老澳门开奖结果

In the wake of the terrible Easter Sunday bombings in Sri Lanka, that government shut down access to Facebook, WhatsApp, YouTube, and other social media services. The shutdown garnered praise from some within the United States and other democratic countries, but as tragic as the circumstances may be, Americans must never come to see social media or other Internet shutdowns as anything other than an authoritarian power move and/or a mistake.

Some commentators to have viewed Sri Lanka鈥檚 shutdown through the lens of their own fatigue with social media platforms and the nastiness that can take place there. Without doubt, social media connectivity has intensified not only the positive but also the darker sides of humanity. But it鈥檚 important that we all keep the bigger picture firmly in mind.

First, Internet shutdowns, which have become increasingly common throughout the world, have a close and odious association with very dark abuses of power. As Stanford expert Jan Rydzak has , 鈥渓arge shutdowns sometimes accompany aggressive military or paramilitary operations, rendering them virtually impossible to document in real time by reporters and citizen journalists.鈥� Numerous shutdowns in the Syrian Civil War, for example, 鈥渋mmediately prior to and during military offensives carried out by the Syrian Army.鈥� Rydzak concludes, 鈥淣etwork disruptions and shutdowns provide an invisibility cloak for violence as well as gross violations of human rights.鈥�

Many imagine that such shut-downs can be beneficial by helping squelch brewing sectarian or ethnic violence. But the evidence shows that鈥檚 false. A study of shutdowns in India, which has by far the most shutdowns in the world, they 鈥渁re followed by a clear increase in violent protest.鈥� Partly that鈥檚 because violent outbreaks are 鈥渓ess reliant on effective communication and coordination鈥� than nonviolent protests. Most outbreaks of genocide have been planned or whipped up by those with centralized, top-down control of communications media (the Nazis in Germany, the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia, the Serbian authoritarian Slobodan Milo拧evi膰 in Yugoslavia, the Hutu elite in Rwanda). Internet shutdowns are a tool that increases and serves centralized power rather than curbing it.

As the Sri Lankan writer Yudhanjaya Wijeratne , 鈥淩ight now, in a country with tight government controls on trad[itional] media, social media is a boon for us.鈥� He continued, 鈥渧iolence in [Sri Lanka] began before social media, Internet, telephony. To a large extent much of race hatred is still fueled by print media in this country.鈥�

Not only are shutdowns a bad way to dampen violence, but they have many negative collateral effects. Of course, they interfere with people鈥檚 rights to freedom of expression and freedom to peacefully assemble by making it much harder to publish and to organize. They deprive people of accurate information when they need it most, without any clear effectiveness in countering misinformation. They interfere with efforts to reach out, support, and express solidarity with communities targeted by egregious attacks. And they create a sense of isolation when communities can least afford it. As one Sri Lankan activist the Irish Times,

The social media ban makes it difficult for activists to mobilise [and] make sure communities provide and are given accurate and timely information鈥�. [It] does not counter malicious rumours and fear. It deepens a sense of isolation, and the sense that we are not getting clear information on the latest threats, which leads to panic.

Other negative effects reported by experts and those affected by shutdowns include:

• Disruptions to health care and emergency services, which rely on good communications
• due to the difficulties imposed on businesses
• Interference with the ability of people separated in an emergency to find and help each other, and to verify each other鈥檚 safety

Many who approved of the Sri Lankan blockages would never have supported such a move in this country. As Trevor Timm of the Freedom of the Press Foundation , such views smack of paternalism 鈥� the view that 鈥溾�妎rdinary Sri Lankans aren鈥檛 sophisticated enough to deal with these problems, we know better than they do, and we must trust their political leaders.鈥�

Shutdowns in the U.S.?

When Americans look overseas and see governments shutting down or otherwise disrupting Internet communications, they should see nothing but counterproductive and authoritarian exercises of power.

We have seen hints of such abuses in the United States. Police in Baltimore asked Facebook to shut down a woman鈥檚 live video stream and then shot her to death. In 2011, authorities reacted to planned protests by shutting down cell service in the San Francisco subway system BART.

It鈥檚 also worth remembering that we currently have a president with marked authoritarian inclinations who displays no respect for the rule of law. That lack of respect has included a willingness to abuse his emergency authorities. And according to an by the Brennan Center, those authorities include a provision of the Communications Act of 1934 that allows the president to shut down or take control of 鈥渁ny facility or station for wire communication鈥� upon his proclamation 鈥渢hat there exists a state or threat of war involving the United States.鈥�

We can hope that President Trump or any succeeding president, no matter how erratic, would never exercise such a power 鈥� but lauding these draconian practices in other nations can open the door to acceptance of similar abuses here in the United States.