What if Governments Shutdown the Internet?

[giveen]

Come on man please talk with some sense. Why would the government shut down the whole internet just for bitcoin. There are currently 16 million bitcoin circulating so lets assume 16 million people have 1 bitcoin but the world population is 7.2 billion so just because the government can't control a currency which only 16 million people have they are going to shut down the internet for 7 billion people. And even if they shut down don't you think people will protest or for how many days will they be able to stop the usage of internet. Think about it.

[eann014]

I honestly think Bitcoin isn't decentralized enough considering that government still controls the Internet and can easily censor or shut them down (is this even possible?) anytime.
The move by government to make us go cashless by gradually phasing out cash is even more worrisome, could make them have absolute control over us.
We need some sort of decentralized "physical Bitcoin" that doesn't depend on the Internet and can be exchanged for online Bitcoin.  It is too risky not to have offline alternatives to Bitcoin to act as backup plan for online Bitcoin in case something big goes wrong.




Pls I need to know something,  Is it possible to exchange Bitcoin with other people without being connected to the Internet?
Let say the government bans the Internet and you have your Bitcoin offline(in cold storage right?), can you exchange the Bitcoin to the next person by simply transferring some Bitcoin from cold storage to his/her computer, phone or even data storage devices(like SD Card, USB, Hard drive etc)?
If this is possible then no need for the "Physical Bitcoin"

I don't think that it's possible for the governments to shut down the Internet. To shut down the Internet, they will have to give up a lot of benefits themselves and there're a lot of online service they're providing so if they shut down the Internet, they will take more disadvantages than advantages.

That's true there will be more disadvantage than advantage if they shutdown the internet. But maybe we should also learned how to put our bitcoin into a cold storage for our safety purposes. But for me it is really impossible that governments will shutdown the internet.

[ABISprotocol]

If governments shut the internet down, Bitcoin would still exist, but would be essentially unusable.

This is not true, and this argument has been so beat to death in so many bitcointalk threads that it's simply not even worth typing out a coherent argument again to explain why bitcoin would actually be fine in such a circumstance.

[ladydark]

If its possible for governments to ban bitcoin by shutting down internet,then by this time China and Russia would have done that.Instead,they have dropped their plan of banning bitcoin and have started to regulate bitcoin.Since bitcoin is a digital currency,it could not be used without access to internet.

[attentionSicker]

Seriously!!!!
Why would the government do such a thing if they know the consequences that will follow after that???
Do you really have to ask this question? Cause its really COMMON SENSE!!!
It's just not a goodbye to bitcoin but to the information age as well.

[totaleclipseofthebank]

There is no way that the government will shutdown the internet because if they do that, the people will got mad and there will be a big protest and people will against the government. The government will collapse

[DoublerHunter]

There is no way that the government will shutdown the internet because if they do that, the people will got mad and there will be a big protest and people will against the government. The government will collapse

Yeah that is one of the scenarios that can happen if the government will insists to shutdown the internet because a lot of people will get disturbed because of the shutdown of the internet and it will lead for protesting against the government and it can have a people power which can break the government or make the officials leave from their position especially if the country is democratic.

[stompix]

Today it would be impossible to shut down the internet or restrict any serious part of it as our whole infrastructure and monetary system is based on networking capabilities.

As you said about infrastructure. In my views there is no life without internet. If there is no internet how people would serve. So how people will know about the world that what's going on even you may know that without internet we are nothing. If you want to visit any country you get there picture first then visit. So this is poor step by government

Age of earth 4.5 billion years
The earliest evidences for life on Earth are 3.8 billion-year-old
Mammals appeared on the earth about 200 million years ago.
Genus Homo evolves 2.5 million years ago
Pyramids are built 4500 years ago.
Personal computers and internet ~ 50 years.

So indeed my friend, life will go extinct without internet.
People will stop travelling. People will stop eating cause they don't have google to search what guacamole is.
They won't be able to drive because they don't have gps.
WE'RE DOOOOOMED!

There is no way that the government will shutdown the internet because if they do that, the people will got mad and there will be a big protest and people will against the government. The government will collapse

Cough, cough....North Korea

[poplolnman]

There is no way that the government will shutdown the internet because if they do that, the people will got mad and there will be a big protest and people will against the government. The government will collapse

internet nowadays are part of people primary needs , just like clothes, eat and any other primary things. could you imagine what happened when government decide to ban people to eat? to wear clothes? , it's same thing when op throw his thoughts about shutting down internet , it's a strange thought lol.

[grermezter]

I honestly think Bitcoin isn't decentralized enough considering that government still controls the Internet and can easily censor or shut them down (is this even possible?) anytime.
The move by government to make us go cashless by gradually phasing out cash is even more worrisome, could make them have absolute control over us.
We need some sort of decentralized "physical Bitcoin" that doesn't depend on the Internet and can be exchanged for online Bitcoin.  It is too risky not to have offline alternatives to Bitcoin to act as backup plan for online Bitcoin in case something big goes wrong.




