Friday, January 28, 2011

Egyptian Government Kills Internet to Quell Unrest

[Computerworld - The Internet blockade imposed by the Egyptian government in response to growing civilian unrest is unprecedented, both in its nature and scope, according to network monitoring firms.


Unlike other incidents where governments in Iran, Tunisia and elsewhere tried to control the flow of information by throttling specific Internet services and sites, the Egyptian government seems to have simply pulled the plug on all Internet services nationwide.


As of this morning, just a few dozen networks inside the country, including the Egyptian stock exchange, appeared to be up and running. Usually, between 3,000 and 3,500 are operating on a daily basis, according to Internet monitoring firm Renesys. It is still not entirely clear what these networks are or how they are still up and running given the total shutdown of Internet connectivity.


"This is on a different level entirely," said James Cowie, CTO at Renesys. "There's no cutting off the finger to save the patient here. This really is the Armageddon approach."] emphasis added
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9206923/Egypt_s_Net_blockage_an_Armageddon_approach_?source=CTWNLE_nlt_pm_2011-01-28

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