Nationwide internet shutdown to prevent exam cheating
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It has been revealed that the Iraqi government cut off internet access across the country during exam periods to prevent students from obtaining fraudulent test answers and cheating.
Iraq Shuts Down Internet To Stop Cheating Students - Vocativ
http://www.vocativ.com/318996/iraq-shuts-down-internet-to-stop-cheating-students/
Iraq Shut Down Its Internet to Prevent Sixth-Graders From Cheating - The Atlantic
http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2016/05/iraq-shutdown-its-internet-to-prevent-sixth-graders-from-cheating/482946/
According to DYN research, which tracks internet outages around the world, the internet in Iraq was cut off for three days, from Saturday, May 14, 2016, to Monday, May 16, 2016. DYN's tracking of internet access in Iraq revealed that the outage lasted exactly three hours, from 5:00 AM to 8:00 AM. The Iraqi government also implemented a similar measure in June 2015 during a junior high school exam period.
3rd 3hr blackout in 3 days as #Iraq continues attempts to block cheating on exams. More outages expected.. pic.twitter.com/culrbXPH9m
— Dyn Research (@DynResearch) May 16, 2016
The Iraqi internet provider, EarthLink , announced the network outage on its Facebook page, and other providers agreed to the decision. The reason for the outage is believed to be to prevent the distribution of answers to the national standardized test on the black market.
According to an anonymous Iraqi commenter, it is common for teachers to receive payment from students to give them the answers to the national standardized tests in Iraq, and the students who obtain the answers then sell them online for a fee across Iraq. The time between 5:00 AM and 8:00 AM is when teachers finalize and complete the test questions, so by cutting off the internet connection during this time, they can prevent the answers from being circulated.
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Iraq's Ministry of Communications has previously requested domestic internet providers to cut off the internet for political reasons. However, it has not made any official comment on this incident. Since the internet was cut off nationwide to prevent students from cheating, Access Now, a non-profit organization that advocates for internet freedom, protested, saying, 'In an unstable country like Iraq, cutting off the internet is truly frightening. It will halt the activities of many people involved in media and communications.'
Iraq isn't the only country to have cut off the internet across its borders; Uzbekistan, for example, cut off the internet on university entrance exam day in 2014. And in February 2016, the state of Gujarat, India, cut off mobile phone communications for four hours to prevent cheating during an industrial exam.
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