Syria cuts off internet to curb protests

In a desperate move, Syria has cut off internet and mobile connections across the country as protests continue against President Bashar Assad's regime.

The Syrian government has adopted the strategy used by other Arab countries at the time of uprisings in the past. It has shut down two-thirds of Syrian networks from the global Internet so far.

You are reaching a point of no return when you do this kind of stuff, said Earl Zmijewski, a vice president at Renesys Corp., an Internet research firm in Manchester, tracking the developments.

In Egypt, the move had triggered more anger among the protesters. Syria can look at other countries where this was done and see that the Internet is not going away, said Bill Woodcock, director of research of the Packet Clearing House, a San Francisco organization that studies and supports Internet infrastructure globally.

It shows they're responding to the moment rather than thinking strategically, and any government that has devolved to that point is probably on its way out, he was quoted as saying in roguegovernment.com