Some say Internet access is a human right. What happens when a government decides to shut it down?

SALT LAKE CITY — In the Kashmir region of India, which for decades has been the site of tension and bloodshed between Hindu-majority India and Muslim-majority Pakistan, citizens are experiencing a communications blackout.

Beginning the evening of August 4, the Indian government cut off access to the Internet, landlines, mobile phone networks and cable television channels for the state of Jammu and Kashmir, according to the United Nations. The ongoing pandemonium has caused experts like Apar Gupta, executive director of the Internet Freedom Foundation, an Indian NGO, to proclaim that Internet access is a human right and demand that India’s government restore communication channels at once.

The information blockade came ahead of India’s announcement that it will revoke the Jammu and Kashmir’s special autonomous status, and is a precautionary measure to prevent violent protests, according to The Washington Post. India and Pakistan have been locked in dispute over the region since 1947 when the two countries split and Jammu and Kashmir joined India as a semi-autonomous state. Kashmiri rebels have repeatedly called for independence, or for the territory to be united under Pakistani rule, and tens of thousands of people have been killed in ensuing conflict.

Jammu and Kashmir’s governor, Satya Pal Malik, says the current Internet restrictions have prevented violent uprisings, and as a result, no lives have been lost since the announcement. But pharmacists have had difficulty restocking medicines, shopkeepers said vital supplies like insulin and baby food are running out because supply chain communications have broken down, the flow of money has stalled because banks and A.T.M.s rely on the Internet for transactions, and families are left in the dark about the wellbeing of their loved ones, The New York Times reported.

“Massive economic, social and individual harm caused when (access to the Internet) is disrupted,” Gupta told CNN. “But the human costs are much deeper. Cutting off Internet access prevents people from using the Internet to reach out for help, and makes them panic.”

Manish Swarup, Associated Press

Richard Forno, assistant director of the University of Maryland Baltimore County center for cybersecurity, disapproves of India’s actions but questions whether Internet access is a human right just because it is a convenient resource used by a lot of people.

“That’s like saying having a television and 100 channels is a human right,” he said.

According to the United Nations, human rights are inherent to all people and include the right to life and liberty, freedom from slavery and torture, freedom of opinion and expression, the right to work and education.

David Kaye, United Nations special rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of the Right to Freedom of Opinion and Expression, says Internet access isn’t necessarily a human right but it is vital because it is often the only way for people to exercise the freedoms of expression and association.

The Internet shutdown in Jammu and Kashmir is part of a rising trend, he said. Governments are increasingly limiting Internet access as a tool for political control.

Most famously, governments in Egypt, Libya and Syria barred people from Internet use as they attempted to quell protests associated with the Arab Spring in the early 2010’s. Since then, similar tactics have been used in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Chad, Togo, Tajikistan and many parts of the world, according to Kaye.

As the world becomes increasingly connected and reliant on technology, moves to limit Internet access become more effective and more harmful to society.

“The Internet itself has been used as a tool for people to share information, ideas and to organize,” said Kaye. “It was just a matter of time before governments tried to crack down on that.”

Kashmir

Internet shutdowns in India are not new. This is the 51st time this year that Internet access has been suspended in Jammu and Kashmir, according to tracker internetshutdown.in. Over the past eight years, there have been 176 shutdowns, including a 6-month shutdown in 2016, Quartz reported.

“Shutting down the internet has become the first go-to the moment the police think there will be any kind of disturbance,” Mishi Choudhary, founder of SFLC.in, a legal advocacy group in New Delhi, told the New York Times.

Because connections between Kashmir and the rest of India’s Internet are relatively sparse, authorities are simply able to order Internet service providers to stop providing access to the web. In other countries, where there is a greater density of fiber optic connections and more service providers controlling them, a blackout would be harder to achieve, according to CNN.

What’s unique about the current Internet shutdown in Kashmir is its length and the fact that phone lines and television channels have been restricted as well, said Kaye. In addition, the government has imposed a state-wide curfew, closed schools and brought in thousands of troops to enforce restrictions on freedom of movement and assembly, according to the United Nations.

Dar Yasin, Associated Press

Recent reports say some phone connections have been restored since the initial blackout. While communication is still largely restricted, landlines have been made functional in Kashmir and some mobile services have been made operational in Jammu, according to LiveMint.

According to Malik, thousands of people have been killed in conflicts in the region in past years. “If no communication helps saves lives, what is the harm?” he told an Indian news outlet.

But Kaye says blocking communication goes against the tenets of democracy. He and other United Nations human rights experts released a statement on Thursday calling on the Government of India to end the crackdown on freedom of expression, access to information and peaceful protests.

“We expect democratic countries to keep open channels of communication, to inform others so they can participate in democracy. This abuse of the choke points of Internet access is an abuse of democratic process in a lot of ways it’s a real concern for a lot of people who follow democratic issues around the world,” said Kaye.

The Internet as a weapon

Both Forno and Kaye stopped short of saying limiting Internet access has been used as a “weapon” against citizens, or that what is happening in Kashmir is an example of “communication warfare.”

“We can get too sensational in the terms,” said Forno. “It’s not warfare. The Internet is a resource being used by adversaries, and the government is stepping in for domestic security purposes.”

Dar Yasin, Associated Press

Kaye worries that terms like “weapon” and “warfare” could escalate violence.

“When we start using the language of conflict, states might want to start using the tools of armed conflict,” he said.

Regardless of concern about a government crack-down, Forno said everyone should proactively prepare for circumstances when they might not be able to access the Internet. Those circumstances could include natural disasters or equipment failures.

“Whether you are a radical or a citizen, or a business owner, you need to figure out how you will you function if the power goes down, the Internet goes down, or if something else happens” he said. “You have to think about resiliency.”