Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Egypt's Net Ruled By Phone, Not Kill Switch

Posted by timothy on from the so-when-you-shatter-some-of-the-tubes dept.

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."

2 of 102 comments (clear)

  1. it's a figure of speech by outsider007 · · Score: 5, Insightful

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

    --
    If you mod me down the terrorists will have won
    1. Re:it's a figure of speech by AvitarX · · Score: 5, Informative

      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).

      --
      Wow, sent an e-mail as suggested when clicking on "use classic" banner, and got a fast response that addressed my msg