How Governments Shut Down the Internet | WSJ

(pulsing electronic tones)

- [Narrator] More governments are kicking people

off the internet than ever before.

It usually happens during politically-sensitive times

like elections, protests, and conflicts.

Last year, governments shut down the internet

more frequently than in previous years

according to a digital rights group

that started tracking the practice in 2011.

For instance, in India,

it happened in parts of the country more than 100 times.

Authorities say shutdowns help stop unrest

and the spread of fake news

and even prevent cheating on school exams.

Advocates for an open internet say shutdowns

can cripple economies and disrupt daily life

all while curtailing civil rights,

so here's how governments can kick you off the internet.

Usually when you type in a URL or hit an app icon,

the Domain Name System looks up that address

and resolves it to a string of pre-assigned numbers.

In under a second, you can usually connect to the server

and access the site.

If the government wants to block access to a specific site,

it can request the Internet service provider

to interfere with the DNS traffic.

The provider can then redirect traffic

so it never reaches those servers.

This happened last year at the height of a political crisis

in Venezuela when opposition leader Juan Guaido

tried to seize power from President Nicolas Maduro.

Guaido was standing with soldiers

outside a military base

when he began live-streaming on Twitter.

(Juan speaking foreign language)

- [Narrator] He called people to rise up

against President Nicolas Maduro.

While Guaido's call to action ricocheted across the world,

at home, his message was blocked

for a large number of internet users.

This chart shows that Venezuela's

state-run internet provider

restricted access to social media.

The company didn't respond to a request for comment.

- We're looking at something similar to radio censorship

or TV censorship when authorities might bleep out

parts of a sentence or a speech.

- [Narrator] Alp Toker is the founder

of an internet advocacy group called NetBlocks.

He says it's surprisingly easy for the government

to turn off access to specific sites.

- [Alp] This is basically an engineer

with a button on the switch.

When they see something they don't like,

they press the button.

- [Narrator] But authorities can be more subtle

in how they control the internet,

not just by blocking sites,

but by simply slowing down the connection.

(bubble popping) (pleasant electronic music)

This is called throttling,

so it looks like you're apps are still running

when, in fact, the interference is at a level

that makes using the internet painful,

so the video you're trying to watch on YouTube

becomes very low res or it keeps loading.

We spoke to network engineers

who monitor internet censorship,

and they say that it's even hard for them

to really pinpoint the specific reason

behind a slow connection,

and they say that's likely why some governments

have turned to throttling to shrug off accountability.

In some extreme cases,

governments can order service providers

to turn off the internet completely.

This happened last year during anti-government protests

in Iraq when the internet was cut off.

(phone buzzing)

- You connect the WiFi and opened the browser,

there is nothing and the provider sent us messages

we are sorry because the government cut off the internet.

- [Narrator] Ameer Hazim is an Iraqi photographer

in Baghdad, and he's been posting his photos on Instagram.

The Iraqi Prime Minister at the time said

it's the government's right to restrict access

when the internet is being used to stoke violence

and conspiracy against the homeland.

Because internet blackouts disrupt critical services

and can hurt the economy,

authorities often target specific networks

and geographic areas.

At the height of the protests in Iraq,

the government imposed daily digital curfews

between five p.m. to seven a.m.

Then during business hours,

the government ordered service providers

to turn on the connection again.

We spoke to private companies in several countries,

and they say they have little power to refuse a request

because authorities can threaten

to terminate their licenses.

Citizens have looked for workarounds

like using VPNs that connect to networks

outside of the country.

Some will pay for expensive satellite connections.

Others, like Hazim, have bought international SIM cards

from Jordan that are activated before entering Iraq.

- That helped us to keep people updated.

I started during lives from Tahrir Square

showing the area around and what's happening really

and how people are living

and how the government are using violence.

- [Narrator] Toker says these solutions

may end up encouraging

more aggressive moves from the government.

- The more people attempt to get around it,

the more governments are gonna try to switch it off.

- [Narrator] The UN says restrictions on internet access

are a violation of human rights,

but many countries already have laws

that make it legal to shut down the internet

on grounds related to national security

or stopping the spread of fake news.

- [Alp] So while this might have started off

as authoritarian dictatorship move,

it gets encoded into laws.

It becomes very difficult

for the public to complain about it.

(buzzing electronic tones)