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Egypt Fights Terrorism By Censoring Web Sites, Threatening Jail Time For Accessing Them (apnews.com)

An anonymous reader quotes the Associated Press: Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi has ratified an anti-cybercrime law that rights groups say paves the way for censoring online media. The law, published Saturday in the country's official gazette, empowers authorities to order the blocking of websites that publish content considered a threat to national security. Viewers attempting to access blocked sites can also be sentenced to one year in prison or fined up to EGP100,000 ($5,593) under the law. Last month, Egypt's parliament approved a bill placing personal social media accounts and websites with over 5,000 followers under the supervision of the top media authority, which can block them if they're found to be disseminating false news.
"Authorities say the new measures are needed to tackle instability and terrorism," reports the BBC.

"But human rights groups accuse the government of trying to crush all political dissent in the country."

67 comments

  1. Web Sites are Tools of Infidels by Alalalalalalalalalal · · Score: 0

    All who use Web Sites such as Slashdot dishonor Almighty Allah and shall be PUNISHED in cruel-most way.

    Alalalal
    A|ala|al
    Ala|lalal
    Alalalal
    A|ala|al
    Ala|lalal
    Alalalal
    A|ala|al
    Ala|lalal

    1. Re: Web Sites are Tools of Infidels by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Censoring both foxnews and cnn would a great way to fight domestic terrorism in the olâ(TM)US of A

    2. Re: Web Sites are Tools of Infidels by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Censoring both foxnews and cnn would a great way to fight domestic terrorism in the olâ(TM)US of A

      The problem to an extent is not fox or cnn, but people. They don't demand better.

      CNN is certainly better than fox for accuracy, yet they have opinion people too that really aren't about news. seriously they have 24 hours a day, they could do so much more.

      Fox's opinion people like Hannity are well basically many many times worse than useless. The guy is easily a large net negative to the human race. He's not delivering news, hell I don't think it is opinion. The guy is an entertaining and a propagandist and that is it. There are a few others on fox like that as well as hard news people like Shepard Smith and chris wallace I think is another. Some of their hard news people might show bias, particularly in what they cover, but they are still fairly accurate.

      Domestic terrorism if ginned up by opinion hosts, yah that is a problem, if it really occurred, and certainly some have pushed the boundaries. I'm not sure a law or something is the solution. People need to demand better. Shutting down something like fox news would just make an even more evil version of it stand in its place.

      Terrorism is ultimately a tactic to cause change and while it is certainly a horribly evil one, that is, nonetheless, what it is. You can't really win a war on terror, unless well you just kill everyone who believes that way or enough that you suppress it, but even then have you won it, or will it pop right back up once the suppression leaves?

      The ultimate problem is both poor communications between peoples, and nutcases that are so hard line on their issues that they think terrorism is an acceptable tactic. You should stop and think about this, since Mr. Trump is basically an ends justify the means guy and you see it in his actions. If you accept that lying, obstruction of justice, pandering to dictators, more and more lying, insults, racism, ad nauseum are fine, cause well Trump is doing what you want done, well that is just a hop skip and a jump from terrorism being justified if it gets what you want done.

      You think they were kidding when they talked about locking political opponents up, or it being a good thing that kids were separated since it made a good deterrent? No, they simply didn't care. Trump asked for a protester to be beat the hell out of. He is creating a cult following where many people simply believe he is a Savior of some kind and refuse to listen to any contradictory viewpoints. Such things never end well.

    3. Re: Web Sites are Tools of Infidels by blindseer · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Right, because the best way to keep people quiet about government conspiracies is to shut down news networks.

      By the way, how is Alex Jones doing now? Seems like the attempts to "de-platform" him is only making him more popular. He was a nobody until these new media platforms tried to shut him down, and now everyone knows his name.

      --
      I am armed because I am free. I am free because I am armed.
    4. Re: Web Sites are Tools of Infidels by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Good, knowing his name leads to being able to identify him and recognise his toxic bullshit for what it is.

      A net gain.

    5. Re: Web Sites are Tools of Infidels by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Nah, Jones is retarded dogshit just like Trump. De-platforming him worked quite well and it will work quite nicely with the Orange One as well. Godspeed, Mueller.

