With the entire world looking at Egypt’s decision to switch off the Internet, Tim Lohman at ComputerWorld has looked into just how hard it would be for the Australian government to switch off our internet. Turns out, it would actually be incredibly easy.
Computerworld spoke to industry analyst Paul Budde, iiNet’s chief technology officer Greg Bader and chief of regulatory affairs, Steve Dalby and IIA chief executive, Peter Coroneos, and the general consensus was that it would be very easy, but still unlikely for the Australian government to switch off Australian internet access.
Budde pointed out: ““[The government]just have to flick a switch at a few key operators — Telstra, Optus, Vodafone — this would kill 80 per cent of all traffic.”
At the same time, there isn’t a kill switch for Australian Internet, so it would be a matter of the government directing ISPs to kill off access.
It’s a scary thought, and the Computerworld article is well worth reading if you’re watching Egypt and wondering if the same thing could ever happen in Australia.