Libya's internet goes dark as upheaval spreads

As violence escalated against people protesting Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, internet traffic flowing in and out of the African nation dropped to zero, making it impossible to send communications over its borders. According to figures supplied by Google's Transparency Report, traffic flowing between Libyan computers and …

[David 164]

This demonstrate that Gadaffi is slowly moving back into control of the country

If Gadaffi still have this much control of the country, then the likely hood of the rebellion there succeeding is growing less likely as the days go by.

Of cause they have got the SAS on there side now so they will probably win in the end.

[DryBones]

Yep

I admit that I'm not a type-A sort. But the peaceful resistance only works if you're up against someone that's not willing to kill you to get their way. These folks evidently are quite willing to employ lots and lots of violence. The opposition needs to stop giving them target practice and start giving them reasons to need clean pants.

[Daniel B.]

Request timed out ... Request timed out ... No route to host ...

Twitterati of the world: Unless you've got some real nice sat links, your Twitter-fueled revolutions will be disrupted by:

enable

config t

int serial0

shutdown

Shows how fragile the Twitter/Facebook "people power" tools really are. Ad-hoc networks could be raised, but it would require at least one exit point to be successful. Oh well, it's probably time to whip out the medium-wave radio transmitters...

[Anonymous Coward]

pshhhhhhh

That's the sound of interference caused by powerline home networking gear on the ham radio gear your now wanting to use.

[JamieL]

If all the servers were outside Libya then - yes...

It's true that if the routes to the rest of the world are disabled then Libyans have no access to sites such as YouTube, Twitter, BBC etc.

But that doesn't mean they've necessarily lost the Internet completely - it may well be that internal servers can still be accessed and email is still flowing via any (not government controlled) mail servers.

A slightly imperialist view that people only access or need web services based outside their country: "Fog in Channel, Continent cut off" springs to mind!

[Gerry1]

Restore shortwave !

And the BBC thought that it made sense to switch off the World Service on shortwave (receivable on a cheap portable) in favour of internet streaming that requires an expensive PC, an expensive internet connection and mains power sooner or later...

[willbergma]

Libyians, Use Cryptology !

You should be aware of the fact that the tyrant has purchased a lot of Communications Intelligence Equipment from various countries, including Europe.

All you say on HF/UHF Radio can be intercepted !

All you say on mobile phones can be intercepted !

Your position can be geo-located and by used for air attacks ! It can be used to provide warning to the tyrant's troops

To succeed you should

* organize yourself. Military and educated persons must be leaders.

* encrypt all communications. (see below)

* read about military tactics and strategies (see below)

* be as brief as possible on the radio; use the lowest possible power setting

* use Yagi antennas to reduce emissions

For reasons I cannot reveal, all I can do is to provide my skills as a programmer. I have written a cipher for you:

https://alquarizmi.wordpress.com/

(it will compile on Linux using g++; wordpress does not display the include statements correctly)

Another cipher:

http://gnupg.org/

(might be broken by powers friendly to the tyrant, be careful)

Military tactics and strategy:

http://www.airpower.maxwell.af.mil/ (also partially in Arabic !)

http://www.fas.org/irp/agency/army/mipb/index.html (information about electronic intelligence)

Your cause is noble, you are strong fighters and if you also teach yourself military skills quickly, you will succeed. Freedom for Lybia !

[Joe Montana]

Routing

It seems all the connections to/from Libya go through Tripoli, which is still controlled by Gadaffi...

Regardless of what other territory falls, so long as Gadaffi still controls Tripoli he can keep the Internet offline there.

The anti-gadaffi forces would need to build their own replacement infrastructure, and they have more important things to worry about right now.

[Henry Wertz 1]

Maybe not a mystery?

Especially if, as Joe Montana says, all connections for the country go through Tripoli.. well, if I were them I wouldn't rely on altering BGP tables. I'd unplug or cut the cables. Routes are then up but no data gets through. (Or, as Daniel B suggests, cut the routes off in the router.)