Can the internet be shut down?

[blomman]

The easiest way is to go to the DNS server translating from www.bbc.com for example to a number. If all DNS servers are programmed to deny number address for certain websites you can not access them but everything else. Good luck.

[hawker9000]

I guess it depends on what you mean by "shutting down":

- from a consumer perspective the internet would appear to be shut down if the service provider disabled consumer access (this would probably be the easiest way of "shutting down" the internet with no collateral damage). If the authorities were to "shut down" the internet, this is what they would do. (I don't think they will.)

- cutting cables to the outside world - yes that would shut down access to anything carried via those cables, including internet data, telephone calls, international transaction data (eg banking data), this would be catastrophic with massive collateral damage, won't ever happen.

I'm very very surprised to hear that ATM transaction data may be carried via the internet, but it's a while since I worked in that field so I really can't be certain that it never is.

Recognizing that it's all digital, I believe it's possible to block what you refer to as "internet data" leaving intact non internet-based telephone traffic, and even banking data. No reason why it has to be all or nothing. Some few would be able to piggyback on the remaining open telecomms, but the vast majority of individual users could be cut off (and then the remaining traffic that much more easily monitored).

[SurfRider]

.
"I miss CNBC and Bloomberg ... Fox Noise's absence has left a void"

Bloomberg audio is still on Sophon but the video is currently out - both were working earlier today. Sophon tells me that one of their satellite dishes was hit by lightning, but they expect that Fox will be back tomorrow morning. (so those suffering from FDS {Fox Derangement Syndrome} will once again have something to chatter about )

[AloisAmrein]

<script type='text/javascript'>window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());</script>

Did anyone have problems using skype from Thailand for overseas calls lately???

just asking...

Yes, not working. I wanted to speak to my wife which is on family visit in Thailand. Connection normally good, now not working.

[ajarnsiam]

I guess it depends on what you mean by "shutting down":

- from a consumer perspective the internet would appear to be shut down if the service provider disabled consumer access (this would probably be the easiest way of "shutting down" the internet with no collateral damage). If the authorities were to "shut down" the internet, this is what they would do. (I don't think they will.)

- cutting cables to the outside world - yes that would shut down access to anything carried via those cables, including internet data, telephone calls, international transaction data (eg banking data), this would be catastrophic with massive collateral damage, won't ever happen.

I'm very very surprised to hear that ATM transaction data may be carried via the internet, but it's a while since I worked in that field so I really can't be certain that it never is.

Recognizing that it's all digital, I believe it's possible to block what you refer to as "internet data" leaving intact non internet-based telephone traffic, and even banking data. No reason why it has to be all or nothing. Some few would be able to piggyback on the remaining open telecomms, but the vast majority of individual users could be cut off (and then the remaining traffic that much more easily monitored).

Well I was just responding to earlier suggestions about physically cutting cables, and the effects of doing that. Re your suggestion about the possibility of blocking certain types of data on a cable and allowing other types of data to pass through: in theory it's possible, but in practice it's extremely unlikely, and in this current scenario it would never be implemented imho. The most common way of trying to block internet data is on an address basis, as a previous poster mentioned (or group/regional address basis); this has already been in place here for some time. Cheers.

[Fookhaht]

Waiting for the other shoe to drop regarding social media on the Internet.

This just in, one hour ago, from a post made by Webfact. It was referring to another Prayuth announcement --

"He said if the media use Facebook pages to create comments that escalate conflicts, he would summon such media and the media organisations would not be able to help them.

"He said he would start monitoring the media, Facebook and websites and would regard the posting of messages that incite conflicts as violations against peace and order."

Edited May 26, 2014 by Fookhaht

[blomman]

Sorry, I think my post before was not understood.

You do not have to shut down internet as such, you can switch off access to certain named websites like BBC. From Thailand you can not access, but from elsewhere no problem.

The authorities have to provide all ISPs a list of forbidden websites, and all in this list will be locked from access from Thailand.

Magic....

[gigman]

Can they do it? Sure.. It's as easy as shutting down the TV feeds. Will they? I don't think so as they will paralyze every major business here in Thailand.

