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Egypt Shuts Off All Internet Access
h00manist writes "Several sources are reporting Egypt has shut off all Internet access. There is still no official confirmation. Blackberry, twitter and SMS seem confirmed off. So, if you were there, what would you do to get communications for everyone? Do you still have a POTS modem?"
Seems like this is the moment the HAM radio folks always shine. I don't know what kind of following they've got in Egypt but I imagine it'd be pretty useful. That and texting.
I live in constant fear of the Coming of the Red Spiders.
It happened immediately after this was posted: http://video.ap.org/?f=None&pid=oT7qj_wiVHTbYae3scwok4_irYjJ2R8Z (warning: disturbing)
According to the LA Times, they've blocked the Blackberries, too.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2011/01/blackberry-internet-blocked-in-egypt.html
The U.K. isn't so bad.
Just keep in mind, President Obama is now seeking additional powers to give him the ability to shut off the Internet in the United States in the event of an "emergency".
We seem to be getting closer to States such as Egypt faster than they are becoming like us.
More 9/11 hijackers were from Egypt than from Afghanistan and Iraq combined.
(but of course one shouldn't extrapolate too much from a sample of 1 data point)
I wrote the following back in 2006. At the time, I was mostly writing about the invasion of Iraq, and the saber-rattling with Iran, but it turns out to say a lot about other places too.
==================
Suppose, for the moment, that spreading American values — by which I mean democracy, freedom of expression, and social mobility — throughout the globe is a good idea. How do we achieve that?
Let’s take a look at our enemies, and see what they fear about the U.S. Yes, our military might is kinda scary, but we’ve shown again and again that as a nation we lack the commitment (by which I mean “tyrannical jack-booted disregard for human life”) to use it effectively. What else have we got? A giant market economy focusing mostly on communication, entertainment, personal expression, and self-improvement, which the world’s dictators, religious fanatics, and thugs see as hedonistic, socially disruptive, and downright insidious.
Damn right it’s insidious. And we ought to be insidiating like crazy. The requirements for democracy and social mobility are communication, a sense of personal self-worth, and an active free-market economy. Our pop culture, and the stuff we sell, are our best tools for sneaking these values into societies, under the noses of the dictators and the zealots.
What better tools for personal expression than the cell phone and the Internet blog? What better way to get uncensored information about the world than the satellite dish? What better tools for demonstrating the joy of self-determination than the hit TV show and the Hollywood blockbuster? What better role model for oppressed women than the stars of CSI and ER? Hell, what better role model for what a police force should be than CSI? And what better motivation for starting your own business (black-market or legit), for getting a leg up, than the need to pay for all this crap?
Maybe the Cold War wasn’t won by geopolitics. Maybe it was won by black-market Levi’s blue jeans and bootleg copies of “Born in the USA” by Bruce Springsteen. Maybe our best hope for eliminating the Iranian nuclear threat isn’t B-2s dropping bombs, but FedEx cargo planes dropping cell phones and laptops. Actually, the world is doing a pretty good job in bombing Iran’s youth with pop culture; maybe all we need to do is sit back, sell more phones, and wait for their oppressive government to be swept aside, or simply ignored and rendered obsolete, by the new Coke generation.
*That’s* what they fear about us. Not that we’ll bomb them into oblivion, but that their own kids, raised on our pop culture, will vote them off the island.
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I want to emphasize that this is about spreading American *values*, not American hegemony. The Egyptian riots are a problem for America as an empire, but if we play it right it can be a huge win for American ideals.
Or in today's language: the revolution will not be tweeted.
Does anyone think it is still a good idea to give the President an "Internet Kill Switch"?
Really, those in power tend to cling to it even if their forms are outmoded for the population they rule. I think our democracies only grow stronger through a little unrest and political replacement every once in a while. What do you think?
Shh.
See what happens when you download too many copies of "The Mummy" ?
"Computers are a lot like Air Conditioners" "They both work great until you start opening Windows"
Parent poster is handing out two, that's TWO generalizations for the price of one.
If you comment now, he'll throw in FIIIIIVE unfounded accusations of your choice - PLUS "the works". Where else are you gonna get a deal like that?
Coming up next - all Catholics are secretly pedophiles, Jews are stingy, blacks are lazy and women can't drive.
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
You overlooked Turkey which wants to become a State of the EU, and has to prove itself to be tolerant of other religions and basic human rights (as required by the Lisbon Treaty).
And YES I have a POTS modem, but it isn't much good without the internet. It would connect to my ISP and then have no website to access. And of course all the old BBSes I used to call directly have disappeared.
Some of the old Usenet and Fidonet newsgroup BBSes might still be alive, but I have no idea what their phone numbers are.
My AC stalker: " I personally agree with your posts most of the time, but that won't keep me from modding you troll"
video news guidance
Two of my imaginary friends reproduced once
They could patch into a Gibson, use that uplink to tunnel into the global GPS satellite network and then beam the (enhanced) signal down into the internet and thus successfully hack the plant.
