Venezuela shuts off the Internet

While being in a deep political crisis, the Venezuelan government has begun to implement a stronger cybercensorship, according to the Electronic Frontier Foundation. This censorship would apply particularly in areas where the fights between the rebel students and the police are more violent.

In a country where the media are controlled by the authorities , which is an unhappy legacy of fourteen -year presidency of Hugo Chavez , the Internet for half of the 28 million people who have access to it is the only means to access to independent information .

President Maduro blocked some foreign channels covering the events, such as the Colombian NTN24 Channel and the Spanish version of CNN.

As demonstrations and discontent rise in Venezuela according to Reuters, the government has stepped up Internet censorship in the country, reaching even a total blackout in some parts of the country. The U.S. Renesys , which analyzes the global Internet traffic , confirmed the blocking of sites and restricting access to the Internet, but cannot say whether it was a deliberate operation from CANTV , the ISP that has a quasi- monopoly in the country.

Twitter confirmed that the Venezuelan government blocked access to certain images of its microblogging network. Several websites and applications for smartphones, such as “Talkie Walkie”, which is very popular among the protesters, have been blocked. Such sites like NTN24.com managed by the network of the same name based in Colombia, pastebin.com, forums used by cyber- activists to share information anonymously regional information have been blocked.

Human Rights Watch says that this censorship is legal in Venezuela: it is indeed part of a law about media regulation, which allows the government to block access to content “inciting or promoting hatred ” or ” threatening the public order.”

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