda.caida.org/ioda/dashboard#view=inspect=country/UG=overview=161028=1611057600
 


Using the public dashboard you can view/check for outages affecting any 
country, sub-national region, and AS: https://ioda.caida.org/ioda/dashboard 
. By default, the dashboard shows 
connectivity data for the last 24 hours, but users can specify any time range 
(up to a max of a month) back to several years. Note that a typical research 
infrastructure disclaimer applies: the system is still actively under 
development. While the automated alerts do contain false positives/negatives, 
the graphs provide users a clear view of what the underlying measurements tell 
us.

Btw, IODA provides data/graphs also to ISOC Insights mentioned by Mat.

Ramakrishna (Rama) Padmanabhan
Postdoctoral researcher
CAIDA, UC San Diego

> On Jan 19, 2021, at 1:31 AM, Matthew Ford  wrote:
> 
> 
> 
>> On 18 Jan 2021, at 23:02, surfer  wrote:
>> 
>> ps.  So far, I know of https://internetshutdowns.in and
>> netblocks.org. If anyone knows more than these that're
>> updated regularly please let me know.  I am interested
>> in 'real time' internet shutdowns globally.
> 
> https://insights.internetsociety.org/shutdowns is very much work-in-progress. 
> With pages like https://insights.internetsociety.org/shutdowns/4992 we're 
> trying to provide a curated archive of shutdown events. Not real time, but 
> hopefully at least timely.
> 
> Feedback very welcome.
> 
> Mat

Re: Uganda Communications Commission shutdown order

[Mark Tinka]

On 1/19/21 17:15, Sean Donelan wrote:


There is only one problem in engineering -- scaling.

Country internet shutdowns never go to zero.  There's usually 5% to 
15% left over connectivity. There are always a few embassies, 
international companies, NGOs and even government offices itself with 
left over service.


Satellites (even next-gen) are great for small outposts, ships, oil 
platforms.  But have scaling problems, i.e. billing millions of 
customers without the government noticing.  Large capacity earth 
stations and cable landing sites are noticable.


The mobile phone carriers and ISPs serving the other million(s) 
customers will obey the government shutdown orders. Its very difficult 
(cost, techincally, access) for the ordinary consumer to get around 
their own government's orders.  Yes, the rich can always afford/get 
sat-phones and sat-modems.


When an autocratic government notices too many people using something 
else, it can become very painful for those subscribers.


And of course, international treaties (ITU) covering satellites and 
international radio transmissions are written by governments.


Satellite solutions are not ideal for large scale use-cases. These would 
be for the odd business, the odd whale, that sort of thing.


At scale, satellite doesn't work anymore, not even in Africa.

That said, it's easy to hit people where it hurts by getting the mobile 
operators to block access, especially in Africa. That is how most people 
get (and stay) connected. For a tiresome gubbermint, the extra 5% - 15% 
connectivity that remains after all the blocking dust has settled, is a 
small price to pay to keep the remaining 85% - 95% disconnected.


Mark.

Re: Uganda Communications Commission shutdown order

[Sean Donelan]

On Tue, 19 Jan 2021, Mark Tinka wrote:
Satellite is hard to control, and there are several ways to get it into a 
country and have it function for purpose without any real drama.


It's where we came from :-)...


There is only one problem in engineering -- scaling.

Country internet shutdowns never go to zero.  There's usually 5% to 15% 
left over connectivity. There are always a few embassies, international 
companies, NGOs and even government offices itself with left over service.


Satellites (even next-gen) are great for small outposts, ships, oil 
platforms.  But have scaling problems, i.e. billing millions of customers 
without the government noticing.  Large capacity earth stations and 
cable landing sites are noticable.


The mobile phone carriers and ISPs serving the other million(s) customers 
will obey the government shutdown orders. Its very difficult (cost, 
techincally, access) for the ordinary consumer to get around their own 
government's orders.  Yes, the rich can always afford/get sat-phones and 
sat-modems.


When an autocratic government notices too many people using something 
else, it can become very painful for those subscribers.


And of course, international treaties (ITU) covering satellites and 
international radio transmissions are written by governments.

Re: Uganda Communications Commission shutdown order

[Mark Tinka]

On 1/19/21 16:28, Denys Fedoryshchenko wrote:



Starlink needs expensive modem, that is not only too expensive for 
such countries, hard to import, but can be also reason for very long 
prison sentence.
Some nanosatellite with amplified BLE compatible frontend might do 
miracles. It is impossible to block ISM band countrywide, anybody can 
climb a hill and point mobile to sky and receive regional news. No 
need even for custom software, just any software that can receive BLE 
data (development/debugging tools).
As kind of PoC, Norby cubesat with LoRa telemetry is being received 
over the world on 1000+km distances on DIY antennas.


