Bali Plans To Switch Off Internet Services For 24 Hours For New Year 'Quiet Reflection' (theguardian.com) 150
Internet service providers in Bali will be switching off mobile services this weekend for 24 hours to mark the Indonesian island's annual day of silence. "Nyepi, or New Year according to the ancient Balinese calendar, is a sacred day of reflection on the Hindu-majority island," reports The Guardian. "Even the international airport shuts down." From the report: This year authorities have called on telecommunications companies to unplug -- a request Bali says firms have promised to honor. "It was agreed that internet on mobile phones will be cut. All operators have agreed," Nyoman Sujaya, from the Bali communications ministry, told tirto.id. The plan, based on an appeal put forward by Balinese civil and religious groups, was announced following a meeting at the ministry in Jakarta. This is the first time internet services will be shut down in Bali for Nyepi, after the same request was denied last year. However, wifi connection will still be available at hotels and for strategic services such as security, aviation, hospitals and disaster agencies. Phone and SMS services will be operational, but the Indonesian Internet Service Provider Association is reviewing whether wifi at private residences will be temporarily cut.
A quiet reflection, indeed. (Score:1)
"How the fuck do I get out of Bali?", the bored citizen wondered quietly to himself.
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No, foreign country attempts to enforce observance of religious ritual on entire population.
I respect their right to choose not to use the internet for 24 hours for religious reasons. But forcing it on the irreligious is a bit shitty to say the least.
There are still parts of northern Scotland, especially out on the islands, where you can't get a drink on a Sunday as all pubs are closed on The Day Of Rest
Re: Definition of slashdot clickbait (Score:2)
Almost all Western demcracies have similarly Christian laws imposed on the secular populace. United States is only one of the more egregious examples, being founded on secularism and never having a divine king in its history; most European countries were at least actually founded on Christian values.
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It takes away people's freedom to choose.. By turning off the networks you are forcing people to do without.
If people choose to take a day off then that's their choice to make, but taking away that choice and forcing it on people is dictatorial.
Some of us might need to use the internet for important matters, we might need to work, we might need to be contactable. There are also people with mental disabilities who wouldn't understand why things suddenly stopped working.
I won't be going to bali if they do thi
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Well there's your freedom to choose, right there. You don't have to go to Bali.
Someone should tell North Koreans that solving their problems is very easy, just don't get born in North Korea. Oh, wait...
And it's not dictatorial if most of the inhabitants want it which, since this is a Hindu thing and most of the people on the island are Hindu, they probably do.
I think most sensible people can agree that *all* theocracies are fucked up, not just "mildly inconvenient".
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So when their Internet comes back up... (Score:5, Funny)
...we should all don our costumes and pretend they've returned to The Planet of the Apes.
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You are what is wrong with america.
See virtue signal. demand everyone else do it too.
Re: This is awesome! (Score:2)
A week without online shopping would probably save tens of thousands of small businesses for a year. Especially if that week was the one after Thanksgiving.
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like say, a terror attack, no one will know until the day after, because there wouldn't be internet access to report it.
So, you belive the “news” you read on Facebook then?
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Bali actually had a few terror attacks 15 - 20 years ago.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
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Why is it extremely important for people not directly affected to immediately know when there has been a terror attack?
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What if your family or friends were directly affected by the attack?
If i went away somewhere i'd still want to remain informed of important events occurring elsewhere.
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The main difference would be that you worry without anything you can do a day later.
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There's plenty you can do depending on the situation...
If a bomb explodes in a location where your friends and family are, you can find out if they were affected or not.
If someone is critically injured or sick you may get a last chance to speak to them before they die.
Being arbitrarily disconnected from the world for no real reason is a bad thing.
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Neither action would keep the person alive. I fail to see the benefit.
My dad is old. And it's likely that at some point in the near future he will die. I sure hope it's still some decades out, but statistics is not on my side. I honestly don't know whether I would want to talk with him and KNOW it's going to be the last time. What do you say to someone you know will die? Instead, I try to make every time we talk pleasant enough that I could rest easily if in retrospect I had to realize that this was the las
Re:So... If something happens (Score:4, Insightful)
Yes, in the days before the Internet, no one was able to find out what was happening in the world. People in the United States didn't know there had been a second World War until 1971, and they only found out through word of mouth.
I remember the early 1980s when the results of the Super Bowl had to be spread by town criers.
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like say, a terror attack, no one will know until the day after
And? If there is a terror attack I either won't care if I hear about it in the news later that night, or I would want it to come through so frigging urgently that the internet is well and truly the wrong avenue for distributing that information.
How do you cut residential wifi? (Score:2, Funny)
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They will ask the ISP to disable their whole internet service. Remember that non-tech people often confuse only vaguely related things.
