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Corruption and Control: Turkmenistan turned internet censorship into a business

58 points by pabs3 1y ago

duxup 1y ago
> It was reported by Progres Foundation that this Internet shutdown has potentially costed 8% of Turkmenistan's annual GDP. That’s a lot.
userbinator 1y ago
The very people blocking access were the ones selling it back. "Create a problem, create the solution and profit from it" is not unique to Turkmenistan nor a new concept. I wouldn't be surprised if this is also true of the "anti-AI crawling" and "identity verification" stuff that's now showing up.
- aaomidi 1y ago
  tsa precheck
- vasco 1y ago
  But think of all the children you're saving everytime you show your ID to pornhub. God's work really.
itchingsphynx 1y ago
The blog cites an interesting tool called COST: The NetBlocks Cost of Shutdown Tool https://netblocks.org/projects/cost https://netblocks.org/projects/cost NetBlocks Cost of Shutdown Tool™ (COST) is a data-driven online service that enables anyone – including journalists, researchers, advocates, policy makers, businesses, and others – to quickly and easily produce rough estimates of the economic cost of Internet disruptions. https://progres.online/reports/internet-freedom/what-does-internet-shutdown-cost-the-turkmen-economy/ https://progres.online/reports/internet-freedom/what-does-in... "It indicates that a total internet shutdown in Turkmenistan for one day could result in a loss of 17.4 million USD, which translates to 6.4 billion USD per year, equivalent to around 7.8% of the country’s GDP in 2023."
N_Lens 1y ago
I wonder what underpins the arising of this kind of pattern of authoritarian government, which we also see arising in supposedly liberal Western democracies. Some people voice concern about the emergence of “prison planet” (a phrase with varied meanings), but with the rise of mass surveillance, drone tech, AI and authoritarianism I can well imagine the worst patterns of governance finding a stable equilibrium for a considerable period of time.
- _mlbt 1y ago
  I think these guys have a lot to do with the rise of authoritarianism in the West… https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Economic_Forum https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Economic_Forum Read up on what they advocate for and who they’re influencing and you’ll start to understand what’s going in the world a little better. Chilling stuff for sure.
  - mindslight 1y ago
    Do you have any links investigating how they've been backing Trump? It feels like he's right in line with the overall corporate-authoritarian agenda, but with a kayfabe of a different flavor for the sake of distraction.
    - _mlbt 1y ago
      The WEF supports leftist authoritarianism, not the Trump/MAGA flavored variety. I think they are indirectly responsible for his rise, because he is a direct result of the growing backlash against globalist policies.
      - mindslight 1y ago
        The flavors of authoritarianism are just different marketing for the plebs. When people grow weary of one, they flop to the other for a new promise of different easy answers. Why do you think they're somehow disjoint? Even if there is some friendly competition between different factions of elites jockeying for power based on how they market themselves, from an individual/liberty perspective why wouldn't you still consider them more alike than different?
SaintSeiya 1y ago
don't go that far, look at Cuba: 90 miles from the US's shores. Systemic corruption and narco dictatorship.

58 points by pabs3 1y ago

> It was reported by Progres Foundation that this Internet shutdown has potentially costed 8% of Turkmenistan's annual GDP. That’s a lot.

userbinator 1y ago

The very people blocking access were the ones selling it back. "Create a problem, create the solution and profit from it" is not unique to Turkmenistan nor a new concept. I wouldn't be surprised if this is also true of the "anti-AI crawling" and "identity verification" stuff that's now showing up.

aaomidi 1y ago
tsa precheck
vasco 1y ago
But think of all the children you're saving everytime you show your ID to pornhub. God's work really.

itchingsphynx 1y ago

The blog cites an interesting tool called COST: The NetBlocks Cost of Shutdown Tool https://netblocks.org/projects/cost https://netblocks.org/projects/cost NetBlocks Cost of Shutdown Tool™ (COST) is a data-driven online service that enables anyone – including journalists, researchers, advocates, policy makers, businesses, and others – to quickly and easily produce rough estimates of the economic cost of Internet disruptions. https://progres.online/reports/internet-freedom/what-does-internet-shutdown-cost-the-turkmen-economy/ https://progres.online/reports/internet-freedom/what-does-in... "It indicates that a total internet shutdown in Turkmenistan for one day could result in a loss of 17.4 million USD, which translates to 6.4 billion USD per year, equivalent to around 7.8% of the country’s GDP in 2023."

N_Lens 1y ago

I wonder what underpins the arising of this kind of pattern of authoritarian government, which we also see arising in supposedly liberal Western democracies. Some people voice concern about the emergence of “prison planet” (a phrase with varied meanings), but with the rise of mass surveillance, drone tech, AI and authoritarianism I can well imagine the worst patterns of governance finding a stable equilibrium for a considerable period of time.

_mlbt 1y ago
I think these guys have a lot to do with the rise of authoritarianism in the West… https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Economic_Forum https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Economic_Forum Read up on what they advocate for and who they’re influencing and you’ll start to understand what’s going in the world a little better. Chilling stuff for sure.
- mindslight 1y ago
  Do you have any links investigating how they've been backing Trump? It feels like he's right in line with the overall corporate-authoritarian agenda, but with a kayfabe of a different flavor for the sake of distraction.
  - _mlbt 1y ago
    The WEF supports leftist authoritarianism, not the Trump/MAGA flavored variety. I think they are indirectly responsible for his rise, because he is a direct result of the growing backlash against globalist policies.
    - mindslight 1y ago
      The flavors of authoritarianism are just different marketing for the plebs. When people grow weary of one, they flop to the other for a new promise of different easy answers. Why do you think they're somehow disjoint? Even if there is some friendly competition between different factions of elites jockeying for power based on how they market themselves, from an individual/liberty perspective why wouldn't you still consider them more alike than different?

SaintSeiya 1y ago

don't go that far, look at Cuba: 90 miles from the US's shores. Systemic corruption and narco dictatorship.