Satellite is hard to control, and there are several ways to get it into 
a country and have it function for purpose without any real drama.


It's where we came from :-)...

Mark.

Re: Uganda Communications Commission shutdown order

[Denys Fedoryshchenko]

On 2021-01-19 15:45, Mark Tinka wrote:

On 1/19/21 11:49, adamv0...@netconsultings.com wrote:

Hopefully starlink and other similar projects will help bring these 
numbers

down a bit.
But I think starlink has been already outlawed in some countries?


Moonshine satellite links abound in many places they shouldn't be.
It's cops & robbers stuff...

Mark.
Starlink needs expensive modem, that is not only too expensive for such 
countries, hard to import, but can be also reason for very long prison 
sentence.
Some nanosatellite with amplified BLE compatible frontend might do 
miracles. It is impossible to block ISM band countrywide, anybody can 
climb a hill and point mobile to sky and receive regional news. No need 
even for custom software, just any software that can receive BLE data 
(development/debugging tools).
As kind of PoC, Norby cubesat with LoRa telemetry is being received over 
the world on 1000+km distances on DIY antennas.

Re: Uganda Communications Commission shutdown order

[Mark Tinka]

On 1/19/21 11:49, adamv0...@netconsultings.com wrote:


Hopefully starlink and other similar projects will help bring these numbers
down a bit.
But I think starlink has been already outlawed in some countries?


Moonshine satellite links abound in many places they shouldn't be. It's 
cops & robbers stuff...


Mark.

Re: Uganda Communications Commission shutdown order

[Mark Tinka]

On 1/13/21 23:39, Alejandro Acosta wrote:



So sad to read this. How is it possible to think this is good to 
anybody?.., ok, maybe to the very high politicians of the country, but 
no one else. Not less than 44 million people negative affected.



That's it.


Just to give you a scale of the problem - ISP's were instructed to 
terminate services at their edge. So ATM's were also down, i.e., you 
can't pick up cash if you wanted to.


Mark.

Re: Uganda Communications Commission shutdown order

[Matthew Ford]

> On 18 Jan 2021, at 23:02, surfer  wrote:
> 
> ps.  So far, I know of https://internetshutdowns.in and
> netblocks.org. If anyone knows more than these that're
> updated regularly please let me know.  I am interested
> in 'real time' internet shutdowns globally.

https://insights.internetsociety.org/shutdowns is very much work-in-progress. 
With pages like https://insights.internetsociety.org/shutdowns/4992 we're 
trying to provide a curated archive of shutdown events. Not real time, but 
hopefully at least timely.

Feedback very welcome.

Mat

RE: Uganda Communications Commission shutdown order

[adamv0025]

> From: Sean Donelan
> Sent: Tuesday, January 19, 2021 1:58 AM
> 
> In 2016, U.N. Human Rights Council, resolution A/HRC/RES/32/13: "condemns
> unequivocally measures to intentionally prevent or disrupt access to or
> dissemination of information online in violation of international human
rights
> law and calls on all States to refrain from and cease such measures".
> 
> https://thehill.com/policy/technology/286236-un-rights-council-condemns-
> internet-blocking
> 
> 
> Netblocks.org tracks internet shutdowns in near-realtime.  Access Now and
> Internet Society have been reporting on internet shutdowns for many years.
> 
> Top10VPN.com annual report give a reputable summary of intentional
> government internet shutdowns around the world.
> 
> https://www.top10vpn.com/cost-of-internet-shutdowns/
> The Global Cost of Internet Shutdowns in 2020
> 
> 93 major shutdowns took place in 21 countries in 2020
> 
> 27,165 hours: total duration of major disruptions around the world, up 49%
> from the previous year.
> Internet blackouts: 10,693 hours
> Internet throttling: 10,920 hours
> Social media shutdowns: 5,552 hours
>
Hopefully starlink and other similar projects will help bring these numbers
down a bit.
But I think starlink has been already outlawed in some countries? 


adam

Re: Uganda Communications Commission shutdown order

[Sean Donelan]

In 2016, U.N. Human Rights Council, resolution A/HRC/RES/32/13: "condemns 
unequivocally measures to intentionally prevent or disrupt access to or 
dissemination of information online in violation of international human 
rights law and calls on all States to refrain from and cease such 
measures".


https://thehill.com/policy/technology/286236-un-rights-council-condemns-internet-blocking


Netblocks.org tracks internet shutdowns in near-realtime.  Access Now and 
Internet Society have been reporting on internet shutdowns for many years.


