The ongoing Internet blackout in Syria this week, like the one that occurred in Egypt early in 2011, prompts curiosity as to whether such an event could happen in one's own country. Here's one measure that gives a rough idea of how difficult it would be for your government to legally shut down the Internet.
First, it should be explained that the cutoffs in Syria and Egypt weren't the result of a physical disconnection, like bombing the cables or cutting the power to servers or relay stations. A country can take itself off the map largely by removing itself from the Domain Name System and Border Gateway Patrol, the software and databases that tell computers and servers how to contact one another.
In other words, a "kill switch" for the Internet might be as simple a thing as directing DNS providers to delist or send false information (more easily done when they are run by the state), which could isolate the country from the rest of the online world with a few keystrokes, and restore it just as easily. This method is consistent with the way in which Syria dropped offline, although a government spokesperson has reportedly claimed that the rebel faction was responsible and had cut the cables.
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