- Click to share on Facebook (Opens in a new window)
- Click to share on Twitter (Opens in a new window)
- Click here to share on LinkedIn (Opens in a new window)
- Click to email a friend (Opens in a new window)
Online sales overshadow stores 1:58
Hong Kong (CNN Business) - More than 18,000 hours of Internet crashes worldwide caused by deliberate government actions cost more than US $ 8 billion in 2019, a new report estimates.
India, Chad and Myanmar were the worst offenders in terms of the amount of time the Internet was interrupted, while Iraq was the most economically affected, losing approximately US $ 2.3 billion in 263 hours of Internet blackouts and social network blackouts.
The report, which examines the blockages https://us.cnn.com/2020/01/08/asia/australasian-impact-crater-laos-intl-hnk-scli-scn/index.htmlparcials and totals in 122 countries, It was published by internet research firm Top10VPN and is based on the work done by Netblocks and the Internet Society advocacy group.
“In economic terms, disruptions not only affect the formal economy but also the informal economy, especially in less developed nations. There can also be lasting damage with the loss of investor confidence and hesitant development, all of which makes our estimates conservative, ”wrote researchers Samuel Woodhams and Simon Migliano on Top10VPN.
MIRA: Loon will take internet to Peru through hot air balloons
"On the human rights side, these blockades clearly affect citizens' freedom of expression and the right to information and may even lead to an increase in violence," they add.
A new normal
Internet blackouts used to be rare, more often as a result of accidental damage to submarine communications cables than government intentional activity, but the latter have become increasingly common.
Over the past five years, the number of Internet cuts worldwide has grown exponentially, especially as governments adopt them to control riots and protests. According to Freedom House, a non-governmental organization based in Washington, since last year almost half of the world's population lives in a country "where the authorities disconnected internet or mobile networks, often for political reasons."
These tactics have not been limited to autocratic regimes. India, for example, closed the Internet for some citizens partially or totally more than 100 times in 2019.
MIRA: The country where citizens have been without Internet for more than a year
Top10VPN estimated that such stops cost the Indian economy more than US $ 1.3 billion last year.
An Internet blackout in Kashmir controlled by India, which goes 158 days and counting, is the longest in a democracy, according to Access Now, a defense group that tracks Internet freedom. Only the autocratic governments of China and Myanmar of the board era have cut off access for longer.
The blackout occurred when Indian troops flooded Kashmir after the elimination of New Delhi from the legal autonomy of the region, which the Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, said would bring stability and end "separatism, terrorism, dynastic politics and corruption But the blockade left some cashmere without knowing why the Internet was cut. And without access to the Internet, they have been largely eliminated from the conversation, making it difficult for people in the region to convey their messages.
David Kaye, the United Nations special rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression, described the current blackout as a "siege of communications" and a "collective punishment without even the accusation of an underlying crime."
Internet under attack
Although the trend of Internet blockades possibly began a decade ago with a blackout of almost a year in the western province of Xinjiang, China is not a frequent offender. Chinese censorship is generally sophisticated enough that the authorities do not need to use an instrument as blunt as closing all access: they achieve the same purpose by filtering what can be discussed in the first place.
In fact, the success of Chinese censorship on the Internet has probably inspired other countries to follow suit, although in many cases, especially the general blockages, Internet outages can violate the rights guaranteed by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948 and other international treaties. The United Nations has also stated that member states have a responsibility to protect people's access to the Internet and freedom of expression online.
LOOK: China is exporting its censorship model, while Internet freedom decreases worldwide
In the Top10VPN report, Woodhams and Migliano warned that "despite its negative impact on the global economy, human rights and democratic processes, there is little to suggest that Internet blockades will stop in 2020".
Internet Internet freedom