On February 18 the Libyan Internet appeared shut down across the whole of the country. That state of affairs did not last long and since then, the Internet has been intermittent as pro- and anti-government forces fight it out.
Today, however, Rensys confirmed a report we mentioned from journalist Lisa Goldman that the Internet is 100% down for the North African country. The shutdown, even in the areas controlled by opponents of the current government, seems complete.
Rensys’s update outlined the drop-off of traffic, which has lasted for better than 12 hours now.
“After a quiet week, we received reports tonight that Libyans in Tripoli were suddenly unable to use various Internet communications utilities…All of the Libyan-hosted government websites we tested (i.e., the ones that are actually hosted in Libya, and not elsewhere) were unreachable… Tonight, however, we suspect that someone has turned off the tap on the Libyan Internet again, this time leaving the routes in place.”
Google’s Transparency Report bears out this picture as these graphics show.
