How is the internet slowed down by terrorist events? Explanation of the ‘bandwidth squeeze’ we experienced last night

Turkey experienced one of the longest 24 hours in recent times. While the investigation into the incident where we lost 6 of our citizens continues, right after the incident Information Technologies and Communications Authority (BTK), via social media platforms band constriction announced that he did.

The reason for the shrinkage of the tire is that it can spread after the explosion. false information said to be limited. So how does this app suddenly make all social media inaccessible? Now with you what the bandwidth is and how it is limited We’ll take a closer look.

What is Bandwidth?

Internet bandwidth is the amount of time that an Internet-connected device receives and transmits immediately. is a measure of the amount of data. In fact, we can think of this term as the hose we attach to the end of a valve. The larger the diameter of the hose, the greater the amount of water that can pass through it. Here the hose diameter is the bandwidth of the internet world. Just as the amount of flowing water decreases when we make the hose narrower, so too does the bandwidth become smaller. data transfer is reduced. As such, there is a lag in the web pages that need to be opened. If the bandwidth is reduced to zero, that is, if there is no opening in the hose for water to pass through, that device will not be able to access the internet. With zero bandwidth disconnecting the modemis essentially the same in terms of accessing the internet.

Bandwidth in some cases may not cover all internet access. This is what we experienced yesterday. Internet sites offered in different categories such as social networks, news or games sites are provided to users. channels separated. We can think of the term channel as several small hoses connected to a large hose. Of course, even though the amount of water going through the main hose is the same, when the little “social media” hose connected to that hose gets narrower, it naturally becomes difficult to access social media platforms. Therefore, access to social media platforms is not banned, but data flows “drop by drop”, not loudly as always. Although yesterday there was no problem accessing news sites or gaming platforms, it was precisely because of this that channels such as Facebook, Twitter or Instagram were almost unreachable. The data transmission capacity of social networks was reduced.

So who does this? Who throttles the valves?

About the Internet and the Internet in Turkey all controlis maintained by the Information Technologies and Communications Authority (BTK). However, the setting doesn’t randomly turn the internet on and off as you might imagine. Blocking or imposing bandwidth restrictions on a particular website or set of websites performed with instructions. Here is the law governing how the process will work. You can access the full text of our content here.is the disinformation law that came into force in October 2022. Article 34 of the law describes how to apply tape tapers one by one:

Article 34 of the law on amendments to the press law and some laws contains the following statements:

“(5) In the Turkish Penal Code;

a) Sexual abuse of children (Article 103),

b) Public dissemination of misleading information (Article 217/A),

c) Disturbing the unity and territorial integrity of the state (Article 302),

ç) Crimes against the constitutional order and its functioning (articles 309, 311, 312, 313, 314, 315,316),

d) Crimes against state secrets and espionage (Articles 328. 329, 330, 331, 333, 334, 335, 336, 337),

The information needed to reach the perpetrators who create or distribute Internet content that is the subject of their crimes is under investigation. Republic prosecutoris given to the judicial authorities by the representative of the relevant social network provider in Turkey at the request of the court where the proceedings are conducted during the prosecution phase. If this information is not provided to the requesting prosecutor’s office of the Chief Public Prosecutor or to the court, the relevant public prosecutor will inform you that the social network provider is from abroad. Ninety percent reduction in internet traffic bandwidth An application can be submitted to the Justice of the Peace of Ankara. If a decision is taken to reduce the bandwidth of internet traffic, this decision will be sent to the Authority to be communicated to the access providers. The access providers comply with the requirement of the decision immediately and at the latest within four hours of notification. If the social network provider complies with its obligations under this paragraph, the sanctions shall be lifted and the Institution shall be notified.”

Band narrowing could have been implemented even without this law.

The law amending the press law and some laws it’s newYou may have wondered in the past how an application came about. Let’s explain right away: it was published on August 17, 2016 in the Staatsblad. number 671 In Article 25 of the Decree-Law, it was decided to add the following paragraphs to Article 60 of the Electronic Communications Act No. 5809:

“(9) In cases where delay is inconvenient, depending on one or more of the reasons enumerated in Article 22 of the Constitution. premier leaguedetermines the measures to be taken and implements them to the competent authority. The Chairman of the Authority shall immediately notify the operators, access providers, data centers and related content and hosting providers of his decision regarding any action the Prime Minister deems necessary. The requirement of this decision shall be met immediately and at the latest within two hours after notification of the decision.. This decision will be submitted to the justice of the peace for approval within twenty-four hours. The judge will announce his decision within forty-eight hours, otherwise the decision will be lifted automatically.”

Here this section has been added to Act No. 5809, Gives the president a new power. With this authority, the BTK could take action without waiting for a court ruling. That’s it for yesterday’s contraction fast This is exactly why it was introduced. BTK throttled the data flow after the incoming instruction, reducing bandwidth. We, as individual users; We had trouble accessing social media platforms…