The Day Part Of The Internet Died: Egypt Goes Dark

AP via Yahoo News ^ | 28 Jan 2011 | Jordan Robertson

[edpc]

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- About a half-hour past midnight Friday morning in Egypt, the Internet went dead.

Almost simultaneously, the handful of companies that pipe the Internet into and out of Egypt went dark as protesters were gearing up for a fresh round of demonstrations calling for the end of President Hosni Mubarak's nearly 30-year rule, experts said.

Egypt has apparently done what many technologists thought was unthinkable for any country with a major Internet economy: It unplugged itself entirely from the Internet to try and silence dissent.

[edpc]

"It can't happen here," said Jim Cowie, the chief technology officer and a co-founder of Renesys, a network security firm in Manchester, N.H., that studies Internet disruptions.

Really...? It's possible if Obama gets his "kill switch" for "emergencies."

Yes WHe Can.

[PGR88]

"Kill Switches" are very common, as is software for regimes to control and monitor content. China has mastered this.

Foreign telecoms, etc... are more than happy to sell this capability to these regimes.

[DannyTN]

So why can’t we unplug Nigeria and get rid of 95% of the internet scammers?

[skeeter]

Yet I’ll bet AP gets a stiffie the day the Lieberman-Collins bill gets passed.

[screaminsunshine]

They also stopped the texting. Millions of crazed women are in the streets with no idea what is going on.

[WayneS]

Didn't they already have laws against texting while ululating?

;-)

[gandalftb]

Not an issue, only 20% of Egyptians has access to the internet. Many of the cell phones are sat phones, unblocked.

This is grass-roots uprising because of 30 years of dictatorship. The Muslim Brotherhood isn't even getting involved.

This uprising and the one in Tunisia and Algeria and Yemen are a direct result of dictatorial oppression......

And the example that we, America set by creating democracy in Iraq with our blood and treasure. I've been saying it for 10 years, our nation-building in Iraq would set the middle east on fire and not even Islam will be able to put the fire out.

Freedom will find a way.

[redgolum]

Hope you are right, fear you are very wrong.

[Vinnie]

I think it/they will go the way of Iran..

[The Comedian]

Obama's Internet Kill Switch Wet Dream ver. 0.9, coming to an ISP near you.

Today is a good day to die.
I didn't say for whom.

[Vinnie]

I think it/they will go the way of Iran..

Hope I’m wrong and you’re right.

[Publius6961]

Egypt has apparently done what many technologists thought was unthinkable for any country with a major Internet economy: It unplugged itself entirely from the Internet to try and silence dissent.

Bullshit!
There was plenty of dissent prior to the wholesale mindless violence and destruction, without disrupting communications of any kind.

I've never been a fan of Egypt, or any muslim country, for that matter, but the circumstances called for eliminating the means that anarchists and terrorists communictate.

Even if the hardcore troublemakers are 5% of the destructive mindless mob, they do communicate and coordinate via cell phone and the internet.

Having said that, I am absolutely certain that Obama and his Soros minions would abuse any similar power. Apples and oranges.

Personally, I would enjoy seeing shoot to kill orders for selected members of a mob such as we are seeing on the news channels; but that's a subject for another thread.

[gandalftb]

It’s not islamists, the Muslim Brotherhood has officially decided to sit this one out. They are the most popular opposition force in Egypt. Why else would they back off, they have wanted the government gone for years? Because they see a force stronger than Sharia or wahhabism at work........the desire for freedom and democracy.

[Publius6961]

So why can’t we unplug Nigeria and get rid of 95% of the internet scammers?

Excellent question!

Nigeria claims helplessness in stopping the wholesale fraud (authorities get a cut?) but if all internet service from Nigeria is cut off, absolutely, the prosecution of scammers would miraculously improve.

[redgolum]

Funny, most of the reports say that MB is deeply involved in this.

And “Freedom and democracy” don't always mean what you think. The Soviets claimed both.

[Publius6961]

I've been saying it for 10 years, our nation-building in Iraq would set the middle east on fire and not even Islam will be able to put the fire out.

Demonstrably false.
How has it worked out so far in Iraq? In Afghanistan?

As soon as the American bucks and presence disappear, so will any semblance of public democratic order. Corruption and rule by the ruthless are cultural diseases. Muslim diseases.

And you can say it for another twenty years and it would still defy reality.

[Publius6961]

Dream on.
They are just rioting to have access to a piece of the action. Ever learned how corruption on a national level works?
Ever been to Egypt? I got stories...