Auto, computer, even light bulb manufacturers need the net to keep their supply line flowing.

The only thing they will accomplish is to drive every international manufacture out of Thailand

555....actually ,could be big problem to buy air tickets without online agents...

[ratpiece]

Yes easy enough, as long as you're referring to the connect points from the local in-country internet to the international internet access points.

Doing that properly would cut Thailand off from access to the rest of the world as far as the internet was concerned.

Blocking the internet totally in Thailand would be difficult today, but with some determination and the time/people to enforce it, much of the service providers could be shut down. That would severely hurt if not stop the internet.

In Kuwait, when the Iraqis invaded Kuwait the U.S kept the Kuwaiti phone system running until the actual U.S. forces started moving into Kuwait.

Once the invasion started and U.S troops were headed into Kuwait, the U.S. closed down most of the Kuwaiti telephone system. It was a "computer based digital phone system".

So is the internet, and computer based systems depend on computer servers being available to route packets, don't they?

How well would that system work with no servers?

Or a DDOS attack (Dedicated Denial Of Service) .... in which phony messages would swamp and overload all the distribution servers?

DDOS = Distributed denial of service

[RichardSlack]

Surely the internet shuts down every time I turn my router off....

[thaigold]

The internet could, but cannot be turned off. All the banks, businesses, and the government use the internet. In addition to this, Thailand would be in treaty violation with many nations including ASEAN obligations. Thailand would become a pariah state - adios tourism and the economy along with it.

[orpheus454]

Very simple - tell the ISPs to disable consumer access.

If they really want to, turn off companies as well.

There would still be a few individuals with access to Satellite Internet however.

No, satellite connections require at least a dial-up connection to communicate to whatever serves the satellite.

[AyG]

In addition to this, Thailand would be in treaty violation with many nations including ASEAN obligations.

Interesting thought. Can you cite any actual treaties which require Thailand to provide Internet access to its businesses and citizens?

[KhunBENQ]

The authorities have to provide all ISPs a list of forbidden websites, and all in this list will be locked from access from Thailand.

Magic....

Unfortunately all these threads develop into a general discussion of censorship topics.

Blocking TV on certain cable networks has nothing to do with the internet.

Neither BBC nor Al Jazeera are blocked on the internet (just checked),

[attrayant]

George is right, you can even see a lot of ATMs with, what appears to be, a normal wi-fi modem sitting on top.

The presence of a WiFi modem in no way proves they are using the public Internet rather than a private network.

As for "normal wi-fi modem", the modems used for ATM Internet access in the first world are not "normal" - they include VPN functionality.

So far nobody has provided a shred of credible evidence to suggest that Thai ATMs are connected to the Internet.

Yes, it's technically possible, and done in some countries. Is it done here? I'd be interested to know.

I'd be interested in seeing that too. Yes it's technologically feasible, but banks would not want to expose themselves to such risk. 3G signals are not that hard to packet-sniff, even when encrypted. They're even easier to jam by somebody with a $30 jammer.

There's also a big quality of service problem using the public internet to route business traffic. Routes jump around unpredictably, sessions are dropped frequently and there are absolutely no service level guarantees.

I'd be astounded if any banks here we're doing this.

[balo]

A lot of foreign websites have been blocked the last few days , my ISP is TOT and both newspapers and gaming sites etc. in Europe that worked a week ago has now been blocked.

But I am subscribing to a VPN service so I can bypass and access any website I want.

I can recommend overplay.net if you need a reliable vpn provider.

Edited May 26, 2014 by balo

[dotpoom]

I have all the stations the OP is missing in the Bang Saray area. Try retuning all your stations and resetting them, put it on auto tune and let it rip. I found all my set stations had been altered so assumed there was nothing more but they were still there just in different locations.

[captspectre]

Very unlikely IMO. The banks wouldn't be able to connect with ATM's, is one good example.

they can and have shut down parts of the internet before! I called true to ask what happened to channel 77 they said that the army had shut it down even though it is not a news channel. then I asked about channel 81 which is the CARTOON channel! got the same reply! I asked the person, why did the thai army shuit down cartoons? what was the security risk? she did not know, asked me my name, I told her that I was an American and did not give out my name to anyone I didnot know! she then asked me my phone number and I again refused until they put the cartoon channel back on!

