Internet Restored In Tripoli As Rebels Take Control

angry tapir writes "Internet connectivity was restored in Tripoli late Sunday local time, as rebel forces took control of many parts of the capital city of Libya. A new mobile network set up by the rebels in the east of Libya in April, called Libyana Al Hurra, and a similar network in Misrata, will soon also be linked to the Libyana Mobile Phone network in Tripoli, said Ousama Abushagur, a Libyan telecommunications engineer in the U.A.E, who led the team that set up Libyana Al Hurra."

Comments

Who is the new dictator?

[Dyinobal]

I know I shouldn't be so cynical but I have to ask who is the new dictator? It seems like every time I read about some rebel group over throwing some government things really never get better. It's just a new dictator in place of the old. Maybe I'm wrong and Lybian's will get a government that is fair and some what workable but I'm not going to put money on it.

Re:Who is the new dictator?

[khallow]

The problem with Libya was that it had a stable, successful socialist economy

Doesn't look stable to me. Recall that the rebellion predated the foreign powers.

Where does the fact that Libya was a tyranny fit into your explanation?

Re:Who is the new dictator?

[timeOday]

In the beginning, Khadafi himself was a well-meaning rebel with real credibility. Same old story. The US really owes a great debt to George Washington, rarely do you find a powerful man who doesn't think he'd make a fine benevolent dictator.

I am curious what the residents think

[wierd_w]

Not about the retun of internet services, but about the entire affair of their dictator and the uprising against him.

Up until now our reports are essentially the press releases of the rebel faction and quadaffi's, respectively.

Unrestricted internet access would grant a wealth of on the street reports on civilian sentiment about these events.

Re:I am curious what the residents think

[Sycraft-fu]

My guess would be they are glad to see Ghadaffi go, but nervous. The guy is an unmitigated asshole who has ruled with an iron fist and severely curtailed personal liberty, executed political dissidents, and taken most of the country's wealth for him and his family. You can bet he's not real popular, and I'm sure most people that aren't his cronies would love to see him gone.

However I'm sure they are also worried. I mean who knows what kind of government the rebels bring? Maybe things become free and open, maybe they turn out to be even worse. Also war is always worrying because innocents get hurt, no way around it. You can mind your own business, strictly not take sides, and still get killed.

Re:Do they allow everyone?

[fuzzyfuzzyfungus]

Do you imagine that, even if so motivated, they could have gotten ideological censorship up and running so quickly?

Long-run, the ISP and the censor have the upper hand, because they touch every packet; but it takes time, money, and expertise to get to the point where you can go from shoving packets down the line as fast as you can and start burning system resources on the task of making service work in some ideologically convenient way...

(More broadly, given that the Libyan government spent some decades showing no intention of going anywhere, and maintaining a fairly tight grip, there is probably a very long list of people whose now-inconvenient history of cooperation with the outgoing regime in no secret at all. If the new chaps are still unsatisfied after they've worked through that backlog, the actual witch-hunting might begin; but there are still loads of active armed remnants and former public officials to deal with first...)

Re:Meanwhile, in Damascus...

[taiwanjohn]

Bashar al Assad is thanking Allah that there's no oil under his country.