Now and then, we hear or read the phrase “the Internet is the backbone of modern society”. So much so that we barely stop to consider the meaning of these familiar words and the profound truth they hold. It is, in fact, true that with the way systems and services are set up, the Internet is the backbone of our society. Over 5 billion people now use the internet, representing nearly two-thirds of the global population. Remote work, which gained significant momentum during the pandemic, relies heavily on stable internet connections. Likewise, online education has become essential for learning, with platforms like Khan Academy serving millions of students daily. Even basic services, such as banking, shopping, and accessing government services, increasingly require internet access.
Think back to the last time you experienced an internet outage; what happened? Personally, without the Internet, I will lose access to my work email and documents, messaging apps, internet banking services, grocery delivery, and even my source of entertainment! It’s safe to say that my life would come to a standstill if I lost Internet access permanently. Yet, I go about my day using this technology without much thought about its significance to how my life operates. The same can be said for everyone else; entire economic sectors have come to a halt because a service that depended on the Internet went off. Remember the 6-hour Facebook outage of 2021? Small businesses that relied on Instagram and WhatsApp for customer communications lost an estimated $60 million in revenue.
Similarly, when internet controls like censorship, throttling, or entire shutdowns occur, not only does communication cease, but banking systems, medical services, and emergency responses are crippled. According to the Internet Society shutdown monitor, over the past 12 months, an estimated US $31,650,563 has been lost in combined GDP across all countries that have experienced Internet shutdowns. Similarly, the NetBlocks Cost of Shutdown Tool (COST) estimates that a nationwide internet shutdown in Kenya would cost us a loss of $13,511,965 a day; that’s a whopping KES 1,847,761,248 a day! (for those that don’t like numbers, that’s nearly 1.8 billion Kenyan Shillings a day)
Our dependence on the internet means that its health, accessibility, and freedom are not just a technical concern but a fundamental human rights issue. There is a need to continuously invest in and advocate for the capacity to independently and transparently monitor the health, accessibility, and freedom of the internet. While there are other ways to conduct internet monitoring, decentralised tools are the most preferred due to their ability to support transparency, accountability, and protection from interference by threat actors.
What is Decentralised Internet Measurement?
Decentralised internet measurement involves collecting data about internet performance, accessibility, and censorship from distributed networks of volunteers, researchers, and automated systems around the world. While the technical approaches vary, most decentralised measurement systems use the following common principles:
- Distributed Testing Infrastructure: Rather than relying on a few centralised servers, these platforms deploy measurement points across diverse networks, countries, and internet service providers to create a comprehensive view of global internet conditions.
- Use of Volunteer Networks: Many platforms depend on volunteers who install their software or run tests from their own browsers. This crowdsourced approach provides authentic user perspectives while scaling measurement capabilities far beyond what any single organisation could achieve.
- Multiple Data Sources: Testers combine active testing, like sending requests to specific services, with passive observation, such as analysing network traffic patterns, and indirect indicators, like routing changes or DNS modifications, to achieve robust and accurate measurement.
- Open Methodologies: Unlike commercial monitoring systems, these platforms use openly published methodologies which allow the research community to reproduce the tests, validate data, and improve measurement techniques.
Why should we invest in and advocate for decentralised measurement?
Unlike centralised monitoring done by governments or corporations by default, decentralised monitoring allows us to have an independent and transparent view of how the internet is working in different locations and for different people across the world. This distributed visibility is crucial because internet experiences vary dramatically by location, internet service provider, and political context. For example, the same website can be accessible in New York but blocked in Uganda. Similarly, connection speeds that seem adequate in London could be painfully slow in rural Kenya. Only through decentralised measurement can we capture this complex and varied reality of experiencing the internet.
For open source communities, decentralised internet measurement provides critical data that ensures their platforms remain accessible globally. When open source projects can identify where their services are being blocked or throttled, they can take steps to improve accessibility or work with advocates to address restrictions. Likewise, civil society communities rely on decentralised internet measurement data to inform and strengthen their advocacy efforts. Rather than relying on anecdotal reports, organisations can present comprehensive evidence of censorship, performance issues, or access barriers. Governments and internet service providers are known to deny claims of intentionally interfering with the internet and often attack loopholes in centralised measurements to evade accountability. However, data from decentralised measurement makes it more challenging for these entities to dismiss findings or claim bias. In fact, decentralised internet measurement has been cited as crucial evidence in legal proceedings against digital repression during politically sensitive periods like elections, protests, and even during examination periods.
