WW2 saw ham radios shut down, other than the brave spotters in the Pacific
Sure a million voices talking about troop movements and such would force silence?
How would we do without them

Dear Belly,

According to the experts - they say that it is
technically possible for countries to shut down
the internet (like Egypt did) but it is unlikely
in countries such as the US of Australia
where the rule of law
is strong, and shutting down the global internet
would be very challenging if not impossible.

cont'd ...

Sorry for the typo. I meant to say
in countries like the US and Australia.

I don't know about shutting down but it definitely will be way more censored than it is presently.
As all our internet gear is made in China I'd imagine they've already build in the right software.

If we knew the length of the next world war, then considered security, my view is both maybe shut down
Law runs last when a nation's security involved
Shutting down mobile phones is easy, shut down every repeater
The net? not quite as easy but it can be done, in less than a few days
Our rights do not get a say if the country's survival is in play

During the second world war phones had to go via exchanges, and close monitoring took place
We did not have the internet but thousands worked reading and censoring every letter to or from our military personnel
Ham radios, few know our first radio broadcast station was one one, closed down
A war will see farless ability to communicate
It could be over in minutes days or years
How Many doubt people living here, or in any country at war, will try to use our communications to send messages to the other side
War restricts our rights always so do not shrug it off as against the law

It depends on the nature of the war.

A low level war (eg Indonesia invades PNG and we fight to defend them) wouldn't cause a need for such secrecy.

A WW3 type war (eg China invades Taiwan and the west defends it) would be over so quickly that there wouldn't be time to close the internet.

The fact is our economy depends so much on digital commerce that closing the WWW would be more injurious to us than the enemy. Russia and China are trying to build systems which would allow them to run the internet internally while closing it off from the rest of the world. They haven't managed to do that yet but they continue to try because totalitarian regimes need censorship to survive.

If any really serous war broke out, I think the fate of the internet just might be the least of our worries.

m haze Hasbeen my view is the next war will be China, maybe with Russia V USA.
China Sea closed hence we run out of oil
WW2 was different but could either of you see a spy using our mobile phone system to talk to someone offshore?
Wireless network too?
Being honest I do not think we would survive such a war, but do think one will come
Posted this to start a discussion about how the overnight loss of the net and phones would affect us all
Worth considering this spies are at work here now, and use both methods to send messages why would that change

"Sorry for the typo. I meant to say
in countries like the US and Australia."

- I actually thought you had it correct the first time.

the next war will be China, maybe with Russia v USA.
Belly.
I can't see the now re-emerging Russians hold hands with China. China will be everyone's foe due to their monopoly in manufacturing. Russia doesn't yet have an export market & I'm certain they'll want a slice of it. I see a Russia + USA Allianze before a Russia + China one. With so many Chinese already distributed throughout the World it'll be a necessity to counter balance this raw people power. Poor old Australia doesn't have many alternatives left to make a go of things. If they don't pull out their finger & do something about the lack of discipline among its Citizens then well ??

Wish I could see that too indy, in fact psychics predict a Russia USA alliance
But China Could take us on on their own, including Russia
Number on the ground are unbeatable if it is that type of war
Russia Has renewed links with China from the Soviet Union days and could do anything

Yes Belly, without nuclear arms we could not inflect much more than a flee bite.

However why would China bother with us. To invade & take us would not only cost quite a lot, but would disrupt their supply of our iron ore & coal. They currently get everything they want from us not only very cheaply, but very efficiently, more efficiently than they get their own coal from their own mines.

Taking over Oz would not be in their long term interest, unless we forced them to do so, by closing our supply to them.

With their huge supply of US dollars, they can buy any of our agricultural capacity they desire. I have recently been told they have bought my across river neighbouring property. This is a very large multi facet fourth generation agricultural industry, run by 3 aging brothers. None of their kids are at all interested in working as hard as you have to make a go of agriculture today. This is an ongoing story, which will see us selling the farm to our detriment.

Next time I have to share the replacement of flood damaged fencing, I just might need a Chinese interpreter.

Hasbeen Japan went to war to protect its trade and that cannot be overlooked
Even now in both China and Japan, long future plans talk of those countries being at the head of the table, our table
Wars, seemingly destroying whole countries, are underway in both the middle east and the African continent
I think we will see ww3

It is very unlikely the Australian Government would shut down the Internet.

This is because Australia's senior strategic partner (the US Government) invented the Internet as a mass alternate alliance communications tool to handle times of major emergencies eg. major war.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet :

"The origins of the Internet date back to research commissioned by the federal government of the United States in the 1960s to build robust, fault-tolerant communication with computer networks.[1] The primary precursor network, the ARPANET, initially served as a backbone for interconnection of regional academic and military networks in the 1980s. "

One early breakthrough was yours truly checking relevant parts of the Internet (specifically http://www.fbi.gov/wanted/topten ) to indentitify Osama bin Laden as the highest priority threat (with US$5 million price on his head) 18 months before "9/11" 2001.

Cheers

I beg to differ in the event of a world war America and Australia will, as they must, shut down anything the enemy can use against us
A look at the history of ww2 will confirm [while communication was far more limited then] close control was maintained
Our current stance [both countries] against a Chinese provider, enforces my view even in peace concerns exist about our security

shut down anything the enemy can use against us
Belly,
There's nothing to shut down here, everything we do or have is already controlled overseas before we get our hands it ! Thanks to runaway unionism we've out-sourced even our mentality !

Look sorry, will try to do better
My thoughts are based on a very good understanding of what took place in ww2
At that time our communications looked like two tin cans and a length of string, compared to today's
Yes, quite sure, ww3 would see non-military communications closed
But it would, surely, not be a five year war, maybe be over in a day
Try better next subject

What makes you think there is not already in place a way to shut it down ?
Certainly easy to close at the shoreline where it comes ashore.
Satellites receivers can be turned off.
The addressing system of tcpip will try and find a way around the
breaks but it should be possible.
The real question would be is it better to leave it on or off.
If the country is isolated but the internet working internally it is
quite easy to make international connections by a way I won't mention.

Belly, when those Islamic alleged terrorists were arrested last week
there was a news video of the house, did you notice the pole and the
wire leaving it ?
I wonder what they found inside ?