Egyptian 'Net Killed By Intimidation, Not a Switch

jfruhlinger writes "In the wake of the Egyptian revolution of the past weeks, much tech buzz has focused on the 'kill switch' that Mubarak's government used to try to stop Internet-based networking. The New York Times gives the details. As blogger Kevin Fogarty points out, the process involved less high-tech derring do and more intimidation of tech workers by regime thugs."

Comments

Not Surprising

[kevinNCSU]

You don't need a kill switch when you have people with guns. Anyone who's willing to stand up to that is already in the streets protesting, not standing around maintaining the network.

Re:Not Surprising

[__aaxtnf2500]

Perhaps there are personnel working at those telco's that understand that information is more powerful than a brick thrown at a police officer.

Re:Not Surprising

[kevinNCSU]

One million tweets is more powerful than a brick.

First of all I think that's highly debatable if not flat out false. I think we like to believe that because that's what we see over here, and that's what stirs a lot of passion over here, but at the end of the day, even when the internet WAS shut off, it's the people with piles of bricks holding the square and responding to low-tech alarms of clacking two steel rods together to cause people to rush to the defense in order to continue to hold the square that won the day. If tweets were more powerful then bricks then justin beiber (sp?) fans would be running the world. But the truth is the tweets are only as powerful so far as their ability to incite, organize and deploy said bricks. In that they have a use, but there are other methods to do such things.

I think the problem with your statement that the revolutionary telco employee should stay to defend the networks comes down to basic force deployment strategy. Not every member of the telco is going to be willing to fight. If he makes his stand there alone he's just going to get locked up or shot because chances are every member of the police force or group of thugs that show up to turn the internet off WILL be willing to fight. Therefore he's far better abandoning his indefensible location and banding together with the handful of employees from every other teclo and business across the city thereby concentrating their forces into a size large enough to hold ground and force change. If the telco is truly THAT important it would be easy to convince the larger force to move in and defend it. It seems however they decided the main square was far more appropriate.

Re:Not Surprising

[BCGlorfindel]

There are many Egyptian Telco workers who think, 'If the government tells me to shutdown the ISP connection, I will obey, because the government knows best.' - These are the same types you find in the EU or US who say it's okay for the SA officers to stick hands down passengers' pants (i.e. grope penises) and touch women's breasts.* They think it's okay if the government does it.

Your experience in a free country doesn't translate quite so well to a dictatorship. The Egyptian Telco workers also think "If the government tells me to shutdown the ISP connection, I will obey, because the government will jail or possibly kill me and my family if I don't".

Don't marginalize the position and plight of those under repressive dictatorships by pretending it's akin to your own struggles in a free country. By all means fight to keep your country free. By all means point out measures in your free country that can lead to suppression and tyranny. By all means stand up against those measures. Just don't do it on the backs of those like the Egyptians fighting a very different and much harder conflict.

Is anyone surprised ?

[mbone]

Is anyone really surprised by this ? However, I don't think it was just as simple as sending over a bunch of goons - or even a "Brooks Brother's Riot."

The Egypt Internet cutoff was technically done by stopping the BGP (Border Gateway Protocol) announcement of most Egyptian address blocks. BGP itself was not taken down, and the circuits themselves did not alarm. This was most likely not achieved by cutting cords or unplugging routers (which would have downed BGP, at the least). Pulling the plug, any general can do, but most generals don't know anything about BGP.

My guess is that there was a contingency plan for this (maybe as a military defense measure), that that plan took some thought by a technically savvy person, but, having a plan, it probably wasn't much more than a few phone calls to execute it. This can be compared to Burma (which really did just pull the plug - the link light was lost at the other end).

What the hell?

[DNS-and-BIND]

OK, somebody stop me if I say something out of line.

It seems from the article that a journalist actually thought that there was a big red button somewhere labeled "INTERNET KILL SWITCH - DO NOT TOUCH". This graduate of the college of communications then makes the connection that phone calls were made instead. Really? You think so? He then makes reference to "This morning's New York Times" and then links to an article published three weeks ago. Next, he accuses this unassailable beacon of journalistic accuracy of being wrong. As a crowning achievement, he then gives valuable pagerank to a "Human Rights Defenders" website that openly states that it only exists to lecture Europe, America, and Russia about anti-Muslim crimes without speaking a single word about persecution of religious minorities in Egypt.

I'd say that journalist Kevin Fogarty is a winner all around and represents his profession^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H occupation well.

Eben Moglen

[Gnaythan1]

Is trying to make software preventing this kind of thing from happening again. http://lastonk.blogspot.com/2011/02/freedom-box.html by using wall wart servers and routers.

If there was a software app that allowed handheld devises with wifi to create ad hoc networks... the people in Egypt may not have even noticed when the ISP's were shut down... they would have been able to continue talking to each other via short link wireless networks.

Side note, Egypt used "environmental" rules first

[retroworks]

My used electronics company tears down and recycles most (77%) of the computers etc. turned in to us. But of the 23% we refurb or resell for repair and reuse, and by far the lions share during the past decade went to Egypt, either directly or indirectly (after being re-manufactured to new-in-box in Asia, resold in boxes in Egypt with arabic lettering). In 2008, three of our sea containers of working Pentium 4s and display devices were seized by Egyptian customs and declared "e-waste". Having visited in person with our partners in Egypt on many occasions, I knew this was not an environmental concern, and they told me that it was part of the government's effort to put the internet genie back in the bottle. The NYTimes also reported that these "geeks of color", and not the Muslim Brotherhood, have emerged as the leaders. I have been documenting the Geek vs. Goliath battle for 2 years, e.g. http://tinyurl.com/4b4yw9j and http://tinyurl.com/24ypbf4, if anyone is interested. Kenya and Pakistan also tried using environmental laws to clamp down on affordable PCs (CRT displays for $5 last 20 years and still sell like hotcakes).