Top10VPN.com annual report give a reputable summary of intentional 
government internet shutdowns around the world.


https://www.top10vpn.com/cost-of-internet-shutdowns/
The Global Cost of Internet Shutdowns in 2020

93 major shutdowns took place in 21 countries in 2020

27,165 hours: total duration of major disruptions around the world, up 49% 
from the previous year.

Internet blackouts: 10,693 hours
Internet throttling: 10,920 hours
Social media shutdowns: 5,552 hours

Re: Uganda Communications Commission shutdown order

[surfer]

On 1/18/21 6:24 AM, Sean Donelan wrote:
This is not the longest internet shutdown.  Ethiopia shutdown internet 
access for nearly two months in 2020.  Belerus had several full and 
partial internet shutdowns over several months in 2020.

-


Just for fun...this caused me to go looking.  I found:
https://internetshutdowns.in  -  Longest Shutdowns

--
Kashmir, Jammu and Kashmir - 8th July 2016 - 19th November 2016
133 days or about 4.5 months

Kashmir, Jammu and Kashmir - 4th August 2019 - 4th March 2020
213 days or about 7 months
--

So in less than 4 years they went about 1/4 of the time (nearly
one whole year) without internet.


Mynmar has really bad stats over the Rakhine state Rohingya
conflict issue.

https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/06/19/myanmar-end-worlds-longest-internet-shutdown


scott


ps.  So far, I know of https://internetshutdowns.in and
netblocks.org. If anyone knows more than these that're
updated regularly please let me know.  I am interested
in 'real time' internet shutdowns globally.

Re: Uganda Communications Commission shutdown order

[Ben Cannon]

How much longer before this is declared a crime against humanity?   I give it 
10 yrs 

Ms. Lady Benjamin PD Cannon, ASCE
6x7 Networks & 6x7 Telecom, LLC 
CEO 
b...@6by7.net
"The only fully end-to-end encrypted global telecommunications company in the 
world.”

FCC License KJ6FJJ

Sent from my iPhone via RFC1149.

> On Jan 18, 2021, at 8:24 AM, Sean Donelan  wrote:
> 
> 
> About 5 days later, from January 13, 2021, through January 18, 2021, Uganda 
> begins to restore some internet services in the nation. Most social media 
> sites appear to still be blocked.
> 
> https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-55705404
> 
> Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni claimed Saturday that he had been 
> re-elected for a sixth term as president since 1986.
> 
> This is not the longest internet shutdown.  Ethiopia shutdown internet access 
> for nearly two months in 2020.  Belerus had several full and partial internet 
> shutdowns over several months in 2020.

Re: Uganda Communications Commission shutdown order

[Sean Donelan]

About 5 days later, from January 13, 2021, through January 18, 
2021, Uganda begins to restore some internet services in the 
nation. Most social media sites appear to still be blocked.


https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-55705404

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni claimed Saturday that he had been 
re-elected for a sixth term as president since 1986.


This is not the longest internet shutdown.  Ethiopia shutdown internet 
access for nearly two months in 2020.  Belerus had several full and 
partial internet shutdowns over several months in 2020.

Re: Uganda Communications Commission shutdown order

[Constantine A. Murenin]

On 13/01/2021, Andy Ringsmuth  wrote:
>
>> On Jan 13, 2021, at 3:39 PM, Alejandro Acosta
>>  wrote:
>>
>>
>> On 13/1/21 4:05 PM, Sean Donelan wrote:
>>>
>>> The Uganda Communications Commission has issued a shutdown order for the
>>> operation of all Internet gateways in Uganda beginning January 13, 2021
>>> until further notice.
>>>
>>> I can't access the official Uganda Communications Commission website, but
>>> this appears to be a copy of the order
>>>
>>> https://twitter.com/DougColtart/status/1349442878481846272/photo/1
>>>
>>
>> So sad to read this. How is it possible to think this is good to
>> anybody?.., ok, maybe to the very high politicians of the country, but no
>> one else. Not less than 44 million people negative affected.
>>
>>
>> That's it.
>>
>>
>> Alejandro,
>
> It is mildly interesting to see what Twitter itself has to say about it:
>
> https://twitter.com/Policy/status/1349059275461685250
>
> "Ahead of the Ugandan election, we're hearing reports that Internet service
> providers are being ordered to block social media and messaging apps.
>
> We strongly condemn internet shutdowns – they are hugely harmful, violate
> basic human rights and the principles of the #OpenInternet.”
>
>
> Oh, the jokes just write themselves…
>
>
> -Andy

The more ironic they're making this announcement together with
announcing the suspension of yet another set of accounts:

  "Earlier this week, in close coordination with our peers, we
suspended a number of accounts targeting the election in Uganda.

