Internet Surveillance Atlas maps ownership of network infrastructure around the world

A German-American research team led by the University of Konstanz has analyzed the network infrastructure of democracies and authoritarian states around the world to show how dictators control the internet through state-owned service providers. ownership mapped.

We often think of state surveillance of the Internet in terms of manipulation and censorship of digital information. However, authoritarian states can carry out effective internet surveillance at a deeper level by controlling the network infrastructure used to transfer their data. Owning all communication routes of the Internet is the key to controlling the country’s digital data traffic. States achieve this by controlling their own internet service providers.

In their global research published in PNAS Nexus, a German and American research team led by the University of Konstanz investigated the differences in internet infrastructure in democracies and autocracies. The research team mapped the global ownership of Internet service providers, creating a kind of “Internet surveillance atlas.”

A distinctive pattern: In authoritarian states, the more influential Internet service providers are primarily state-owned, while in democracies they are largely privatized. Furthermore, when authoritarian states have foreign internet service providers, they are usually owned by other authoritarian states.

What Internet Service Provider Ownership Reveals About the Country

The main contribution of this research is the investigation of “transit networks”, which are networks that transport data traffic. Researchers studied state control of individual points of Internet access and the state’s influence on transportation networks. “Because transport networks are invisible to the public, states can use these networks to monitor and censor content without being held accountable,” said political scientist Eda Kelemoglu from Konstanz. says.

In fact, analysis shows that in authoritarian states, a significantly higher proportion of data traffic travels through state-run transportation networks. The opposite is true in democracies, where the most influential transportation networks are primarily owned by private providers.

Technical cooperation between autocratic countries

Internet service providers may operate across national borders or operate internationally. Therefore, it is not uncommon for foreign companies to make up a significant portion of a country’s Internet service providers (the companies that connect homes directly to the Internet). This applies equally to democracies and dictatorships.

However, an analysis of these access networks reveals distinctive differences. “Influential foreign internet service providers operating in authoritarian states are almost exclusively from other authoritarian states, indicating that the providers’ international activities follow a political logic. ”, concludes political scientist Nils B. from Konstanz. Wideman.

Researchers speak of notable clusters of technological cooperation between authoritarian states. This cooperation not only makes it possible to circumvent more liberal standards regarding privacy, anonymity, and data protection, but also allows for cross-border cooperation while reinforcing authoritarian models.

Finally, the researchers note that internet surveillance in authoritarian states is probably even more widespread than this study indicates. State ownership of internet service providers is a direct way to control the flow of data, but it is not the only way. States can also put pressure on private internet service providers, meaning authoritarian states also have indirect options to influence data traffic.