Egyptian Government Removes Internet Access

[That_Canadian]

Came back late tonight and noticed this article in a friends social media account:

 

Egypt Leaves the Internet

 

Reading that left my jaw on the desk and my curiosity running at a hundred miles an hour.

Is this truly a total black out?

If so, what is going on in the country, economically, politically, socially!?

 

After a short search and a few bit more reading.

 

Egypt seems to be in and ongoing revolution and socio-political struggle to oust the president of 30 years.

Since protesters were using social media sites to organize gatherings and demonstrations, government has removed access to internet and SMS apparently.

From what I read, its rather violent "revolution" of sorts, with a large portion of the population involved, with Suez being a hot spot of activity (read: violent).

 

Some other sites for those interested:

http://www.abc.net.a.../28/3124300.htm

 

http://www.valleynew....asp?S=13925056

-"The Internet blackout in Egypt shows that a country with strong control over its Internet providers apparently can force all of them to pull their plugs at once, something that Cowie called "almost entirely unprecedented in Internet history.""

 

Do we have any overseas members that can comment on this? (Obviously not from Egypt ha)

 

Looks like we have some very important action on the world stage for the end of this week.

Discuss, and any more fact finding and comments would be a great asset to the thread. As yourself, What precedent does this event set for the internet as a tool and a resource?

Edited January 28, 2011 by That_Canadian

[flareback]

Yeah I heard about this the other day. The BBC was talking about it the day before it happened since they caught wind of it via twitter.

[SpeedCrazy]

Wow. What can i say. No youtube.

That will probably become more occurent as governments realize the power social media groups have. Its a wonder China was not the first to do this.

[Nyt]

That must suck . Theres so much stuff to learn on the internet , Im glad I still have internet .

Edit: I just watched Sky News and it shows how bad things are there . Its like a revolution

[El_Capitan]

All I know is, if the U.S. Government does that, there'd be riots all over the place. I mean, what else we gonna do? Play single player games? Not if the game uses SecuROM.

 

I don't know what they're fighting for, but they just opened a can of whoopass for nerds like me that live in Egypt.

 

Oh, and this is why the 2nd Ammendment is so important. When more than half the country owns a gun, the government is less apt to become totalitarian.

[Phil]

I think the point is missed here. It's much bigger than that. There is a huge upheaval going on that could change the Egyptian government entirely. Cutting off the internet is just a tactic to end the struggle in favor of the present dictator.

[El_Capitan]

Of course, I'm just saying I'd have nothing better to do if my internet got cutoff than taking part in a revolt just to get it back.

[SpeedCrazy]

Oh, and this is why the 2nd Ammendment is so important. When more than half the country owns a gun, the government is less apt to become totalitarian.

I agree 150%.

[Phil]

 

Oh, and this is why the 2nd Ammendment is so important. When more than half the country owns a gun, the government is less apt to become totalitarian.

Very true, which was the point of the 2nd amendment in the first place.

[fire_storm]

Very true, which was the point of the 2nd amendment in the first place.

 

The 2nd amendment was probably created for other purposes besides revolution although it could play a factor in overthrowing an oppressive government.

 

This revoultion isn't anything new people in Egypt have hated there government for a long time it's just with the recent overthrow of the Libya government it has destabilized the region.

Edited January 28, 2011 by fire_storm

[TheHippi]

The 2nd amendment was probably created for other purposes besides revolution although it could play a factor in overthrowing an oppressive government.

 

This revoultion isn't anything new people in Egypt have hated there government for a long time it's just with the recent overthrow of the Libya government it has destabilized the region.

Actually it was created expressly for that purpose. Why do you think the people who say the 2nd amendment means state militias have any ground to stand on?

[Phil]

Yes, it was a safeguard in case the then new government got too big fer it's britches. Unfortunately that also creates some debate as to whether that makes it a blanket right for all citizens to own and bear arms under normal circumstances.