What happens if the internet is shut down in the US?

[QED]

Who knows how far this regime will go?

Someone on bluesky suggested getting short wave radios and maybe that's a good idea. But how to communicate? Would a ham radio license be of use?

I'm feeling so gloomy.

[RockRaven]

1. Maybe the mindless drone plurality would finally wake the fuck up?

But don't expect too much, it is not guaranteed.

[lapfog_1]

2. many ham radio people use TCP/IP

now... so shutting down the "internet" would be difficult even if they got all the big ISPs and Starlink to close service. But yeah, we all should be thinking about getting some sort of not controllable IP connection.

[Deep State Witch]

3. The Tech Bros

Would never allow that. Gotta keep getting the AI slop out to the masses.

[Tim S]

4. Good time to buy a shortwave radio receiver

We can better trust the BBC than US media

[in2herbs]

5. Doesn't Wall Street depend on the internet for business and trading? If so, not only would the US economy

grind to a halt so would the world economy. The people with investments in the stock market would be locked out of access to their money.

[ms liberty]

6. Not gonna happen. The distraction machine is the only thing keeping the peasants from a bloody revolution.

[2naSalit]

7. I have a short wave receiver...

But I have been thinking about this for a few weeks because a few weeks ago I awoke to absolutely no communications other than some faint and scratchy analog radio, couldn't even pick up shortwave, no cellphone. The heat and lights worked. Lasted for 18 hours so I had lots of time to ponder just exactly what I was experiencing and how widespread it was. Turns out it was local and I didn't figure out that anything was back up until someone texted me about my phone not working. At that point I checked and everything else was back up and online.

It was a weird feeling being in a remote place and not knowing if our satellites were disabled or if -45 was having a temper tantrum or if the wind knocked down our tower or if leonskum did something or if ruzzia did something, it was a little agonizing having no info at all.

First thing, if the internet goes, I'll be checking the shortwave channels I have access to. Other than that, I'm in the dark.

[QED]

8. I ordered a shortwave radio.

It has solar and a crank for energy. It can charge a phone, etc. I'm not in a remote location but still, I don't want to be without and $40 seemed like good insurance.

[2naSalit]

11. I think I'll be looking for something like that...

We have power disruptions regularly, it seems. I have my own internet receiver, it travels with me, but the radio thing, I rely on that as much as the internet. Last night I was thinking about the public radio station here, they play BBC for several hours a day and CBC regularly along with US news. I like that part. They used to carry BBC in Montana but they cut that out about a year after fuckneck took over.

I need some kind of generator thingy, I'll be shopping for that in the near future.

[QED]

16. This is the one I bought.

The reviews looked good.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CD7F29QH?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title&th=1

[2naSalit]

18. Thanks!

[leftstreet]

9. Amazon loses sales n/t

[sarisataka]

10. They won't shut down the internet

It is too valuable of a tool to disseminate the regime's propaganda.

[DJ Synikus Makisimus]

12. Millennials and Post-millennials Would Go Catatonic Instantly.

Amazon, Lyft, Meta, Uber, X and a host of other major corporations would be bankrupt in short order. The stock market would collapse. Consumer spending would plummet. The banking & finance, medical, transportation and power grids would cerase to function. Probably the military/police/prison/surveillance industrial complex too. Phone companies would be swamped by orders to install landlines. The Post Office might experience an upswing in actual, personal, handwritten mail There’d be an upsurge in consuption of alcohol and marijuana (where legal, of course). People with smart homes would be locked in or out, depending on where they were at the time of shutdown; and nothing inside their homes would work. And old farts like me wouldn’t have anything to watch on streaming so we’d have to read a paper book after our daily walk.

So basically a zombie apocalypse without the zombies, at least initially. Then it would get worse.

[fujiyamasan]

13. Global markets would crash

The S&P would easily lose something like 25% of its value.

People’s retirements would be gone. The economy would come to a halt.

Just about every sector at this point uses the internet in some way. It also wouldn’t be easily implemented:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_kill_switch

[applegrove]

14. The creepy incels masogynist racist antisemites can't get together and form things like MAGA

and the Proud Boys and entice others into their cult(s) anymore. With no internet, they go back to being alone in their towns. Democracy thrives as regular people, the vast majority, reconnect in person.

[Buckeyeblue]

15. The economy would crash

Most major corporations depend on secure internet connections to manage their business operations.

[JCMach1]

17. We need FIDONet 2.0

[intheflow]

19. Everyone knows MLK's civil rights wouldn't have happened with the internet.

If you’re worried about not getting info in the future, find a local social justice organization or religious community (liberal Christians, Quakers, Unitarian Universalists, a temple affiliated with Jewish Voices for Peace, etc.).

[SamuelTheThird]

20. Like completely shut down?

Economic collapse

Shutting down sites like this? That could happen

[tinrobot]

21. And how, exactly, would that happen?

The internet is not exactly centralized in the US, there's so many different ways to connect. You gotta shut it ALL down for it to be effective.

Even if they did, people will find a way to route around the damage. Some ways would be short wave, community wi-fi with repeaters, land lines, satellite, and lots more.

[Wednesdays]

22. FWIW, shortwave radio is almost extinct now

In the 80's I used to listen to BBC, Deutsche Welle, Radio Netherlands, NHK from Japan, and many others. They're all gone now (the English-language services beamed towards North America, anyway). Nearly all of the old shortwave services switched to Internet streaming in the 2000's and 2010's.

Ham radio has followed a similar path. There are plenty of hams on 2 meters now (but it's too high frequency for anything but local communication), but they have mostly abandoned the shortwave spectrum because it became easier to communicate internationally via Internet.

Oh, and ham radio is heavily dominated by MAGAts.