Egypt may have turned off the Internet one phone call at a time

Los Angeles Times ^ | January 29, 2011 | Unknown staff writers

[Jeff Chandler]

You’re answering the opposite question to what I’m asking, which is, does the US military possess the capability to *sustain* the internet over a foreign country, when the government of that country seeks to cut it off from the local citizens. So the US military would be providing “ISPs in the sky” for the locals in the remote, foreign land. Not saying they should do it in Egypt, but just asking.

I answered your question. You obviously don't understand the infrastructure.

[coloradan]

You obviously don't understand the infrastructure.

For hard-wired internet, shutting down the ISP takes out the net, so I'll give you that. But so many computers are wireless these days that having some nearby wireless "last mile" routers, like those in Starbucks, (OK, last 100 feet) could restart the internet in a place where the government wishes it would stay down. If the military has a replacement for *all* the infrastructure up to but not including people with iPads and Blackberries, then it wouldn't matter if I didn't understand the infrastructure that was shut down or not.

[Jeff Chandler]

having some nearby wireless "last mile" routers, like those in Starbucks

From where do you think those "wireless" hot spots get their signals? ISPs.

[coloradan]

So, once again, my question is: does, or does not, the US military have the capability to furnish ISPs (say, on UAVs or something) that could carry internet traffic in a locale in which the local government has decided to shut the internet down? To make it simple although change the question a bit, could the US military stand up cell phone “towers” (possibly not connected to the ground) that would restore cell service to an area where the local government has turned off all the original towers? Note that you can, but you’re not supposed to, make cell phone calls from passenger airliners, so replacement “towers” could be at least as high and still enable restoration of comms.

[Jeff Chandler]

So, once again, my question is: does, or does not, the US military have the capability to furnish ISPs (say, on UAVs or something) that could carry internet traffic in a locale in which the local government has decided to shut the internet down?

It's not that simple. Internet traffic does not work the way radio broadcasts work. The ISP's customers are registered with the ISPs and access is granted only to registered customers. The systems know and recognize each and every customer. So while I suppose the military could become an ISP for all comers in a kind of reverse cracking, unless they have access to all the ISP's encryption codes, provision protocols, customer databases, etc, they would probably have to start from scratch customer by customer.

[bgill]

Lol, oops!

[Koracan]

Is it really relevant 20min or 2hrs or 2sec? You can't get to your money, better have some cash on hand.
Ever heard: I can't help you right now, our computers are down.
And then you walk to the closest Banking branch, all the doors a locked due to electronic default shutdown, you might get in and you will hear the same: our computers are down, can't process Xfers. You do not want to be around when this occurs.

[coloradan]

Anybody can use the wireless internet at Starbucks. There’s no need to register with Starbucks to use their WiFi. You don’t need any ISP’s special encryption code to use the WiFi at Starbucks. If anything, all you need is a simple password, which might spread by word of mouth (or be obviously guessable to the locals, if you thought about it hard enough). And some places don’t even need passwords. True, they couldn’t access their ISP’s emails, but if they used, say, gmail, they could access that if they could get to the internet.

[Jeff Chandler]

You don’t need any ISP’s special encryption code to use the WiFi at Starbucks.

This is my last attempt.

STARBUCKS needs an ISP. STARBUCKS is the customer.

None of the wifi hotspots would work if the ISPs cut their service.

The only way the military could restore Internet service to the people is to establish an enormous number of mobile units throughout the country. It isn't going to happen.

[mrsmith]

http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20110131_3828.php?oref=topnews

In the same vein, and if this is public there are surely more aggressive capabilities.

Shame no one wants to discuss your question. A system that parasites off whatever the local ‘authorities’ are using seems ‘doable’.