Tag Archives: oceania

headline

Fears of sinister reason behind Iran's internet blackouts

When Iranian authorities pulled the plug on the internet in 2019 amid anti-government protests, the international community struggled to track the civilian carnage that followed.

The people of Iran had taken to the streets to demonstrate after fuel prices surged as much as 300 per cent overnight.

The New York Times reported at the time that "from 180 to 450 people, and possibly more," were killed during four days of violence, with thousands more wounded and detained, much of it while the country was plunged into digital darkness.

READ MORE: Protests sweep Iran after woman arrested by morality police dies

Reuters, in December 2019, reported 1500 people were killed during a two-week span of unrest.

Now, some worry history could repeat itself amid renewed civil unrest.

Protestors have flooded the streets in recent days after Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman, died while in custody of Tehran's morality police.

Iranian officials claimed she had a heart attack, but her family has said she had no preexisting heart condition. "I have no idea what they did to her," her father, Amjad Amini, told BBC Persia. "Everything is a lie."

Mobile networks have been largely shut down, according to internet watchdog Netblocks. And Meta has confirmed that Iranians are having trouble accessing some of its apps, including WhatsApp and Instagram.

READ MORE: Nine dead as protests spread across Iran

A protester in Germany holds photographs of Mahsa Amini during a demonstration against the death of Amini.

While it is not the total internet shutdown of 2019, tech experts say they are seeing a similar pattern.

"I don't think there's anything that would make us think that this is accidental," said Doug Madory, the director of internet analysis at network intelligence company Kentik, Inc.

"My understanding given the context is the objective was to stop people from sharing videos and communicating with the outside world."

Alp Toker, the director of Netblocks, said "the impacts of these disruptions can't be overstated." Earlier this week, Netblocks said the Iranian people are now subject to "the most severe internet restrictions since the November 2019 massacre."

The loss of internet connectivity has become a "central fear that's etched into the minds of Iranians, particularly post-2019," Toker said.

"One of the most alarming things about the information blackout is that we don't even have a precise death toll," he added. "Because what happens, in terms of human rights violations, abuses of power become much more difficult to document, collate and record."

READ MORE: Flooding across NSW to worsen in coming days, authorities warn

Human rights groups say at least eight people have been killed in the demonstrations so far, and are calling on the international community — and the tech sector, especially — to do more to support the Iranian people.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday announced steps the US government was taking to clear some sanctions-related red tape and allow American tech firms to help the people of Iran access digital tools.

"(W)e are going to help make sure the Iranian people are not kept isolated and in the dark," Blinken said. "This is a concrete step to provide meaningful support to Iranians demanding that their basic rights be respected."

Time may be of the essence. While the current internet blackout is "not as severe as November 2019," Madory said, there are concerns it could eventually be.

"It's still early on — it's too early to know if this is going to be surpassed or not."

Widespread scale of blackouts leave few options to circumvent

Amir Rashidi, the director of digital rights and security at the human rights organisation Miaan Group, operates a resource centre to help those in Iran deal with internet shutdowns.

Rashidi, a software developer who fled Iran more than a decade ago, said he and his team help provide Iranians inside the country with tech tools, risk analysis guidance and training so that they can stay connected with each other even when the internet is severed by the government.

He believes Iranian officials are currently following a familiar playbook. "First," he said, "they shut down the mobile data, and this is sophisticated enough to shut down even in a particular neighbourhood."

If the protests continue to grow, he said, "then they start to expand internet shut down, step by step." Eventually, he said, "they go full shutdown and shut down everything."

But even as it stands now, the options to get around the internet service blackouts are limited.

"So far, they are shutting down the mobile data and making it really difficult to work with the home connection landline," Rashidi told CNN Business. "They are so slow, with a lot of throttling, so it's difficult to work on landline as well."

As Madory puts it: "If your phone has no mobile service, mobile data, you can't will it into existence."

Netblocks' Toker said the methods of internet restriction and disruption are so varied that even more advanced tools to get around the blackouts are becoming more difficult to use.

For those who still have fixed-line connections, "a VPN or the Tor network might be useful," Toker added. "Although, these are also restricted by authorities, so they are far from reliable."

"The only real option during a total disconnection is to document things offline with the hope that when you're back online, you can timestamp them and distribute them, just as evidence of human rights violations, for example," said Toker.

Some are now calling on the tech industry to do more to help.

Meta-owned WhatsApp, for example, has said it "will do anything within our technical capacity to keep our service up and running".

Rashidi praised Meta for "being helpful", but called on international tech companies and organisations to do more to reach out to the people of Iran directly, and help them keep access to their rights.

Encrypted messaging app Signal is asking for the public's help in setting up "a proxy server that will enable people in Iran to connect to Signal" amid the blackouts.

Rashidi also criticised billionaire Elon Musk, who recently tweeted that his satellite broadband service, Starlink, would seek an exemption from sanctions to provide internet in the country.

"I know what's realistic and what is not realistic and I don't think Elon Musk is serious," Rashidi said.

Despite the fear gripping his homeland right now amid the protests and internet blackouts, Rashidi does see reason for hope. He feels the spirit of these protests, which are "being led by women", are different from the unrest in the past.

"I'm seeing more people are united," he said. "Whatever is the result of these protests, we are moving to a new chapter of Iran."

headline

ADHD prescriptions double within a decade in Australia

Prescriptions for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) medications have surged in recent years as an increased awareness of the disorder in adults leads to more diagnoses, experts say.

There are now more adults than children being prescribed ADHD medication, while the total number of prescriptions issued has doubled in the last decade, annual data from the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, published by The Sydney Morning Herald, has revealed.

READ MORE: Russian war crime victims included children, UN investigators say

Prescription medications for ADHD medication have surged, particularly for adults.

More than a million prescriptions were issued last year for the two most common ADHD medications: methylphenidate (Ritalin) and dexamphetamine.

Back in 2013, there were 10,000 more prescriptions issued for children, however during the past year 24,000 more scripts were given to adults.

Australian GP and author Dr Brad McKay told Weekend Today a combination of factors was likely at play.

"I think a lot of people were in lockdown during COVID and noticing their concentration span was terrible," he said.

"There's also been predatory marketing on TikTok as well, teaching people and telling people that maybe you've got ADHD.

"It's created a whole demand where people are talking to their GP."

READ MORE: Driver with child in car allegedly blew four times alcohol limit

McKay said waiting lists for some psychiatrists had blown out to six months as patients sought to be diagnosed and prescribed medication.

Many people being diagnosed with ADHD as adults would have had their symptoms missed during childhood, while others went unmedicated for various reasons, he added.

"I have patients who may have been diagnosed as a child but their parents didn't want them on medication, now as adults they're struggling with tasks at work," he said.

"It's pushing more of a formal late diagnosis onto a lot of adults."