September 2023 | Here's what's happened in the last month.
Country Reports Help You Keep Your Finger on Your Country's Internet Pulse
While the Internet is not bound by geopolitical borders, it’s natural that many people are interested to know the strengths and weaknesses of the Internet in their own country.
The recently launched Pulse Country Reports illustrate data that Pulse collates from various open sources, including APNIC Labs, Facebook, Google, ICANN, IIJ, ITU, Mozilla Firefox Telemetry, PeeringDB, and W3Techs. This data explains the health of the open Internet environment, globally connected infrastructure, and secure and trustworthy Internet for each country.
The Reports are divided into three sections:
Open Internet environment includes metrics for Internet use, Internet freedom, Internet resilience, transit provider diversity, retail Internet service provider diversity, Internet exchange point (IXP) operator market, and Internet shutdowns.
Globally connected infrastructure includes metrics for networks assigned, IPv4 and IPv6 assigned addresses, IPv6 adoption, number of IXPs, and peering networks.
Secure and trustworthy Internet includes metrics for naming security status, the adoption and validation of domain name system security, and routing security.
The Pulse Country Reports can assist:
Policy and decision-makers understand what aspects of the Internet need to be improved and work towards enabling policies to support improvements.
Civil society groups and journalists to advocate and lobby for more investment and improvements to infrastructure and security in low-scoring areas.
To ensure that journalists are equipped with both policy understanding and technical know-how on reporting Internet shutdowns, the Internet Society is holding a series of seminars for journalists working in the following regions:
18 October: India (in English)
1 November: MENA (Simultaneous translation Arabic <> English)
8 November Africa (Simultaneous translation English <> French)
During the seminars, participants will have the opportunity to:
Better understand the motivations behind government-imposed Internet shutdowns
Take a deep dive into the history and policy landscape of shutdowns
Learn about the various forms of shutdowns and their technical nuances
Explore the societal and economic impacts
Learn strategies for circumventing Internet restrictions
India, 15-19 Sep: Authorities ordered further mobile Internet restrictions after communal clashes in the region. These follow previous orders in July and August this year.
India, 11-14 Sep: Authorities ordered mobile Internet services to be suspended in the Satara district after communal clashes.
India, 31 July - Ongoing: Authorities ordered mobile Internet services to be suspended in the Nuh district of Haryana after communal clashes.
Iraq, 1 Jun - 25 Sep: The government of Iraq ordered another set of exam-related shutdowns for September, this time to curb cheating during the second stage of middle/lower secondary school examinations. Each shutdown occurred on the morning of a planed national curriculum for 3 hours. Iraq has ordered 39 exam-related shutdowns since 1 June.
India, 3 May - 25 Sep: Authorities have ordered for full Internet connectivity to resume in the Indian state of Manipur, ending the 144 day shutdown.