    6. Re: Web Sites are Tools of Infidels by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      By the way, how is Alex Jones doing now? Seems like the attempts to "de-platform" him is only making him more popular.

      It's only making him more infamous. That's not the same as popular.

      He was a nobody until these new media platforms tried to shut him down, and now everyone knows his name.

      He's still a nobody.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    7. Re: Web Sites are Tools of Infidels by SuricouRaven · · Score: 1

      If the aim is to attract views, and thus advertising money, all that matters is being well-known enough to draw the attention. It does not matter if your viewers love you, or just love to scream in anger about you. So long as they watch you.

    8. Re: Web Sites are Tools of Infidels by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      It does not matter if your viewers love you, or just love to scream in anger about you. So long as they watch you.

      The people angry about Alex Jones aren't watching him on his channel. They're watching clips of him on other people's shows. That doesn't produce revenue for him. And the more infamous he is, the more motivated people are to hassle him, which ultimately costs him money as he has to scramble for new platforms.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    9. Re: Web Sites are Tools of Infidels by slashdot_is_fake · · Score: 1

      And people showing clips of him on their shows isn't advertising for him which lead people to his platform (more like plank)?

      You really didn't think that simple one through did you little buddy?
      Motivated perception, the fruit of a lifetime of motivated reasoning.

    10. Re: Web Sites are Tools of Infidels by slashdot_is_fake · · Score: 1

      Also you're implying his deplatforming was somehow motivated by popular sentiment.
      If that was the case he would have been deplatformed long ago.

      This was a top-down political move.

      You really have no accurate perception of what's going on in this situation. And yet you speak.

    11. Re: Web Sites are Tools of Infidels by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      People that seek power hijacked the education system and keep exploiting our ancient vulnerabilities yo keep groups of people against each other.

    12. Re: Web Sites are Tools of Infidels by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Fox news seems to delineate between hard news and infotainment/commentary/opinion/sensationalized rhetoric better.

      Cnn is mostly opinion slyly mixed in with news. Whereas the other cnn, hln, it's better at sticking to a standard news format.

      I prefer broadcast news over cable though.

    13. Re: Web Sites are Tools of Infidels by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "let's shut down someone who is paranoid and decries taking away our freedoms because of the fake outrage of the week". They are simply feeding into their (however toxic) end of days rhetoric.

    14. Re: Web Sites are Tools of Infidels by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      By the way, how is Alex Jones doing now? Seems like the attempts to "de-platform" him is only making him more popular.

      Uh, no, they are now denying payment services to third-party sites like bitchute for carrying his content.

      He was a nobody until these new media platforms tried to shut him down, and now everyone knows his name.

      Are you kidding? Everybody knew who Alex Jones was. He was a laughingstock, a punchline. They targeted him because people consider him an acceptable target. Now that they have established that they can destroy one independent journalist, they will go after another.

    15. Re: Web Sites are Tools of Infidels by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yay! Censorship! Can't wait until they censor your drivel too. It's coming! What goes around comes around. Pandora's box is open. Good luck getting that clown back in there.

    16. Re: Web Sites are Tools of Infidels by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Fox's opinion people like Hannity are well basically many many times worse than useless. The guy is easily a large net negative to the human race. He's not delivering news, hell I don't think it is opinion

      Because Don Lemon is better? Because he's pure propaganda. As is Jim Acosta. CNN is a joke, on you. You think the team that handed Hillary Clinton the questions before a presidential debate is a better news organization than Fox? Look, even Fox didn't stoop that low.

  2. tor / freenet by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So, if you're caught running Freenet, or accessing a tor gateway, can you be put in prison now in Egypt?

    1. Re:tor / freenet by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Isn't freenet just used for cp? How does one connect to Freenet these days and know a peer is trustworthy?

    2. Re: tor / freenet by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Shut up, pedo

      -Elon

  3. Cunning Revenue Generator by rtb61 · · Score: 1

    So advertise sites, to attract people to them and fine them for going there, pretty cunning, the tah dah, internet equivalent of a speed trap ;D.

    --
    Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
    1. Re:Cunning Revenue Generator by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If the truth is more compelling than their lies then maybe they need to work on their lies. Declaring the truth to be illegal is...revealing.

