Has anyone started to deny all traffic to/from Afghanistan ?
Wouldn't that be worth it ?
Or did I miss that post?
R
i think that they denied all traffic already, when they banned computers.
richard
Do they even have Internet?
http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/af.html
Internet Service Providers (ISPs): NA
-Basil
Yes, they very recently cracked down on usage, restricting access to one machine in the head of government's office (I forget what the title was). Any requests for information from the Internet from other branches of their government are to go through this one guy, who is unlikely to approve the request (according to the news report I read). Source long since forgotten...
One would expect high compliance in a regime that parades hands and feet of offenders down the street...
-Bill
>> Has anyone started to deny all traffic to/from Afghanistan ?
>>
>> Wouldn't that be worth it ?
>>
>> Or did I miss that post?
>
>Do they even have Internet?
>
>http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/af.html
>Internet Service Providers (ISPs): NA
It is my understanding that the free flow of ideas and discussion of same is detrimental to an extremist or dictatorial government. Such governments rarely (ever?) survive open discussions and flow of ideas.
Either that, or their beliefs are so strongly held, so pure, so obvious that other ideas / beliefs need not even be examined. Apparently the "boys and girls" are simply told what to believe, and the reasoning behind or, or counter arguments to it, are irrelevant. No discussion or substantiation is necessary, "people with clue" told them so.
I vote for #1. What does the rest of NANOG think?
Has anyone started to deny all traffic to/from Afghanistan ?
It is my understanding that the free flow of ideas and discussion of same
is detrimental to an extremist or dictatorial government. Such governments
rarely (ever?) survive open discussions and flow of ideas.
so i guess we should not advocate cutting off that flow, eh?
resist the cycle of violence and hate.
randy
Does anyone even have a list of IP blocks allocated on a national or
regional level?
In the immortal words of Tim Devries (tim.devries@inquent.com):
Does anyone even have a list of IP blocks allocated on a national or
regional level?
"None" and "none."
Afghanistan barely has working voice phone service, and the Taliban
issued an edict banning all computers and most especially internet
access several months ago.
Note reply-to.
-n
------------------------------------------------------------<memory@blank.org>
"Thus do `Snuff Movies' take their place with `Political-Correctness,' `Sex
Addiction,' and `Postmodernism' as Godzillas of bogus moral panic, always
threatening to crush the nation in their jaws, but never quite willing to take
the final step of biting down. (--www.suck.com)
<http://blank.org/memory/>----------------------------------------------------
On the topic of cutting off things...(and yes, this is partially off topic, but it is relevant)
(Clear Channel's new list of songs they won't play)
http://www.fuckedcompany.com/extras/clearchannel_email.cfm
and
(U.S. citizens back encryption controls )
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200-7215723.html?tag=mn_hd
I stand corrected on the clearchannel thing:
http://www.clearchannel.com/timages/article/Playlist-final.doc
my bad...t
Has anyone started to deny all traffic to/from Afghanistan ?
>> It is my understanding that the free flow of ideas and discussion of same
>> is detrimental to an extremist or dictatorial government. Such governments
>> rarely (ever?) survive open discussions and flow of ideas.
>
>so i guess we should not advocate cutting off that flow, eh?
Absolutely.
When someone claims they are in power, or smarter than you, or just know better, and tell you to do something you think is a poor idea, or simply something you do not want to do, you should research and find out why. Do not just take their word for it. And the Internet is a darned good way of getting that outside information for many, many people.
Of course, that opens a long discussion because there are obvious exceptions - parents and children, military personnel, bosses & employees. It is easy to see how someone could extend that to a government and its people. I do not believe it should be in most circumstances. Maybe I am wrong.
But that is straying too far off topic even for me.
What about all other nations and states? I think that type of information
would be useful regardless of this particular situation.
Anyone know if arin et al catagorizes and publishes this information?
As already was pointed out - keeping comm channels open to Afganistan is
not an issue. The only people having access to the channels are exactly
those who will only interpret what comes thru as more crap from the
infidels. Ochlocracy is the term for what's going on over there.
In fact, it may be quite worthwhile to close their two-way comms to make
coordination of adversarial activity abroad harder to them.
The open access makes sense as an a tool for influencing people's opinions
_only_ when people have widely available and unfiltered access. If
Afganistan had any independent ISPs, I'd say do everything possible to
make them successful. Alas, this is not the case.
I'd say the better way of communicating would be the classical
native-language radio translation in Radio Liberty/Radio Free Europe
fashion, otherwise known as propaganda. Worked well for the USSR.
Radios are cheap and realtively available (and hard to control, too).
May be worthwhile to actually air-drop loads of small and easy to hide
solar-powered units. I'd expect a lot of people to listen to those in
hiding even when threatened with execution for mere posession.
Given the air superiority of NATO, controlling use of those radios by the
local propaganda units can be very easy - just drop radio-guided missiles
on Taliban transmitters.
--vadim
You're talking about a country with very little electricity, non-existent
telecom and no running water. You do realize this don't you?
Curtis
I'd say the better way of communicating would be the classical
native-language radio translation in Radio Liberty/Radio Free Europe
fashion, otherwise known as propaganda. Worked well for the USSR.
You mean _against_ the USSR?
Radios are cheap and realtively available (and hard to control, too).
May be worthwhile to actually air-drop loads of small and easy to hide
solar-powered units. I'd expect a lot of people to listen to those in
hiding even when threatened with execution for mere posession.Given the air superiority of NATO, controlling use of those radios by the
local propaganda units can be very easy - just drop radio-guided missiles
on Taliban transmitters.
How do I configure my router to filter out warmongers?
No, just against the communist government 