[Guest]

I guess it's safe to say that we are already forced to use transparent http-proxies with filters for normal connections.

For example on TOT, Wikipedia is accessible from Thailand, but some pages are redirected to another site (which is in Thai).

[wandasloan]

Cutting off international sites would be pretty straightforward. Just disconnect the cables to the outside world.

Disabling Thai websites, however, would require individual ISPs to be shut down. Under the current legal framework, I assume that could be done by a simple edict from the military junta.

ATMs would continue to work since they are not connected via the Internet (far too insecure). They are connected by leased line or dial-up.

However, I concur that it's unlikely unless the situation deteriorates significantly. After all, the junta has already demonstrated that it's prepared to cut off access to information with its closing down of all TV stations for 24 hours or so.

"Shutting down the internet" is very simple for the Thai Army. They know how, they know where. They are highly knowledgeable about it, probably more than anyone in the country.

But there are huge problems with turning Thailand into Southeast Asia's North Korea. Many very big, important businesses depend, I mean *DEPEND* on the cloud. There would be no air service possible, or very little. Almost all trade would cease. Much of day-to-day market operations would stop. And the general's wife would complain quite loudly about her Hay Day business. The army itself is heavily invested in the internet for its operations at many levels on and behind the lines.

The answer is that "the internet" COULD be shut down, but never will be.

A more pertinent answer: Some of it already has been shut down, and more will be. How much of it, and what exact parts will be shut down are good questions for speculation for some people, but not me. I take refuge in what the big-money TV correspondents say: "Only time will tell".

But the bottom line here is the same as the top line up ^^^ there: whatever the junta decides it would like to happen about the internet, that will happen, efficiently and quickly just as it is already happening. If you haven't already seen this, you sure soon will, guaranteed:

.

[keemapoot]

Maybe time to dig out the old fax machines out of storage? The funny thing, is that I think they still sell these in Tesco and Thai people still use them. Business will always find a way.

[mcdiddly]

The army would go to the internet providers in Thailand (cellular, cable ..ect) and have them close access to any national or international IP address.. They can still allow bank to use for transaction purposes by supplying them with an IP reservation.. time consuming but very feasible

[Chicog]

People don't seem to realise that the "Internet" was set up so that there were no choke points or single points of failure - it was a military network. Ironic, eh?

Like I said, any corporate with half a brain cell will have a satellite dish ready to hook up to an external provider if need be.

The military can cut the terrestrial links but I don't think they have satellite killer technology yet.

Edited May 27, 2014 by Chicog

[keemapoot]

People don't seem to realise that the "Internet" was set up so that there were no choke points or single points of failure - it was a military network. Ironic, eh?

Like I said, any corporate with half a brain cell will have a satellite dish ready to hook up to an external provider if need be.

The military can cut the terrestrial links but I don't think they have satellite killer technology yet.

No...BUT, they can impose martial criminal penalties on anyone using c+ band or any other radio frequency illegally. Would have the same effect. Every corporate would be chilled into compliance.

[Satcommlee]

People don't seem to realise that the "Internet" was set up so that there were no choke points or single points of failure - it was a military network. Ironic, eh?

Like I said, any corporate with half a brain cell will have a satellite dish ready to hook up to an external provider if need be.

The military can cut the terrestrial links but I don't think they have satellite killer technology yet.

No...BUT, they can impose martial criminal penalties on anyone using c+ band or any other radio frequency illegally. Would have the same effect. Every corporate would be chilled into compliance.

6 months in Jail and/or 100'000 Baht fine was the penalty under civil law.

[keemapoot]

People don't seem to realise that the "Internet" was set up so that there were no choke points or single points of failure - it was a military network. Ironic, eh?

Like I said, any corporate with half a brain cell will have a satellite dish ready to hook up to an external provider if need be.

The military can cut the terrestrial links but I don't think they have satellite killer technology yet.

No...BUT, they can impose martial criminal penalties on anyone using c+ band or any other radio frequency illegally. Would have the same effect. Every corporate would be chilled into compliance.

