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MozillaFoundation / mozfest-program-2017

Mozilla Festival proposals for 2017
https://mozillafestival.org
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Where did the internet go? Fighting shutdowns around school exams #667

Open mozfest-bot opened 7 years ago

mozfest-bot commented 7 years ago

[ UUID ] 18e9e4c4-4db9-4ba6-b7dd-648bd1cc63f0

[ Session Name ] Where did the internet go? Fighting shutdowns around school exams [ Primary Space ] Decentralization [ Secondary Space ] Digital Inclusion

[ Submitter's Name ] Deji Bryce Olukotun [ Submitter's Affiliated Organisation ] Access Now

[ Additional facilitators ] Islam Khoufi,,Moses Karanja,,

What will happen in your session?

In 2016 and 2017, we recorded more than 30 instances of intentional internet shutdowns during school exams in the MENA region and in countries as diverse as India, Congo Brazzaville, Ethiopia, and Tunisia. Many such shutdowns are nationwide internet blackouts, although they take different forms. This is a broader, international problem that is a key indicator of Internet Health. A problem that we can solve.

Algeria’s economy lost $20.5 million during an internet shutdown for school exams in June 2016. There is also the risk that governments will switch to jamming, filtering, or blocking technologies that violate the privacy of students, educators, and businesses. Worse, some governments may use school exams as a pretext to clamp down on free expression.

What is the goal or outcome of your session?

We'll aim to teach people about shutdowns around school exams and equip them with technical and pragmatic solutions to fight back. People will leave the session with practical information about circumvention tools, trends, and how to report this key indicator of internet health. We'll gather strategies from current students and activists from people who have experienced censorship. Importantly, we hope people in the Mozilla community will also offer technical solutions.

If your session requires additional materials or electronic equipment, please outline your needs.

We may do a brief interactive session. We may display a jammer for a demonstration purposes if it does not impact other people at MozFest.

Time needed

60 mins

cubicgarden commented 7 years ago

I believe wifi jammers are illegal in the UK but we can double check that if your proposal is accepted

cubicgarden commented 7 years ago

Unfortunately we will have to remove this from the decentralized space, but only due to the travel stipend i'm sorry to say

Melechuga commented 7 years ago

@cubicgarden I can cover the stipend! If you can, please accept (^.^) thanks!

cubicgarden commented 7 years ago

I'm going to add @marcwalsh as this is a technical nightmare :) But accepted

marcwalsh commented 7 years ago

Hi @cubicgarden

I'm afraid to say that using a wifi jammer is illegal under the Wireless Telegraphy Act 2006. There are licences available for them, however, I suspect that they are very hard to obtain.

I would also be wary, of bringing this sort of equipment through customs as whilst they are legal to own, they are banned from being sold and used in the UK.

Melechuga commented 7 years ago

Hey @marcwalsh and @cubicgarden, No worries about the wifi jammer; it sounds like it was just a "nice to have." Deji isn't tagged in this issue, but I know he's done this workshop in the UK before without a jammer. I'm happy to work with him on shaping this session -- I'm not so sure simulating an internet shutdown needs to be that complicated!

cubicgarden commented 7 years ago

I did see this btw

WiFi Jammers vs Deauthers - What's The Difference? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6m2vY2HXU60