  If we can attribute any of this activity to state-backed actors, we
will disclose to our archive of information operations:"

  "Access to information and freedom of expression, including the
public conversation on Twitter, is never more important than during
democratic processes, particularly elections."


Since Twitter's so keen on suspending accounts and removing context
from the conversation flows, here's an archive of this announcement
for posterity:

  https://archive.is/PTNx3

C.

Re: Uganda Communications Commission shutdown order

[Joly MacFie]

New ISOC shutdowns page

https://insights.internetsociety.org/shutdowns

On Wed, Jan 13, 2021 at 3:05 PM Sean Donelan  wrote:

>
> The Uganda Communications Commission has issued a shutdown order for the
> operation of all Internet gateways in Uganda beginning January 13, 2021
> until further notice.
>
> I can't access the official Uganda Communications Commission website, but
> this appears to be a copy of the order
>
> https://twitter.com/DougColtart/status/1349442878481846272/photo/1
>
>

-- 
--
Joly MacFie  +12185659365
--
-

Re: Uganda Communications Commission shutdown order

[Andy Ringsmuth]

> On Jan 13, 2021, at 3:39 PM, Alejandro Acosta 
>  wrote:
> 
> 
> On 13/1/21 4:05 PM, Sean Donelan wrote:
>> 
>> The Uganda Communications Commission has issued a shutdown order for the 
>> operation of all Internet gateways in Uganda beginning January 13, 2021 
>> until further notice.
>> 
>> I can't access the official Uganda Communications Commission website, but 
>> this appears to be a copy of the order
>> 
>> https://twitter.com/DougColtart/status/1349442878481846272/photo/1
>> 
> 
> So sad to read this. How is it possible to think this is good to anybody?.., 
> ok, maybe to the very high politicians of the country, but no one else. Not 
> less than 44 million people negative affected.
> 
> 
> That's it.
> 
> 
> Alejandro,

It is mildly interesting to see what Twitter itself has to say about it:

https://twitter.com/Policy/status/1349059275461685250

"Ahead of the Ugandan election, we're hearing reports that Internet service 
providers are being ordered to block social media and messaging apps.
 
We strongly condemn internet shutdowns – they are hugely harmful, violate basic 
human rights and the principles of the #OpenInternet.”


Oh, the jokes just write themselves…


-Andy

Re: Uganda Communications Commission shutdown order

[Alejandro Acosta]

On 13/1/21 4:05 PM, Sean Donelan wrote:


The Uganda Communications Commission has issued a shutdown order for 
the operation of all Internet gateways in Uganda beginning January 13, 
2021 until further notice.


I can't access the official Uganda Communications Commission website, 
but this appears to be a copy of the order


https://twitter.com/DougColtart/status/1349442878481846272/photo/1



So sad to read this. How is it possible to think this is good to 
anybody?.., ok, maybe to the very high politicians of the country, but 
no one else. Not less than 44 million people negative affected.



That's it.


Alejandro,

Re: Uganda Communications Commission shutdown order

[surfer]

On 1/13/21 10:05 AM, Sean Donelan wrote:


The Uganda Communications Commission has issued a shutdown order for 
the operation of all Internet gateways in Uganda beginning January 13, 
2021 until further notice.


I can't access the official Uganda Communications Commission website, 
but this appears to be a copy of the order


https://twitter.com/DougColtart/status/1349442878481846272/photo/ 

--



It's probably just until a short-ish period after their elections. The 
guy who has been in power for the past 35 years wants to make sure he 
"wins" again.


scott


https://netblocks.org/reports/social-media-and-messaging-platforms-restricted-in-uganda-ahead-of-general-election-XB7aaO87

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-55640405

Uganda Communications Commission shutdown order

[Sean Donelan]

The Uganda Communications Commission has issued a shutdown order for the 
operation of all Internet gateways in Uganda beginning January 13, 2021 
until further notice.


I can't access the official Uganda Communications Commission website, but 
this appears to be a copy of the order


https://twitter.com/DougColtart/status/1349442878481846272/photo/1