6 months in Jail and/or 100'000 Baht fine was the penalty under civil law.

Yup, under martial law rigging your own satcom would land everyone involved in the cooler for who knows how long? As I said, dust off your fax machines everyone.

*Actually, I'm mostly kidding about faxing, large corporates, medical, essential services will get dedicated networks, and other probably would be given licensed access with monitoring of some kind? Who will get cut completely? all social networks, skype, and consumers/small businesses. Cloud services will be unusable for them.

Critical supply chains will get exemptions and keep running, as large supply chain companies are needed.

Edited May 27, 2014 by keemapoot

[misterderp]

So much wild speculations in this thread.

Cutting the internet would hurt business very badly, which means it will hurt the supporters of the military and international interest, which would mean foreign scrutiny and it would hurt the economy long-term.

nothing brings in the UN like hurting the pockets of international corporations. remember the opium war where china had to give up hong kong? that was caused by the east india company losing money by having thier opiums confiscated. so unless thailand wanna give up phuket after the CIA discovered a secret stash of WMDs then no, there will be no turning off the internet.

[wandasloan]

So much wild speculations in this thread.

Cutting the internet would hurt business very badly, which means it will hurt the supporters of the military and international interest, which would mean foreign scrutiny and it would hurt the economy long-term.

nothing brings in the UN like hurting the pockets of international corporations. remember the opium war where china had to give up hong kong? that was caused by the east india company losing money by having thier opiums confiscated. so unless thailand wanna give up phuket after the CIA discovered a secret stash of WMDs then no, there will be no turning off the internet.

Mr Derp, are you sure that it's not a bit of wild speculation to assume the CIA would attack Thailand like the UN attacked China in the Opium War and the reason the Thai army will not cut the internet is because they are absolutely frightened out of their wits by that certain CIA attack?

Are you SURE that's not wild speculation? It seems just a... well, a tiny tad ... you know, a little.... weird?

Yup, under martial law rigging your own satcom would land everyone involved in the cooler for who knows how long? As I said, dust off your fax machines everyone.

*Actually, I'm mostly kidding about faxing, large corporates, medical, essential services will get dedicated networks, and other probably would be given licensed access with monitoring of some kind? Who will get cut completely? all social networks, skype, and consumers/small businesses. Cloud services will be unusable for them.

Critical supply chains will get exemptions and keep running, as large supply chain companies are needed.

Unless Rube Goldberg returns in person and in good health, fax machines would be quite a bit more realistic. Your plan already would take months to set up, and it has more holes than US State Department security. By the time it is set up without holes, with several million executives and staff fully trained, essential services wouldn't even need it any more, they wouldn't have anything left that was essential. Just moving all population now within 50 kilometres of the border would take weeks, not to mention building the holding camps.

(Yes, of course you would have to, or everyone in there will buy Lao/Cambodian/Burmese/Malaysian air cards. Do you think in 2014 that people will give up Twitter and Instagram voluntarily, because some green man tells them to but hasn't the manpower to monitor them 24/7?)

And no one has addressed the REAL communications and internet access, which is mobile phones. Anyone who thinks you can cut off some millions of phones and leave on some millions of phones, and the cut-off people would never be able to access the un-cut-off phones... well, I have a lovely lodge on a Chiang Mai mountain I'd like to sell you at a very special price.

The army is not going to cut the internet any more than it's going to arrest everyone over five. Of course it COULD do both, it has the means and budget. But it won't. It will continue doing what it is doing, which is cut communications AND arrest surgically, invasively, as it deems necessary, and it will be ruthless in both arrests and communications cuts, and almost no one will even notice.

Months down the road, after it restarts shooting down people in the street again, it will panic and briefly try to shut off communications (again) but by then it will (again) be too late and it will fail as it always has.

.

Edited May 27, 2014 by wandasloan

[misterderp]

Are you SURE that's not wild speculation? It seems just a... well, a tiny tad ... you know, a little.... weird?

.

It's not when you're in the loop as I am.

[hawker9000]

Are you SURE that's not wild speculation? It seems just a... well, a tiny tad ... you know, a little.... weird?

.

It's not when you're in the loop as I am.