Wifi / internet
Hard drive / computer
USB / flash drive
Web Search / Bing
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they're "vaguely related" in the sense that Bing sorta looks like a web search, at least cosmetically.
VoIP (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:VoIP (Score:5, Funny)
You'll be in quiet reflection FOREVER.
Re: VoIP (Score:2)
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Well, they are Hindi. They have many gods!
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It's a cultural choice, as long as the people agree meh. Perhaps not the whole internet, perhaps require that all social media platforms shut down for regular periods at regular times, a chill out time. Perhaps one weekend at the start/end of season. So say, at the end of winter and the beginning of spring, they shut down on the nearest Friday evening and restart on the following Monday morning, they can do the updates and stuff at that time and everyone else can chill out for a bit, kind of crack the addic
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So what happens when someone who is using VoIP telephone service attempts to contact emergency medical, fire, or police services? Your SOL that day I guess? This is the problem with trying to legislate morality.
During nyepi, residents are asked to stay at home and not to go out, and most Indonesian home have PSTN line
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VOIP will still work, what is your problem?
Do you think they pull of the power from all internet infrastructure?
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That is why they should be doing this. If you can't think of a way to communicate if your internet is down then this is aimed straight at you.
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That's one of the reasons this is grossly irresponsible.
Backup (Score:2)
>> So what happens when someone who is using VoIP telephone service attempts to contact emergency medical, fire, or police services?
It happens the same than when someone has a hard disk failure : he learns the importance of backups.
It happens that this person then realizes that VOIP is not a bullet proof service that should be relied on for emergency, and next time this person and a few around will be better prepared.
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VoIP telephone service attempts to contact emergency medical, fire, or police services
Same thing that happens any other day when the internet is working perfectly. They will die. There's a reason VoIP providers have a disclaimer about this. By the way with nearly 2/3rds of the population having a mobile phone and the vast majority of those users represented in a major city I find it hard to visualise a scenario where someone would not only be stupid enough to, but even would instinctively consider using some internet connection to call for help rather than just whipping out their phone.
The blackout of 2003 was a good thing (Score:2)
The blackout of 2003 was good for people socializing. This will be too.
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Of course socializing in one of the purposes.
Are all those smartphone users going to just stop moving once the texts and calls stop?
No. They are going to talk to others and in the quiet moments in between when they are by themselves reflect on something.
I was surprised at first but then... (Score:2)
I was surprised at first but then i read the article. I thought it was going to be expensive until a saw that it won't effect folks who are living in hotels and such. So with that said, it's not that important to me. I'm not being crass, just thoughtful.
Re:I was surprised at first but then... (Score:5, Funny)
I predict there will be lots of Bali teenagers in quiet reflection in the immediate vicinity of these hotels.
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I predict there will be lots of Bali teenagers in quiet reflection in the immediate vicinity of these hotels.
It always surprises me that many Americans think every country is like theirs.
Most teenagers in Bali wont have high end phones because most Balinese make less than US$200 per month... and that's double what many other Indonesian provinces make so their parents cant afford to buy them phones and their job wont pay enough either. The overwhelming majority of Balinese teens will be out drinking, partying, having sex (and getting pregnant) like teenagers used to do.
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Well, there is a "Kissing Ritual" involved in this celebration, let the kids celebrate!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omed-omedan
A good idea (Score:2, Insightful)
This is probably a good idea for many places.
People are getting too dependent and addicted and need to step back and reflect.
If we cannot switch off our digital addiction for several days than we have a problem.
Re:A good idea (Score:5, Insightful)
Then switch off yours. Why the urge to dictate what others can do?
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Makes me feel like I'd be wrong in this country.
Internet kill switch (Score:2)
This is what would happen if we had an internet kill switch in the US.
Except substitute "quiet reflection" with "pray to Jesus in the way my particular denomination does".
Re:Internet kill switch (Score:5, Insightful)
Don't know? Back to fifth grade civics for you.
Ahh I remember fifth grade, that was when my public middle school set up a few minutes of prayer every morning lead by the vice vice principals.
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Ahh I remember fifth grade, that was when my public middle school set up a few minutes of prayer every morning lead by the vice vice principals.
You had a vice principal of vice? Where did you go to school, Vegas?
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The internet kill switch for the US is actually in China.
I have no problem with good Christians (Score:2)
I have a problem with elected representatives that are full shit.
Only the plebes (Score:3)
not enough! (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:not enough! (Score:4, Funny)
They are afraid of the spike in births 9 month later.
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You joke but Indonesia has had its fair share of natural disasters, being a collection of islands.
Bali itself currently faces imminent danger thanks to an active volcano, Mt Agung.
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>>Bali itself currently faces imminent danger thanks to an active volcano, Mt Agung.
