It’d Be Crazy Easy for Brazil to Block the Web Right Now

in #censorship8 years ago

Internet Kill Switch

AS THE OLYMPICS unfold in Brazil this week, the digital rights group AccessNow started a petition to make sure the government there doesn’t turn off the Internet.

But that’s not a thing Brazil could do, right? And even if it were possible, it wouldn’t, right?

Wrong. It could shut down the entire Internet, or just block certain sites, as it has done repeatedly. On June 19 a Brazilian judge ordered Internet providers to block access to What’sApp in an attempt to force the company to reveal personal user data for a criminal investigation. It was the third time in seven months that Brazilians lost access to the extremely popular encrypted messaging platform, which boasts more than 100 million users across the country.

Read the full story here:

https://www.wired.com/2016/08/itd-crazy-easy-brazil-block-web-right-now/