Pls I need to know something,  Is it possible to exchange Bitcoin with other people without being connected to the Internet?
Let say the government bans the Internet and you have your Bitcoin offline(in cold storage right?), can you exchange the Bitcoin to the next person by simply transferring some Bitcoin from cold storage to his/her computer, phone or even data storage devices(like SD Card, USB, Hard drive etc)?
If this is possible then no need for the "Physical Bitcoin"

I vividly remember when Liberty Reserve was being used by a lot of people, mostly for money laundering and others were using it for legitimate business and suddenly the FBI seized the founder and made lots of people lose a lot of money, i even lost a few, but with bitcoins, i doubt anything of that sorts will be able to happen at all, They dont even know the creator of the currency, and they can shut down any websites affiliated with the currency but new ones will spring up.

[orions.belt19]

Nahhh I don't this would happen, especially just for Bitcoin. Unless you're from a country with a strict type of government, like North Korea maybe? I'm not sure what is the state of Bitcoin in North Korea though... But no, doing such would deprive the citizens of their rights and like what others have just said, would bring chaos. There's a very slim chance for this to happen.

[coinmore_org]

I honestly think Bitcoin isn't decentralized enough considering that government still controls the Internet and can easily censor or shut them down (is this even possible?) anytime.
The move by government to make us go cashless by gradually phasing out cash is even more worrisome, could make them have absolute control over us.
We need some sort of decentralized "physical Bitcoin" that doesn't depend on the Internet and can be exchanged for online Bitcoin.  It is too risky not to have offline alternatives to Bitcoin to act as backup plan for online Bitcoin in case something big goes wrong.




Pls I need to know something,  Is it possible to exchange Bitcoin with other people without being connected to the Internet?
Let say the government bans the Internet and you have your Bitcoin offline(in cold storage right?), can you exchange the Bitcoin to the next person by simply transferring some Bitcoin from cold storage to his/her computer, phone or even data storage devices(like SD Card, USB, Hard drive etc)?
If this is possible then no need for the "Physical Bitcoin"

Bitcoin is a DIGITAL CURRENCY. You need some level of internet connectivity to use Bitcoin.
On the plus side, I doubt the internet will be "shut down" by the gov.

[Oceat]

I honestly think Bitcoin isn't decentralized enough considering that government still controls the Internet and can easily censor or shut them down (is this even possible?) anytime.
The move by government to make us go cashless by gradually phasing out cash is even more worrisome, could make them have absolute control over us.
We need some sort of decentralized "physical Bitcoin" that doesn't depend on the Internet and can be exchanged for online Bitcoin.  It is too risky not to have offline alternatives to Bitcoin to act as backup plan for online Bitcoin in case something big goes wrong.




Pls I need to know something,  Is it possible to exchange Bitcoin with other people without being connected to the Internet?
Let say the government bans the Internet and you have your Bitcoin offline(in cold storage right?), can you exchange the Bitcoin to the next person by simply transferring some Bitcoin from cold storage to his/her computer, phone or even data storage devices(like SD Card, USB, Hard drive etc)?
If this is possible then no need for the "Physical Bitcoin"

Bitcoin is a DIGITAL CURRENCY. You need some level of internet connection to use Bitcoin.
On the plus side, I doubt the internet will be "shut down" by the gov.

If the government shuts down the internet they could lose billions of dollars every second and it will create more chaos since they shut down the internet. But i highly doubt that it will ever gonna happen because no one's controlling the internet, the government can only block some areas for accessing the internet but they can't really stop the internet. And besides bitcoin is not that too important to worry about there's more important thing to be worry about concerning about the territorial crisis.

[Polar91]

Yes the government is really powerful that it can do impossible thing into possible one. But in that matter, if the government suddenly shutdown the internet just to stop people from using bitcoin, it will be a great chaos because they would do a rant against the government for restricting their own will to use and have the internet access for their own purpose. Government must be always equip in this kind of situation and do not stop mandatorily its people in getting into bitcoin.

[CarnagexD]

If that will truly happen that government will shutdown internet just to force or stop people in using bitcoin, that will surely result into a large chaos between the government and its people because in our modern world, everything are being accessed through internet. With that movement, people will protest against the government. People has their own will to do bitcoin as long as they are not violating written laws of their own country to prevent that unnecessary action of the government to happen.

[mc1227]

They can shutdown the internet if they want but, internet is one of the main source of income knowledge and conversation. If government shutdown the internet connection the some industry will fall down and they will not get high profit. And lot of our country man will suffer.

[warrior333]

If the government can stop the Internet it would be tantamount to suicide. Now there is not a single sector of the economy which is not used in the activity of the Internet. To stop the Internet is to stop the economy, transport, energy etc. Who will do this?

[epitome]

There is no way that the government will shutdown the internet because if they do that, the people will got mad and there will be a big protest and people will against the government. The government will collapse

That wont be the case,the fact is without internet the entire country could stand still because everything now a days runs smoothly because you have the internet and no government could shut it down,rather they could impose some rules and restrictions.

[zulkarnaen]

I think it will never happen because the internet access is vital for today's economy. Almost 70% of businesses always use internet access in performing their work every day. And it's not just bitcoins that always use internet access to make transactions of its use.

[btcdiggingmaster]

I think it will never happen because the internet access is vital for today's economy. Almost 70% of businesses always use internet access in performing their work every day. And it's not just bitcoins that always use internet access to make transactions of its use.

Yes, Economic growth has been increased due to the internet only, before it was very difficult to talk with people who are settled in other countries but the internet makes it very easy for us. Right now people are happily booking the tickets and happy traveling anywhere they want by using the internet only. I think it is not at all possible to shut down the internet.