Internet Access Cut Off in Syria

[steve2470]

Source: PC Magazine

Internet activity in Syria dropped off sharply on Tuesday afternoon, according to various sources.

Internet monitoring firm Renesys tweeted this afternoon that it confirmed a "loss of Syrian Internet connectivity 18:43 UTC. BGP routes down, inbound traces failing."

Google later tweeted "Google services inaccessible in Syria," with a link to its Transparency Report, which showed a complete drop in activity from the region shortly before 3 p.m. Eastern (left).

In a blog post, Umbrella Security Labs said that at 2:45 p.m. Eastern, "OpenDNS resolvers saw a significant drop in traffic from Syria. On closer inspection it seems Syria has largely disappeared from the Internet.

Read more: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2418671,00.asp

[JNelson6563]

1. Uh-oh.

This can't be a good thing.

Julie

[Ellipsis]

2. .

[DrDan]

3. learned some lessons from Egypt

[Sand Wind]

4. Assad Is preparing a massacre, I mean a greater massacre than usual.

[Comrade Grumpy]

5. Do the Qataris pay well?

[Sand Wind]

7. Why, are you paid by the SVR ?

[Xithras]

8. Doubtful

If Assad had the resources for another major massacre, I suspect that he would have used them long before now.

[Sand Wind]

9. He receive some new material From Iran last week.

[Xithras]

10. Possibly.

Even with that, he's still got a serious lack of manpower.

But overall he's actually beating the rebellion at the moment, so you'd still have to wonder what he would be hoping to accomplish...and who exactly he'd be massacring. Most of the anti-Assad civilians have evacuated the battle areas at this point, there are no longer any street protests in the government held areas. A massacre still seems unlikely.

[Sand Wind]

11. Let's hope you are right on this. Nt

[David__77]

13. Nonsense.

I certainly hope peace and order comes soon.

[Posteritatis]

6. I'm kinda surprised it took them that long. (nt)

[Daniel537]

12. Well this can't be true.

Assad's fan club assures us he is a benevolent and beloved leader who provides his citizens with all basic freedoms. Why he would never stoop to such a thing. I'm sure this is a Zionist-NATO-Al-Qaeda conspiracy. Yes siree Bob, gotta be.

The blood is very appropriate in this case.

[David__77]

14. Zionists should support the Syrian government.

It's the terrorists among the opposition that are absolutely dedicated not only to politically demolishing Israel, but also physically annihilating Jewry and Christendom.

[Daniel537]

16. So then your ok with Assad just as long as he limits his mass murder to Sunnis?

That's nice.

[David__77]

17. I'm OK with not intervening, yes.

...

[pampango]

15. BBC: Internet services have halted across Syria, in what appears to be the second shutdown in six

months.

Syria last experienced a shutdown for three days last November.

The Syrian government blamed that incident on "terrorists", but internet experts said it was more likely that the regime had shut down the web.

A digital rights campaign group, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, said the internet was a vital resource for activists in the country. "We're deeply concerned that this blackout is a deliberate attempt to silence Syria's online communications and further draw a curtain over grave events currently unfolding on the ground in Syria," it said in a statement.

"While heavily censored, monitored and compromised, the internet has served as an important window connecting the world at large to Syria, and one way that international observers could connect with individuals on the ground in that country. "A number of activists on the ground in Syria have access to internet via satellite links, which can connect them to the internet but carries a high risk for detection, which can be life-threatening."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-22446041