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Digital Planet: Internet under attack in Ukraine

Factual: Science & Nature

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11/10/2022 GMT

Internet under attack in Ukraine

BBC World Service - Digital Planet, Internet under attack in Ukraine

Missile attacks are not the only attacks in Ukraine – the Internet is threatened too.

Internet under attack in Ukraine.  Also the boom in mobile money in Somalia and Pass me that lobster: Conjuring up the metaverse

Ukraine has faced internet outages since missile attacks restarted on Monday -a drop of more than 20% was recorded yesterday by The Internet Observatory Netblocks.  This loss of connectivity is not thought to be due to cyber attacks but more about physical attacks on power infrastructure.  Director of Netblocks, Alp Toker, is on the show to explain what’s happened.

The boom in mobile money in Somalia
Despite the worst drought in 40 years, Somalians are embracing mobile money to the point that it’s replacing formal currency.  Without a central bank following the collapse of the government, the country was flooded with counterfeit money, this led to mobile money becoming popular. Two thirds of payments now being made via mobiles with 73% of the population over the age of 16 using mobile money services.  Aid agencies are using the services to get money to remote rural populations in al-Shabab controlled areas impacted by the drought.  We speak to Quartz East Africa Correspondent Tom Collins and Dean of Economics at SIMAD University in Mogadishu, Abdinur Ali Mohamed.

Pass me that lobster: Conjuring up the metaverse
On Tuesday Meta announce their metaverse plans.  The sheer volume of images needed to fill the metaverse for it to be a success cannot be left to big tech if the metaverse is going to be a success.  The metaverse will also have to rely on the next generation image making tools to fill the space for everyone who wants to use it in the way they want to use it .  Bill Thompson explains how we will be able to take a lobster out of our backpack in the VR future. 


The programme is presented by Gareth Mitchell with expert commentary from Bill Thompson.

Studio Manager: Michael Millham
Producer: Ania Lichtarowicz

(Image credit: Getty Images)

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