Post AyMqGAc4u9fxEXcd8K by benjamingeer@piaille.fr
(DIR) More posts by benjamingeer@piaille.fr
(DIR) Post #AyMpVILcKXoXbxZS1Q by bovine3dom@masto.ai
2025-09-19T13:47:11Z
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Two non-technical friends mentioned to me yesterday that "Africa just switched on its own internet" and I was thinking that sounded implausible but got distracted by something else and didn't look into itNow I've just seen this post https://kolektiva.social/@shotgunseamstress/115225637836442111 linking to this article https://businessinsider.co.tz/africas-digital-reset-what-the-continental-internet-exchange-means-for-businesses-and-digital-freedom/ which doesn't directly cite any sources and when I search for specific claims from that article I only find similarly dodgy smelling articles...@benjamingeer any idea what is going on?
(DIR) Post #AyMpVJnevlq67DhMMy by bortzmeyer@mastodon.gougere.fr
2025-09-19T14:49:28Z
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@bovine3dom @benjamingeer t "Africa just switched on its own internet" is of course complete bullshit. It is apparently just an exchange point, which is certainly a good idea but I've seen so many projects being only announcements that I prefer to wait until I see actual packets flowing. (Most african counties do not even have their own national exchange point, I mean a real one, not a PowerPoint one.)
(DIR) Post #AyMpjr6xsPdlU0f03E by bortzmeyer@mastodon.gougere.fr
2025-09-19T14:52:10Z
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@bovine3dom @benjamingeer So, sorry for being the bearer of bad news and to spoil the game but the referenced article has non real content, not even a link to the Web page of the project. The comments under https://kolektiva.social/@shotgunseamstress/115225637836442111 seem to be by completely ignorant people.
(DIR) Post #AyMqGAc4u9fxEXcd8K by benjamingeer@piaille.fr
2025-09-19T14:12:51Z
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@bovine3dom Don’t know, @bortzmeyer have you heard of this?
(DIR) Post #AyMqGBzVmW0xVVarIW by bortzmeyer@mastodon.gougere.fr
2025-09-19T14:57:58Z
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@benjamingeer @bovine3dom There is even more bullshit on https://thevoiceofafrica.com/2025/09/17/africa-rewrites-the-internet-the-launch-of-cix/ "The system operates on its own protocols" and "supported by more than 100,000 kilometers of fiber optic cables"
(DIR) Post #AyMqwos7c7WmFxSmDg by bortzmeyer@mastodon.gougere.fr
2025-09-19T15:05:41Z
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@benjamingeer @bovine3dom I think the real project is #AXIS https://au.int/en/african-internet-exchange-system-axis-project-overview and, as you can see on the Web page, it is much more careful and reasonable. But it seems to be the remote source of the inflated boasts from several media sites.
(DIR) Post #AyMyXSZcBIy9UbE1ZY by bovine3dom@masto.ai
2025-09-19T16:30:43Z
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@bortzmeyer thanks. that's depressingly predictable. the original source seems to be https://vocal.media/journal/africa-just-launched-its-own-internet-and-google-should-be-terrified which absolutely reeks of LLM generated fan-fictionpretty scary how a series of slightly more respectable blogs can launder what initially was an obvious hallucination/lie@benjamingeer