Egypt's Net Ruled By Phone, Not Kill Switch

schliz writes "Judging by the time it took for Egypt to go offline and back online, the Internet Society speculates that the country's connectivity is controlled by a 'series of phone calls', rather than a 'kill switch'. The Government-imposed internet blackout lasted five days, beginning last Friday, and ending on Wednesday."

Comments

'Series of Phone Calls' instead of 'Kill Switch'??

[Anonymous Coward]

WTF is the damn difference? What BS is this statement trying to make? Am I supposed to feel better about the pending 'Kill Switch'?

it's a figure of speech

[outsider007]

I think some people are imagining a light switch. Next to a red nuke button and a bat phone.

Re:it's a figure of speech

[AvitarX]

Exactly, the law wants to legalize in the US exactly what happened in Egypt. It will be a series of calls still. Currently though, if the President calls Level 3 and says, stop your series of tubes from flowing, Level 3 may or may not do it, and is not obligated to.

The law would give the president the same power here as in Egypt (with regards to the internet that is).

Re:Hardly matters...

[Kokuyo]

What it does mean is that the discussion about a kill-switch is moot. In most countries, only a handful of organizations run international backbones. Just about every country could take the net down in such a fashion.

A literal kill-switch might just work a bit faster.

Pictures from Egypt

[Skylinux]

Check out these links for some truly cool pictures. These pictures speak to me and show me the pain and suffering of the Egyptian people.
But they are also some of the most beautiful pictures I have ever seen because they show people fighting to change their lives.

Feb 03 http://totallycoolpix.com/2011/02/egypt-protests-anti-mubarak-vs-pro-mubarak-riots/

Jan 30 http://totallycoolpix.com/2011/01/the-egypt-protests-part-2/

Jan 28 http://totallycoolpix.com/2011/01/the-egypt-protests/

Spam

[talsemgeest]

In other news, spam out of Egypt almost completely ceased during the internet blackout!

Re:Long-term economic damage

[gl4ss]

internet connectivity is the least of the worries of the companies with professionals in egypt right now.

the business implications from the internet drop are also minimal compared to the revolt in total, it's not like they could have worked anyways. economically that affect is also quite minimal when contrasted with the fact that cairo is pillaged and looting has been widespread and people are in a general strike, or would be if they had the option of going to work(those with jobs to begin with). "sorry I'm having trouble taking your call because bricks are being thrown at the window".