Addressing the ultimate form of cyber security control: a multiple case study for the internet kill switch

Abstract

The purpose of this project is to study a policy called “shutdown of the Internet.” Preliminary findings show that this policy is a form of governmental control that has been used or considered by both, democratic and non-democratic governments, in the name of national security. This project adopts the securitization theory of the Copenhagen School and uses a multiple case study approach to analyze the arguments democratic and hybrid regimes use to justify shutting down the Internet. Data collection followed an Internet search process analyzing news, political speech and national statutes related to telecommunications law. Collected documents were coded and analyzed according the categories of the rhetorical speech using computer-assisted qualitative data analysis software. The research questions are: RQ1: What is the global scope of the Internet shut down phenomena? RQ2: What justifications do democratic and hybrid regimes use to shut down or to consider shutting down the Internet?