  4. Re: Fox news by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I fucked your mother comrade, and all I had to pay her was a potato and a bottle of vodka

  5. New Slogan by StikyPad · · Score: 3, Funny

    Egypt: Come for the antiquities, stay because you got black bagged at the airport for insulting Egypt.

    1. Re:New Slogan by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Egypt took a look at the UK and said "Hold my alcohol-free beer!".

  6. Egypt Fights Terrorism Threatening Jail For Sites by grep+-v+'.*'+* · · Score: 2

    Egypt Fights Terrorism By Censoring Web Sites, Threatening Jail Time For Accessing Them

    INFORMATION wants to be free!
    Apparently you do not wish the same.

    So you have:

    • the Great Firewall of China, where you can't get there from here. (vs VPNs, offline)
    • You've got Egypt, where they're watching where you go. (DNS? Packet inspection? Web site logs?)
    • You've got Banned Books apparently in the US which removes or restricts access to paper books.
    • You've got the Index Librorum Prohibitorum from the Church which apparently isn't updated any more. (June 1966 maintained its moral force but no Spanish Inquisition visits.)
    • The Satanic Verses resulted in a fatwa calling for Rushdie's death.

    I'm sure there are other lists out there (Holy Bible, Mein Kampf, others.) My, there's a lot of naughty ideas out there. OTOH if you're actively promoting violence ("let's kill all of the bastards at noon tomorrow in the city") that's a little different.

    The bazaar of ideas shouldn't exchange books and paper for bullets and knives. And it doesn't, only marginalized PEOPLE do. Maybe there's a reason you're marginalized. Maybe there's not. But I suspect it's much easier to become that way if you've got "nothing else to lose" and "the bastards are going to hear me now!"

    --
    If the universe is someone's simulation -- does that mean the stars are just stuck pixels?
  7. Re: Egypt Fights Terrorism Threatening Jail For Si by phantomfive · · Score: 1

    I want to point out that many times in history non-marginalized people are the ones doing the most killing. Helots vs Spartans, Americans vs native Americans, etc.

    --
    "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
  8. They don't fight it by gweihir · · Score: 0

    They compete with it using monopolist tactics. Remember that "terrorism" originally means a form of government that controls the population by using fear.

    --
    Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
    1. Re:They don't fight it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Oh...so all governments then?

    2. Re:They don't fight it by gweihir · · Score: 1

      Not quite. It requires fear to be the primary mechanism. Most modern western governments are "idiotism", because they primarily use the stupidity of their citizens. Far easier to just mislead them than to terrorize them.

      --
      Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
  9. Terrorism keeps on winning. by The+Evil+Atheist · · Score: 1

    This is what all that stupid post-9/11 rhetoric gets you.

    --
    Those who do not learn from commit history are doomed to regress it.
  10. Re: Egypt Fights Terrorism Threatening Jail For Si by gweihir · · Score: 1

    You always find lots of true believers for the most demented ideologies. Add a few sadists (also readily available) and you can organize any type of slaughter desired.

    --
    Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
  11. Re:This will come to America by pslytely+psycho · · Score: 1

    "Part of it is due to them being mentally ill Commie minded fags who think if they 100% deplatform the right, they will gain cultural hegomy and utopia."

    If you had any valid point to make that one line completely invalidates it.

    --
    Donald Trump, on a crusade to make Nixon look respectable
  12. Re:Funny news by turkeyfish · · Score: 1

    Sounds as if you would enjoy Egypt. Have a nice vacation.

  13. Re:Egypt Fights Terrorism Threatening Jail For Sit by monkease · · Score: 2

    You've got Banned Books [bannedbooksweek.org] apparently in the US which removes or restricts access to paper books.

    I agree with your general sentiment, but you've got Banned Books Week very wrong. Take another look at your link :)

  14. to be fair... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    When a previous government of Egypt listened to the Obama[president]/Clinton[SecState] era nonsense about "Arab spring" and let the Muslim Brotherhood people out of jail, the nation was rapidly taken over by the Muslim Brotherhood and fell into the hands of these terror loving racist Islamofascist fanatics who made life there far worse. That MB government rapidly began oppressing people far worse than the previous government and they tried to kill-off the people of the previous government (making a point for anybody who might be stupid enough in the future to surrender peacefully to any Muslim Brotherhood aligned group). The government of Egypt today is the military government that the people begged to step-in and overthrow the Muslim Brotherhood - these guys are far from perfect but they're sitting atop a mountain of cultural, political, and extreme religious dynamite so it's rather amazing that things are as stable there as they are at the current point in history.

