Giving Compass' Take:

• Tariq Nafi at Al Jazeera reports how blackouts are now a standard feature in the Iranian governments' internet playbook.

• The author says how "intranets allow a government to unilaterally cut off its citizens from content that the rest of the world sees." What are some measures to stop this? 

• Is the internet our next crisis? Click here to read more. 

Imagine what an internet blackout would mean to you: shut out of messaging sites, forced off social media, deprived of news, information and the means to contact loved ones.

Now imagine you are Kashmiri, and the Indian government has left you in the dark for four months now. Or you are Iranian, and you have just experienced your most serious internet shutdown ever.

Both shutdowns were imposed by governments that said they were trying to prevent "security threats". Critics say it is about silencing dissent and deliberately severing connections between people as a form of collective punishment.

Blackouts are now a standard feature in the government internet playbook and an increasingly common response.

In Kashmir and Iran, the blackouts have been criticised as a means of trying to control the narrative and flow of information about what was happening inside the country.

"These are two very extended internet shutdowns that happen around a political crisis in a country," says Adrian Shahbaz, Research Director for Technology and Democracy at Freedom House.

Read the full article about internet blackouts by Tariq Nafi at Al Jazeera.