Egypt Shuts Down Internet Amidst Rising Political Unrest And Protests
January 28th, 2011 - 5:59 pm ICT by GDBy Ranjan Bhaduri
Jan 28, (THAINDIAN NEWS) The political unrest and protest in Egypt is growing by day and the government is in no mood to relent. That explains why the government of the country has blocked Internet access to the residents almost totally a move that has made global media aghast. Leading Internet traffic watchdog Renesys has confirmed the crackdown on Internet saying the majority of Internet traffic has been blocked. The leading web service providers in Egypt stopped giving Border Gateway Protocol routing information possibly after being prodded by the Hosni Mubarak government. The country is witnessing the worst political and civil unrest in recent times and the protesters are staging demonstrations in large scale demanding the end of the rule of the Mubarak government.
Trend Micro the well known security firm has said the undersea cable has not been cut for this Internet blackout in Egypt. Had it been so, other African countries would have faced similar situation. This looks more like a deliberate crackdown though the government has denied cutting off web services in Egypt. Renesys said it is only “Critical European-Asian fiber-optic routes through Egypt appear to be unaffected for now”. However all business, cybercafe, bank, school, government office using 4 big Egyptian ISPs are without web access for now. The ISPs Etisalat Misr, Telecom Egypt, Vodafone and Link Egypt show no connectivity as of now.
The sole web service provider that is apparently outside this crackdown is Noor Data Networks. The reason is possibly its link with the Egyptian Stock Exchange. Before this total web blackout, the Egypt government blocked access to popular social networking services like Facebook and Twitter.
- Egyptian Government's Crackdown On Communication Medium Condemned Globally - Jan 29, 2011
- Egypt Internet Shutdown Stuns World, Economic Impact Yet To Be Measured - Jan 29, 2011
- Egyptian govt. exploited national infrastructure to cripple Internet: Experts - Feb 16, 2011
- Egypt Violence Reaches A Crescendo, Internet Blackout Follows - Jan 28, 2011
- Million people to march in Cairo, army will not use force (Lead) - Feb 01, 2011
- March of a million: Protesters converge in Cairo (Second Lead) - Feb 01, 2011
- Egypt government offers talk with opposition - Feb 01, 2011
- Egypt unrest: Mubarak fires cabinet as Obama intervenes (Roundup) - Jan 29, 2011
- Egypt's Internet blackout cost $90 million - Feb 04, 2011
- March of a million in Cairo to dislodge Mubarak (Third Lead) - Feb 01, 2011
- New software to access blocked websites - Aug 11, 2011
- International community expresses alarm after raids on NGOs in Egypt - Jan 01, 2012
- Unrest swells in Egypt as cornered government bans Al-Jazeera (Roundup) - Jan 30, 2011
- Libya blocks Internet to stifle information about insurrection - Mar 05, 2011
- Egypt unrest: Mubarak fires cabinet, appoints Omar Suleiman as vice president - Jan 29, 2011
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