    It's an unavoidable fact that the people of any land are ultimately responsible for the government under which they live. America's founders tried to teach that to the world, but most people like to ignore the lesson. We have idiots in the USA (like "neocons", Hillary Clinton, and John McCain) who think that America should be running around giving other people democracy (even if they do not want it) and ignoring the idea that people must WANT democracy and must win it for themselves or they will not value it. The people of any tyranny are free to live without that tyranny the moment they decide that throwing off that tyranny is more valuable to them than their personal safety and their stuff. The people of Egypt will get a better government when they improve themselves and their culture to make a better political system workable. Until that day comes, the population apparently must choose between a moderately-nasty military government and full-on evil fanatical extremist Muslim theocrats imposing sharia law on everybody.

  15. Keep talking... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Typical left wing reaction to people saying what they don't like, silence them. The right wing believes the best means to end bad ideas is with good ideas, or at least letting the idiots talk until their idiocy is revealed.

    Censoring people in an attempt to fight terrorism will not work. We see this being tried with bans on Alex Jones. What were these idiots thinking? You have a conspiracy theorist talking about how the government is trying to hide the existence of aliens, or whatever it is he talks about on his show, and by banning him all that is done is prove him right. It's not a conspiracy theory if they are in fact out to get you.

    These terrorists are the same thing, they claim they are oppressed by some Jewish conspiracy to silence them and kill them off, or whatever hate they spew out. Well, maybe they are right about this Jewish conspiracy if the government wants to silence them.

    I learned something about the "religion of peace". One fundamental rule is that nonbelievers are to be converted, killed, or enslaved. Another fundamental rule is that if the person does not believe every single thing as you do then they are a nonbeliever. So we see Muslims killing Muslims in large numbers. Say what you like about past brutality of Jews and Christians, but Muslim on Muslim violence is happening right now all over the world. Egypt is having a terrorist problem? In a country that is 90% Muslim? Now they want to act by silencing the terrorists? I'm thinking that this will only make things worse as this only feeds the conspiracy that is being taught to them.

    1. Re:Keep talking... by gtall · · Score: 2

      The Right doesn't need any "bans" to "prove" there is a conspiracy. Just listen to them, they will generate any sort of "conspiracy" from nothing regardless of what is happening. They exist by mutually recursive backscratching. Some idiot gins up a plot by connecting some random dots, another cites the first as proof and adds a few more dots, a few more cite the first ones as incontrovertible evidence of the plot. Then Rush Limbaugh, Alex Jones, Fox, etc. take over and trumpet the plot citing the first idiots.

      The Left could curl up and die and they'd still be ginning up ridiculous "plots", they have no other recourse for existence and a paycheck. Tyrants everywhere use this script.

    2. Re:Keep talking... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You conveniently ignore all of the Left's crazy conspiracy theories. How about the Trump/Russian collusion one that's had a massive investigation running for over a year that's turned up bupkis while ignoring the Steele/FBI/DNC foreign collusion that actually happened? How about the one where Trump was going to "start WWIII" and "crash the economy", or round up all his dissidents into camps and exterminate them (this one seems rooted in projection rather than simply mental illness)?

  16. Information markets by alternative_right · · Score: 1

    People do not realize this, but information forms a type of market. Whatever is rare will be more valuable, and whatever is easily accessed will be less so.

    In the same way The Anarchist's Cookbook was much-sought during the 1980s, if you make terrorism documents illegal, they will become valuable and people will pass them along more.

    The only real way to fight terrorism is to reveal the incompetence of terrorists at achieving anything but terror. Sort of like how the Soviets went out, and now no one but American college students likes Communism.

    1. Re:Information markets by gtall · · Score: 1

      Hmm...I fail to see the swelling market in mathematics, physics, etc. among the populace because of their rarity. Maybe I don't have on the right glasses.

  17. Re:Fox news by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    a representative of the New York Times

    Who gives a shit about those racists?

    The NYT complain about Trump all day and accuse him of all kinds of things. Yet they are the ones that churn out racist articles and hire blatant and unambiguous racists.

