After Laurie Lowell's message to the world, governments across the globe shut down the Internet. Electricity and essential services followed it, leading to the declaration of martial law in the United States of America and other countries. Riots occurred across the world, demanding the Internet be turned back on.
History[]
When Uploaded Intelligences were revealed to the public, the governments of the world began pulling the plug on the internet in an attempt to trap or delete any possible UIs in their systems. However, this also caused the local power to go out. Martial law was also implemented to maintain order during this time of uncertainty. A ban on upload research was issued, however the American government worked with Logorhythms to find a cure for the degenerative flaw that all UIs possess.
In the following month, the public was starting to get tired of the shutdown and protests both for and against the UIs would take place. Congress would hold hearings to determine if it was safe to turn the internet back on. After Ellen Kim was called to testify, she hinted at Logorhythms data center on Svalbard and Congress sent the FBI to investigate and shutdown the site.
As the shutdown reached forty days, the government decided to partner Peter Waxman- who was arrested for his part in violating the upload ban, to help the government transform his tracking program into a method to search for a destroy UIs. Once the antiviral, SafeSurf, was completed, it was given to the American public and, after a test run, the internet was allowed to be restored. Soon the rest of the world followed suit and the public at large celebrated the return of the internet.