Slashdot Mirror
Out of Egypt Censorship, US Tech Export Under Fire
AndyAndyAndyAndy writes "After it was exposed that American firm Narus had sold Egypt the Deep Packet Inspection equipment used to spy on and censor its citizens, the US House Committee on Foreign Relations held a hearing where Reps. Chris Smith and Bill Keating 'grilled Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg on the sale of this Internet spying technology to an Egyptian Internet provider controlled by the Mubarak regime.' It seems there is now a push for stronger controls and monitoring for technology exports 'that would provide a national strategy to prevent the use of American technology from being used by human rights abusers.'"
Several readers have noted that Hosni Mubarak has now stepped down as president of Egypt. Control of the country's affairs has been passed to the high council of its armed forces, which has some journalists and bloggers worried.
According to my Egyptian friends and from common knowledge of the region, the people in general are not against a military run country in the interim between dictatorship and democracy. It assures stability while also assuring that things are changing. The culture of Egypt is very intertwined with the military, almost every family has at least one person actively serving, so when they chant "The military and the people are one" they aren't being selective as to exactly who in the military they're talking about. The military up to this point was already seen and acted as an unbiased arbitrator not influenced by politics. As has been stated, they are there to protect Egypt and the people of Egypt and will not spill Egyptian blood. They're probably the very best group to hold the country together in the potentially long process of redrafting a constitution and instituting a democratic system.
The US is the only one allowed to use this tech to abuse human rights, and it really doesn't want to risk losing its lead in technology used for spying on citizens.
"National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
Tired of this rhetoric. The Muslim Brotherhood is not as influential player in the region as fox news would have you believe. Nor are they a terrorist group or extremist group bent on anything other then the common goals of the revolutionaries. This just in, Islam is not the new Communism.
Ignorance is not an excuse to the realities of the world.
49% of Egyptians say Islam plays only a "small role" in public affairs under President Hosni Mubarak, while 95% prefer the religion play a "large role in politics."
84% favor the death penalty for people who leave the Muslim faith.
82% support stoning adulterers.
77% think thieves should have their hands cut off.
54% support a law segregating women from men in the workplace.
54% believe suicide bombings that kill civilians can be justified.
Nearly half support the terrorist group Hamas.
30% have a favorable opinion of Hezbollah.
20% maintain positive views of al-Qaida and Osama bin Laden.
82% of Egyptians dislike the U.S. â" the highest unfavorable rating among the 18 Muslim nations Pew surveyed.
And every place where 'islam is on the rise' including moderate indonesia, you'll see: repression, repression, repression. It's not the new communism, it's a push towards the dark ages.
Om, nomnomnom...