And also loss of Internet connectivity:)
Tyranny of the majority (Score:5, Insightful)
There. Plain and simple. While Nyepi [wikipedia.org]:
Observed from 6 a.m. until 6 a.m. the next morning, Nyepi is a day reserved for self-reflection, and as such, anything that might interfere with that purpose is restricted. The main restrictions are no lighting fires (and lights must be kept low); no working; no entertainment or pleasure; no traveling; and, for some, no talking or eating at all. The effect of these prohibitions is that Bali's usually bustling streets and roads are empty, there is little or no noise from TVs and radios, and few signs of activity are seen even inside homes.
sounds good (we could have more of that, people tend to be noisy & stir things up wherever they go), the line following above quote already spoils it:
The only people to be seen outdoors are the Pecalang, traditional security men who patrol the streets to ensure the prohibitions are being followed.
To avoid confusion: I have no problem with religion in general. At all. But too much trouble in this world starts when [population group A] wants to enforce their world views on [population group B]. Above example seems pretty harmless, but the principle still holds. For that reason I hate it whenever this happens. Practical reasons: fine. When an issue must be decided one way or the other, and a super-majority picks the 'least evil' option with minimized harm to others: okay. But forcing some measure upon others for NO GOOD REASON other than tradition / culture / religion / state repression or whatever: not okay.
While looking harmless enough in this case, it includes denying a basic utility service to (also according to WP) around 16.5% of non-Hindus in Bali. Or in the order of ~800k people. Who may or may not choose to participate in the event. But in case not, see their freedom to fill in their day as desired, trampled upon by the majority.
If you want peace & quiet, go some place where there is peace & quiet, and do nothing to disturb that. If you want that as a group, find a place big enough for that group. If you want that for the rest of your live, go live in a place with no / few people around. Otherwise: stop messing with OTHER PEOPLE's lives. They are not your life, and thus (unless your rights are inflicted upon) not your business to mess with.
Oops (Score:1)
Sorry messed up the numbers a bit there. Might be closer to ~700k non-Hindus in Bali...
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You might have a point if people want to throw loud parties, but even then, being the majority does not mean y
Bali is more complex (Score:2)
Balinese takes its religion very seriously, and it is under serious threat in the modern world. The quiet time is just part of that, they put a lot of effort into festivals.
They are also under cultrual attack from large numbers of Javanese immigrants, and this is a way to assert their Balinese culture.
After, Nyepi they then have a wild party, with the Ogoh-Ogoh -- have a look at
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
Bali is still a magic place, despite the thousands of yobbo Australian tourists. Let's hope it r
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Democracy = Tyranny of the majority (Score:2)
That is exactly what democracy is - "rule of the majority".
If you want to avoid it, you should probably move to a non-democratic country, at the risk of succumbing to a tyranny of a much smaller group.
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no lighting fires (and lights must be kept low); no working; no entertainment or pleasure; no traveling; and, for some, no talking or eating at all
I bet maternity wards are busy in September.
Theocracy (Score:4, Interesting)
Seriously, does anyone else find this disturbing as hell? If you want to shut off your internet for a day go right ahead. Unplug your router. But having the government force the issue is frightening. Especially with the religious overtones. It doesn't help that I've been reading stories of Hindi nationalists out of India, but to be fair I've got no idea if that sort of nationalism exists in Indonesia.
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Welcome to the world outside North America and a few countries in western Europe. You have it so good you actively seek out and invent hardships to fight. Go rsilversocialjustice!
Somewhere, some day...Bali Hi (Score:2)
There is an offline paradise
Happy New Day of silence )
It could be worse (Score:2)
They could have been Jewish [wikipedia.org].
Will piss off the tourists (Score:4, Insightful)
They will not be happy when they find out they cannot update Facebook, Instagram etc etc with pictures of them drinking bucket-size cocktails and in general being dickheads.
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You take a flight and go to party and socialize and have your phone in your nose?
Still, nothing wrong with snapping pics and taking videos, and then uploading later when you're sober. People probably don't need a live feed, plus it will probably save you some embarrassment!
Flag day! (Score:2)
They need to switch them on again on IPv6 only! No other country will ever have such opportunity of a flag day [wikipedia.org].
The Best Reason To Have A Faith (Score:2)
In America... (Score:2)
I thought Centurylink was just crappy DSL. Nope. Turns out they are tranquility Buddhist and just want me to have some quiet reflection time. How thoughtful of them.
Good idea. Much appreciated! (Score:2)
... That way I can finally catch up on my Fidonet Echoes.
A wider issue (Score:2)
That's ridiculous (Score:2)
Uh... (Score:2)
Making it a 'day of quiet reflection' instead of '2 minutes of hate' doesn't make it any less dystopic.