Egypt Coming Back On the 'net

An anonymous reader wrote in with the good news that after 5 days of blackout, "Egypt is coming back on-line. Some sites that didn't used to be available and are now back include two telcos: Vodafone Egypt and Etisalat Egypt. Guess that we can't have those IPv4 addresses back after all then."

Comments

Re:Cheers for Egyptians Everywhere!

[TheGratefulNet]

I'll hold off cheering until AFTER they install a democ government.

but for some reason, I suspect it will be a muslim-based one. in which case, we are now WORSE off.

change - for change sake - does not always get us what we were hoping for.

I'll hold off cheering until I see WHO is going to run that country.

Right to Bear Internet Arms

[Tokolosh]

Access to the internet and other forms of communication are one of our arms we have in defense of our liberties. The internet should therefore fall under the protection of the 2nd Amendment. Resist the kill-switch!

Re:Right to Bear Internet Arms

[commodore6502]

Actually the internet falls under Amendment 10: "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution..... are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people." In other words neither the Union Congress, the President, nor the Supreme Court were ever delegated the power to turn-off the internet.

That power is reserved to the Member States in perpetuity, until such time as they amend the Constitution to give that power to the central government. Which has not happened.

The power to turn-off the net remains in the hands of your Local Legislature, which is where it should be - close to the people. (My legislator lives on the same street as me - if he ever turned off my internet, I and my neighbors would probably toilet paper the house.)

Dirty tactics

[Zoolander]

It doesn't take much of a conspiracy theorist to see what's probably happening here: first make a speech to the people talking a lot about stability and warning of chaos, then bring the net back up, send in paid thugs - confirmed as poiice in plain clothes - to attack the protesters, letting the world see the 'chaos the protests have caused' Mubarack: certified asshole, but a smart one.

I'm Egyptian

[mhh91]

they only brought back the internet to make people go home without internet,more people joined the protests because they had nothing better to do anyway now,people are urging others to join the protests via social networking sites I don't think the Egyptian government can do anything about these protests really,other than stepping down,that is

Calm transition to democracy is best

[h00manist]

An orderly transitional government, to setup fair and open elections, would likely lead to more debate of the issues, and a government reflecting the people, which are mixed, secular and religious. If it turns messy and confrontational, more emotional and less rational, radical groups get better chances, be they right, left, military, religious, corporate or whatever.

Re:Cheers for Egyptians Everywhere!

[commodore6502]

But he was a Newspaper man. Had he lived in today's world, he would have been publishing Blogs and News articles online, and objected to the concept that he is not allowed to do so. Internet == freedom of the press. And speech.

No government has a right to stick a muzzle in your mouth & prevent you from exercising your Nature-given right to express yourself (or share the thoughts running through your brain).

Re:Citizens being removed from mailing lists?

[realxmp]

They got cut off, then they got systematically removed from mailing lists?

I don't think it's a conspiracy. They've probably just been automatically removed by the mailing list's bounce handler. They were down for long enough for most SMTP servers to give up and do a return to sender which causes most mailer software to remove you.

Re:Cheers for Egyptians Everywhere!

[ToadProphet]

I'll hold off cheering until AFTER they install a democ government.

but for some reason, I suspect it will be a muslim-based one. in which case, we are now WORSE off.

change - for change sake - does not always get us what we were hoping for.

I'll hold off cheering until I see WHO is going to run that country.

Assuming you are not from Egypt...

Why would that be worse for you? Why is this about what you are looking for? Shouldn't it be about want Egyptians want?

If you deny those people the right to live under a government of their choosing, which may not be a western Liberal Democracy (which is what you really mean), you've created a whole new problem.

Re:Cheers for Egyptians Everywhere!

[commodore6502]

You think Franklin would be In Favor of shutting-down the internet, having women's breasts & men's penises fondled at airports, and other anti-freedom measures that make people feel like Slaves instead of free human beings?

If so, you know nothing of the man.
All it requires is some READING (old concept but still valid) to realize where Franklin stood on these issues - "Anybody who would give us *essential* liberty for *temporary* security, deserve neither." He was also the one who went to Britain to broker a peace, had insults hurled at him by the parliament, and came back and said, "Revolt," in order to regain the British Rights that had been taken-away from the colonists. i.e. He loved liberty so much, he advised civil war.