From the Holocaust to Rwanda’s deadly Hutu-Tutsi conflict, and to today’s alleged social media-incited genocide in Myanmar, the state has claimed a primal role in technology abuse. The internet shutdown in Papua is probably the best contemporary example of this challenge to civil liberties, which global communities are striving to preserve in this digital age. The internet is less safe when entrusted to the government. The nearly three-week shutdown in the provinces of Papua and West Papua mirrored a similar measure applied to some parts of Jakarta on May 22-25, and reflects the government’s incompetence in comprehending the internet society we all live in today. As implemented in Sri Lanka and India, the “internet cut-off” policy applied to the Papuan network was apparently implemented to tackle fake news and disinformation; in fact, it showed the ...

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