Volume IX

Issue : 11: February 10, 2011

• The Internet Will Soon Run Out of New Addresses
• Egypt Unplugged Itself from the Internet to Try and Silence Dissent
• Dismissal for Improper Facebook Postings Upheld
• CRTC in Showdown with Ottawa over Unlimited Use Decision
• Kodak Loses Patent Dispute to RIM, Apple
• Microsoft files ITC complaint against TiVo
• FCC seeks to Dismiss Net Neutrality Lawsuits

Home > Volume IX > Issue 11: February 10, 2011 > Egypt Unplugged Itself from the Internet to Try and Silence Dissent

Egypt Unplugged Itself from the Internet to Try and Silence Dissent

On Friday, January 28th Internet services were disabled in Egypt as protestors were getting ready for a new round of demonstrations calling for the end of President Mubarak’s 30-year rule.

Egypt’s four primary Internet providers, Link Egypt, Vodafone/Raya, Telecom Egypt, and Etisalat Misr were all unplugged at 12:34 am.  The technical act of turning off the Internet is straightforward; it merely requires a simple change to the instructions for the companies’ networking equipment.  Experts have stated that the ease with which Egypt cut itself off indicates that they can control where outages are targeted.   In the United States, on the other hand it would be unlikely to happen as it has numerous Internet service providers and ways of connecting to the Internet.

Trying to silence the public through the limiting of Internet access is not a new proposition.  In 2009, Iran disrupted Internet services to curb dissent over disputed elections.  Similarly, in 2007 Myanmar also disrupted the Internet during a civil uprising.  In Egypt, the entire country was not only disconnected from the Internet, but all other communicating devices were affected as well; from mobile phones to laptops.

At the time of writing this article, Egypt had re-connected the Internet.

For additional information, visit:
http://tinyurl.com/Egypt-Unplugged-From-Internet