Shit is hitting the fan in Egypt. The entire country is in an uproar and protesting the president and his corrupt government even with it being replaced yesterday. There has been epic chaos in the streets as protesters have clashed with the army and police and some very graphic images have been coming out of the country..until they shut off the internet. The protest has been coordinated over social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter which prompted the government to shut down all of Egypt's internet providers. Which leads to my question of the day.
"Which concerns you more; the civil unrest in Egypt, the violence between protesters and police, or the total shut down of the Internet in Egypt?"
Personally the shut down of the Internet is very concerning just as Obama is reviewing a bill proposing a switch for the United States Internet and it could be the beginning of a slippery slope. Yesterdays question of the day discovered that most people don't really have allergies although there are some allergic to peanuts, dust and chocolate. Erics asked for the rest of my pudding and ill be sending that via catapult. Tell me what you think about this Egypt situation and you could be featured in tomorrows question of the day!
11 comments:
I find the whole "government shutting down the internet" thing to be a very frightening prospect. Cutting off an entire country from the rest of the world communication wise? Governments should have no control over the information we have access to.
Both are pretty frightening. I think talking about an internet shutdown over a blog is pretty ironic, but also makes the point hit closer to home.
Islamic Brotherhood look worse than Mubarak: both for Egyptians and for the West. I'm far more concerned about switching of the Suez Canal than the internet.
I'm more concerned about the people. The army rolling in to defend them is comforting, though.
Fundamentally the governments can only have control over the internet if we continue to use centralized ISPs. At the moment in Egypt just as in Iran, China etc those who would wish to circumvent the internet restrictions can do so using tools such as tor. Even when known tor exit nodes are blocked there are always new or unknown nodes.
Also, even if bills are passed in USA or other western nations which compromise net neutrality, we will just develop our own interconnected wireless network and bypass ISPs altogether. Sure in the beginning it will not be as fast as current broadband but with enough people it can be.
See
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/802.11s
http://insurgen.cc/index.php?title=Meshnet
I am also concerned about eh people especially because there were a lot of dead persons
I think the civil unrest is more concerning, especially as a museum was looted earlier with the destruction of two mummies... and all governments have executive powers to take drastic steps to control both the media and communication channels.
The bigger question is why the west has propped up Mubarak for so long...it seems our ideals only get acted on when politically expedient, which means when push comes to shove we're all one step away from egypt.
interesting post, keep it up
Following, and I am mainly glad that other governments are stepping back and letting this story unfold. Egypt isn't exactly a 'major player' in the global game, but there could be a ripple effect from this.
Cheers,
wtfamidoinginidaho.blogspot.com
i think what they are protesting about is very important and i agree with their efforts
following
http://trippinkets.blogspot.com
if they shut down my internet i would riot too...
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