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Shutdown.Tools

A collection of tools, websites, and strategies that could be used by HRDs, journalists, and anyone, during internet outages.

If you are a tool developer and think your tool should be included in this directory, or would like to submit a user review for a tool, please contact the team at hello@shutdown.tools. At this stage, user reviews have to be reviewed and vetted by our team before being posted, to make sure the information is accurate.

If you would like to help in categorising these projects, please submit a pull request to this repo.

Internet shutdowns and outages bring a lot of damage, and leave the people we love worried. However, most, if not all, potential tools or workarounds need to be set up in advance, while you still have internet. This can be as simple as downloading an app on your phone, or as time-consuming as setting up a server.

This directory is categorised by need. You should first decide what your need is, then go to the respective category to select a tool that matches your threat model and capacity.

A few things to pay attention to:

  • Last update of tools: It's good to use tools that are maintained regularly, meaning they have been updated recently. Internet repression technology evolves all the time, and so does hardware. The more recently a tool has been updated, the higher the chance it will work, patch new digital threats, and fix reported bugs.
  • Must try first: You MUST test whether the tools you want to use work for you. Sometimes the model of your phone, the country you're located in, and which phone carrier you use all affect whether a tool works for you. You must test the tool before a shutdown happens.
  • Open source: Unlike alternatives such as Briar, which is fully open-source and regularly audited by third parties, the Bridgefy SDK remains proprietary, closed-source software. This makes it harder for independent security analysts to verify whether the encryption is perfectly implemented.

Download this site for offline use and distribution

Keep a full copy of this site on your device, so you can still read it if the internet is cut off. Do this while you still have internet, before a shutdown happens.

Download this site

Download it

  • Tap the Download button above to save a copy of the whole site.
  • It saves as a single .zip file. Put it somewhere you'll remember.
  • Share it with others: share this .zip file with others now, by Bluetooth, USB drive, memory card, or any offline sharing tool, so everyone has a copy ready before they need it.

Open it

  • Unzip the file. On a phone, tap it and choose "Extract" or "Unzip." On a computer, double-click it.
  • Open the unzipped folder and tap the file named index.html.
  • The site opens in your web browser and works with no internet. You can read every page.
  • Share it with others: send the same .zip file to people by Bluetooth, a USB drive, a memory card, or any offline sharing tool. They unzip and open it the same way.

Do this in advance and share the file with your community now, so everyone has a copy ready before they need it.