Off-Grid Networks Reduce Shutdown Risk, but Create New Targets
The hard part of shutdown resilience is not keeping people connected. It is that the off-grid network itself can become a visible node that states or other actors can retaliate against, especially when organizers are already under pressure.
The report points to recent shutdowns in Iran and Venezuela, and notes that shutdowns remain active in multiple countries. It treats prebuilt local networks as a way to preserve command, information flow, and emergency communication when national internet access disappears.
That makes resilience a security problem as much as a connectivity problem. The same setup that keeps a community online can also expose the people operating it to arrest, violence, or legal risk.