Internet shutdowns at record high in Africa as access 'weaponised'

La Liga / Cloudflare Blocking as a Parallel to Shutdowns

• Multiple comments describe Spain’s La Liga using court orders to force ISPs to block Cloudflare IP ranges during football matches, ostensibly to fight pirated streams.
• Collateral damage includes unrelated sites (e.g., dictionaries) going offline during games, highlighting how blunt IP‑level blocking is.
• Debate over whether this is a “football problem” vs. a “private entity wielding state‑backed censorship power” problem, enabled by aggressive copyright laws.
• Some see this as evidence of courts’ technical illiteracy and dangerous overreach; others stress that the real issue is copyright maximalism and centralization around a few providers like Cloudflare.

Satellite Internet and State Power

• Starlink is discussed as a supposed antidote to shutdowns; several replies argue it is not:
  • Service relies on ground stations, local spectrum/licenses, in‑country payment rails, and geofencing, all under state jurisdiction.
  • Governments can cut power to ground stations, jam RF, seize terminals, or ban imports; authoritarian regimes can also arrest end users.
• Consensus in the thread: satellites do not meaningfully “escape” sovereignty; Starlink generally complies with national law and, in practice, can be a centralized chokepoint of its own.

P2P, Mesh, and “Internet Without the Internet”

• Many comments explore building citizen‑run alternatives: Wi‑Fi mesh networks, community networks (e.g., long‑running meshes with their own ASNs and IX peering), AREDN, LoRa/Meshtastic, ham radio and JS8 digital modes.
• Proposals include:
  • Local “internet in a box” Wi‑Fi nodes with DNS, web, NNTP, and shared content.
  • Store‑and‑forward systems modeled on FIDOnet or delay‑tolerant gossip using Bluetooth/Wi‑Fi and physical mobility (phones, delivery trucks).
• Some argue IP is already peer‑to‑peer; the real fragility comes from centralized layers (DNS, Cloudflare, big clouds, Google search) and carrier‑grade NAT.

Is Internet Access an Essential Right?

• One side claims internet has become as essential as housing, water, and electricity, especially where it underpins payments and communication.
• Others counter that in many poor or “undeveloped” areas, survival needs still dominate, and treating internet as equivalent to food or water is misplaced.
• A middle view: it may not outrank basic survival everywhere, but for any “modern” community it should be considered a basic right, and treating it as a luxury enables shutdowns as a political weapon.

Motivations, Geopolitics, and Public Attention

• Shutdowns are often linked to riots or protests; some comments (contested and downvoted) claim many protests are foreign‑sponsored.
• Others stress authoritarian motives: controlling speech and coordination, not fostering unity.
• Several note that widespread shutdowns in Africa get little global attention compared to wars and atrocities, but argue that curtailing civil rights for millions is still serious and not a “minor” issue.