Internet Shutdowns in Times of Crisis… and Exams
Internet shutdowns in times of crisis are certainly not unheard of. The global #KeepItOn coalition, which represents 258 organizations from 106 countries, documented no less than 50 internet blackouts in 21 countries between January and May 2021. Most shutdowns are initiated by authoritarian regimes and used as a method to silence protesters and journalists, manipulate elections or to grab power as part of a coup d’état. In Myanmar, for example, there have been regular internet service blackouts following the February military coup. In other countries, mainly in the Middle East and North Africa, governments are notorious for shutting down and throttling the internet during high school examinations. Their explanation? It’s an effective mechanism against widespread cheating.
Access Cut for Hours per Day
In Syria, more than 250,000 students took national exams in June. From May 31 onwards, internet services were completely shut down for 2 to 3 days a week, from 4 am to 8:30 am in the morning (before exams start), sometimes extending to 10:30 am. In Sudan, only 28% of the students in secondary school sit their secondary certificate. Cloudfare’s Radar tracked four shutdowns in June, each one corresponding with timings of exams. The internet outage usually starts at 8 am and ends three hours later at 11 am. Outages in Sudan are likely to continue until the end of the month, when examinations finish. Over the years, many other countries, including Algeria, Ethiopia, Iraq, Jordan, Mauritania and Uzbekistan have used the same tactic to discourage students from smuggling mobile phones and internet-connected devices into exam halls, and to avoid questions being leaked online.
No VPN Workaround, No Access, Just Nothing
While to some, this may sound like overkill, but “rather funny”, the consequences can be severe. When a government pulls the internet kill switch, there are no VPN workarounds, there’s no fixed line access, there’s… nothing. An outage impacts every person and business. There’s also the economic loss as a result of internet shutdowns. But blackouts also disconnect emergency workers and hospitals. In short: a total outage doesn’t distinguish between exams, life or death. Moreover, outages block people from accessing and spreading breaking news and important information. Therefore, from a human rights perspective, any interference with internet access is nothing short of a violation of international human rights law.
How to Circumvent Internet Outages
As the world becomes increasingly reliant on the internet, outages will become increasingly disruptive. If governments are simply blocking certain websites or apps, users can get around regional restrictions and censorship with the help of a VPN. Just don’t forget to also use a pseudonym, and look at some additional ways to stay anonymous when online. If there is no internet at all, more tech savy users can resort to Bluetooth mesh networks. This type of network allows Bluetooth enabled devices to connect with each other. Each device in such a network is called a node and can send and receive messages to other nodes, like a peer-to-peer network. As a last resort, when it comes to cheating at exams, there’s of course the old-school, analog way. Passing paper notes, writing on your thighs, sticking notes to the inside of your clothes, or copying your neighbor’s answers…