Finally, understanding where internet problems are most severe helps organisations direct intervention resources to areas of greatest need. If measurement data shows systematic throttling of educational content in certain regions, advocacy groups can prioritise those areas. For activists, journalists, and incident responders working in restrictive environments, measurement data provides early warning systems about emerging censorship or surveillance technologies.
Who is Monitoring the Internet’s Performance?
Several public interest organisations and academic institutions have developed systems for decentralised internet measurement:
- M-Lab (Measurement Lab) operates the world’s largest open internet measurement platform, providing researchers and advocates with data about internet performance and access. Their distributed infrastructure collects insights into broadband speeds, network neutrality violations, and connectivity issues.
- OONI (Open Observatory of Network Interference) focuses specifically on internet censorship detection. Their software runs tests from users’ devices worldwide to identify blocked websites, throttled connections, and other forms of network interference. OONI’s data has been instrumental in documenting censorship during political unrest and elections.
- IODA (Internet Outage Detection and Analysis) monitors large-scale internet disruptions and outages in real-time. IODA analyses routing data, active probing, and other signals to quickly identify when entire regions lose internet connectivity, such as during government-imposed shutdowns.
- Censored Planet employs remote measurement techniques to detect censorship without requiring volunteers in affected countries, making it particularly valuable for studying internet restrictions in authoritarian regimes where local participation might be dangerous.
- NetBlocks specialises in tracking internet disruptions and digital rights violations in real-time, and is often among the first entities to release metrics during internet shutdowns, social media restrictions, and connectivity disruptions. Their work has been essential in documenting and quantifying the impact of internet shutdowns during political events worldwide.
There are other research organisations whose work enhances the methodologies and data quality of decentralised internet measurement, including:
- Netalitica investigates information controls and Internet filtering in censorship hot spots around the world. It works with researchers around the globe to update Citizen Lab’s test lists that network measurement tools use to uncover blocking of websites. They have set up test lists for entire regions, offering the opportunity to determine the accessibility of online platforms popular in different geographical locations.
- The Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto serves as a foundational research institution in this space. Its advanced forensics lab focuses on research, development, and strategic policy and legal engagement at the intersection of ICT, human rights, and digital security. The Citizen Lab maintains the test lists that many measurement platforms rely on and conducts extensive research on digital espionage, internet censorship, and surveillance technologies.
- Internet Engineering Task Force’s Decentralisation of the Internet Research Group (DINRG) works on the measurement of internet centralisation and its impact on societies. It also conducts research to help establish standards and best practices for internet measurement methodologies.
The above research is critical in ensuring that measurement platforms have up-to-date, comprehensive data sets and robust methodologies. Their work with local researchers helps identify which websites and services need monitoring in different regions, ensuring that measurement efforts reflect the actual internet landscape that users experience.
Collaborative Efforts to Enhance Decentralised Internet Measurement
Civil society and open source communities understand the significance of collaboration to amplify the impact of advocacy and interventions. For this reason, M-Lab has increased efforts to coordinate and host the Open Measurement Gatherings (OMG) to bring together representatives from IODA, Censored Planet, M-Lab, OONI, and advocacy communities. Tatua Digital Resilience Centre attended the third edition of the OMG, which provided an opportunity to understand how decentralised measurement is achieved and how civil society can support these projects. The gathering also highlighted the need for better collaboration to address emerging challenges resulting from governments and tech giants gaining deeper control over digital infrastructure.
Currently, Tatua uses both the Netblocks and OONI probes to monitor the internet for interference, and we are working to enhance our capabilities by integrating tools from the other projects. We urge other civil society and public interest communities to interact with these projects and find ways to support them or amplify their work for greater impact, especially in the global south, where digital repression is becoming more prevalent.
Tatua continues to monitor developments in digital rights, recognising their fundamental importance to civil society and other human rights. We remain committed to tracking these issues and providing updates as the landscape evolves. This blog represents part of our ongoing effort to inform and empower civil society organisations in navigating the complex challenges introduced by digital technologies.
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