  18. Modren book banning by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    But with the Internet. Nothing new here really.

  19. Must relate to the audience by alternative_right · · Score: 1

    People get very interested in mathematics and physics when those can be used to justify belief in things they wish were true. If you can use physics to prove a crowd favorite like climate change, equality, transgenderism, consumerism, drinking being good for you, etc., there will be quite an audience.

    1. Re:Must relate to the audience by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes it's too bad physics has nothing to do with climate change, I'm sure if it did we wouldn'e have such a difficult time with all the denialest idiots.

    2. Re: Must relate to the audience by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It seems quite hypocritical to call people idiots when you personally seem to lack understanding of climate change. Most obviously the fact climate change broken down to its base sciences is: physics and chemistry. (Geothermals, hydrology, etc.. all play roles in climate change)

  20. They should tackle the real problem by Pig+Hogger · · Score: 1

    They don’t tackle the real problem: that utterly retarded, stupid, idiotic, totalitarian, toxic and imperialistic religion that has rotten the brains of many people worldwide.

    1. Re:They should tackle the real problem by slashdot_is_fake · · Score: 1

      Don't puff too hard there, you'll blow a lung.
      You have no concept of governance, no hint as to the way of the world.
      You have no idea what religion is or what it is used for.

    2. Re: They should tackle the real problem by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Bold assumption....

  21. The Donald by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Donald approves of these measures. You have got to stop fake (real) news!

  22. Pres El Sissy is tough on crime... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    And on the causes of crime!

  23. Re: Egypt Fights Terrorism Threatening Jail For Si by SuricouRaven · · Score: 1

    Only because they have the power to do the killing. If you went back in a time machine and gave the native Americans modern machine weapons and a stack of ammo, you can be sure they would show no more mercy towards the Europeans than the Europeans showed towards them. That is just human nature, and it is not easily changed.

  24. Re:Fox news by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You don't even realise that you bed down with totalitarians and fascists. It's the Dems/left/three-letter-orgs that are the ones constantly attempting to stifle both the first and second amendments, and you cheer them on

    You are completely ignorant to what happens to yourself once the first purge is complete. Here's a spolier: your usefulness to them disappears and you become the next target so that you don't get in the way of their new world order.

    This playbook was explained decades ago by Yuri Bezmenov. I suggest you go watch the video of his presentation.

  25. Re:This will come to America by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    No. Only in your mind because you WANT some way to invalidate it, because you don't like to think about the outcome of this situation.

    It's the same reasoning behind people who want to remove statues and names on buildings and streets because they could find even ONE thing they didn't like about the person it was named after, no matter how many good things they did.

  26. censor the world by AndyKron · · Score: 1

    Censor the world! Only approved cats videos from now on.

  27. Daily Reminder by slashdot_is_fake · · Score: 0

    Slashdot ignored the Alex Jones deplatforming event. No article.
    Totally inexcusable corruption.
    I wonder how many users here even realize how sculpted the narrative is here.

  28. Re: Egypt Fights Terrorism Threatening Jail For S by that+this+is+not+und · · Score: 1

    Roughly 90% of the native americans died from first exposure to European people, due to epidemics. It makes complete sense that the Europeans then had a docile weakened population to deal with.

  29. That's a much higher hurdle than in the West by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    In the West, websites are blocked for "hate", "hate speech" or "racism".

    Threats to national security is a higher hurdle.

  30. Re: This will come to America by that+this+is+not+und · · Score: 1

    With the degree of philandering and womanizing that MLK engaged in, it's a marvel that his streetsigns and statues haven't been pulled down by #MEETOO

  31. Re:This will come to America by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This shit is coming to America soon, but it's not going to be against Islamic pro-Jihadists, it's going to be against the right wing.

    Those poor oppressed souls who control all three branches of our government? Who will help them? Who? Who?

  32. Coming soon to the west by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Its inevitable. "forbidden knowledge ( in our, the government's, view ) is forbidden and you have broken the law by learning it."

    ( in some ways it already has, with blocking and such.. )

  33. hard to tell by micahraleigh · · Score: 1

    Hard to tell if this is part of real censorship happening around the world or "Wah! Egypt rejected the enlightened rule of the Muslim Brotherhood!"