Posted by BeauHD from the internet-blackout dept.
Bangladesh is experiencing a “near-total” nationwide internet shutdown amid government efforts to control widespread student protests against the country’s quota system for government jobs. The country’s quota system requires a third of government jobs be reserved for relatives of veterans who had fought for independence from Pakistan.
According to Reuters, the protests “have opened old and sensitive political fault lines between those who fought for Bangladesh’s independence from Pakistan in 1971 and those accused of collaborating with Islamabad.” Analysts say the protests have also been “fueled by high unemployment among young people” and “wider economic woes, such as high inflation and shrinking reserves of foreign exchange.” Engadget reports on the internet disruptions: To control the situation, Bangladeshi authorities shut down internet and phone access throughout the country, a common practice in South Asia to prevent the spread of rumors and misinformation and exercise state control. NetBlocks, a global internet monitor that works on digital rights analyzed live network data that showed that Bangladesh was in the middle of a “near-total national internet shutdown.” […]
Bangladesh has frequently blacked out the internet to crack down on political opposition and activists. At the end of 2023, research tool CIVICUS Monitor, which provides data on the state of civil society and freedoms in nearly 200 countries, downgraded Bangladesh’s civic space to “closed,” its lowest possible rating, after the country imposed six internet shutdowns the previous year. That made Bangladesh the fifth-largest perpetrator of internet shutdowns in 2022, Access Now said.
The country’s telecom regulator had pledged to keep internet access on through Bangladesh’s general elections at the beginning of 2024, but that electoral period is now over. Despite the pledge, Bangladesh blocked access to news websites during its elections.
The University of California Statistics Department; where mean is normal, and deviation standard.
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