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
I love hearing this. In fact, I hope more countries undergoing political unrest opt to shut off 'net access. Specifically I'm hoping for similar occurrences in places like Syria, Pakistan. Go ahead and try getting your internet kill switch bill passed then ya jackasses. Every political talking head will blaze up a nice firestorm while the chickenshits dive for cover.
I just wish there was a way to help.
There are some people that if they don't know, you can't tell 'em.
It doesn't work like in the movies. Triangulating a transmitter takes time, coordination, and experience. (I consider myself one of the better foxhunters in my state) And if the person doesn't want to be found, they can make it extremely difficult to pin down.
Both german-controlled france and russia took the same novel approach trying to find spies transmitting in WW2... they'd cut power to parts of the city a chunk at a time until the signal went off the air, then tear apart that area. Shows just how difficult it can be. Nowadays though with dopplars and haddock arrays they don't have to shut down the grids, but finding the actual transmitter remains very difficult. (I've been foxhunting for just about 20 yrs)
I work for the Department of Redundancy Department.
This has nothing to do with "religion" per se and everything to do with political power. They aren't cutting off the internet to prevent "Draw Muhammed Day", they are cutting it off to try to prevent a Tunisia style rebellion.
Monstar L
The thing is that Turkey is not a Muslim state in the way that Saudi Arabia or even Egypt is. Its a state that is mostly Muslims, but even with their somewhat more religious leaning government recently, Turkey took its cues from France and under Mustapha Kemal Ataturk made the state a secular state with its own form of laicite.
It wasn't the West that abolished the Caliphate, it was the Turkish government that did that. Other initiatives included insisting on western apparel for everyone and even developing a Turkish alphabet based on Latin characters instead of using Arabic characters. A very big change for the state that used to be the center of the Ottoman Empire, and the Islamic Caliphate.
Turkey, of course, has its own issues with human rights, and no one wants to be in a Turkish prison, but religion isn't the largest, by far. Their bigger problems are more of the ethnic variety, like with the Greeks on Cyprus and the Kurds they have in their own country. When it comes to those issues, the Turkish do have a fairly big problem on their hands.
All Americans are fat and stupid. There. Can I please have my post modded up again now?
Or do I have to make a stupid generalization about someone else? Like Chinese? Brits? Zie Germans?
COME ON!
I too want to be modded +5 Insightful for being a generalizing asshole who pigeonholes millions of people and their cultures into degrading *caricatures of themselves.
*caricatures are like an exaggerated cartoon of someone, where he looks funny... and then we laugh at him cause he is funny looking.
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
From what I've gathered, the Muslim Brotherhood is a shadow of their former selves; they were really big in the 80s and 90s, but they've lost direction and momentum. I think that they're currently just a specter straw-man that Mubarak and the Egyptian government likes to throw up to help keep the opposition in check.
In other words, they're Egypt's Al-Qaeda, a great excuse for a dictator to keep clenching his iron fist.
I went back there last December to see my cousin get married. Most Egyptians I spoke about politics -- there are elections coming up soon and it's a topic everyone wants to talk about -- seem to want very little to do with the Brotherhood; they blame them for a good number of terrorist and don't want them anywhere near positions of power.
I don't deny that there's a risk in open elections -- certainly, you run the risk of electing kooks and crazies in every election. I just don't think the Brotherhood is as terrifying a specter as we think they are. At least, not any more. Have a little faith in the Egyptian people.
Ne Cede Malis.
One where there are many Muslims?
Well, is a Germany a Muslim state? Plenty of Turkish Muslims there? How 'bout France with all them Algerians?
Or all those Muslims don't really count, cause they are not TRUE Muslims?
Or are you talking about countries run by sharia law?
Egypt is a "semi-presidential republic" where religious parties are illegal.
Or let's turn that around... Which western countries (excluding Vatican) are Christian? And please, specify which denomination.
Or how about simply - is America Catholic, Protestant or Mormon? Come on... we all know that all that secular bullshit is just for show.
Come on... Who's their Cloud Daddy?
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
This will help with the IPv4 address pool problem too
mod me funny
I've always considered Egypt to be on of the more progressive muslim states
Whaaaaat? Egypt is ruled by a dictator that tolerates no dissent. There has been a state of emergency there for 44 years! Let's see, where to start. In 2009, the U.S. Department of State Human Rights report had this to say:
Police, security personnel, and prison guards often tortured and abused prisoners and detainees, sometimes in cases of detentions under the Emergency Law, which authorizes incommunicado detention indefinitely, subject to a judge's ruling.
and
Police and the SSIS reportedly employed torture methods such as stripping and blindfolding victims; suspending victims by the wrists and ankles in contorted positions or from a ceiling or door frame with feet just touching the floor; beating victims with fists, whips, metal rods, or other objects; using electric shocks; dousing victims with cold water; sleep deprivation; and sexual abuse, including sodomy. There was evidence that security officials sexually assaulted some victims or threatened to rape them or their family members. Human rights groups reported that the lack of legally required written police records often effectively blocked investigations.
It just goes on and on. And, keep in mind, the U.S. DOS reports tend to be very conservative, so when this stuff ends up in a DOS report, things on the ground are much, much worse.