It’s not a technical problem, but it is technically the biggest form of censorship in the modern age. Nobody has internet in access in Egypt right now and it’s unclear just how long it will last.
On Thursday, evening, Egyptian authorities executed an order to shut down the entire country’s international internet access points. The rash move by Egyptian authorities is an attempt to silence the growing protests in the country, much of which was being disseminated via the internet. Well, mission accomplished, but the consequences of this type of government censorship will likely lead to more and more protests.
Could anyone imagine that happening in the UK or North America? Imagine no access to Facebook, Twitter, YouTube. It’s a scary thought. Millions of people, including myself, would be out of a job. And what about online gambling? You can’t gamble online if there is no online.
It’s not just internet service that has been shutdown, it’s cell phone networks as well. It’s an ugly scene over there right now, angry mobs are running through the streets, the army is involved, you might want to scratch Egypt off the African countries to visit.
If there was proper justice, the rest of the world should protest against Egypt on behalf of their citizens, or burn a candle for them, just do something to get the message that this type of behaviour will not be tolerated in the world community by any country.
I’m not trying to lead a revolution here, but access to the internet is a basic right, plain and simple. It seems that’s not the case in Egypt. The World has never seen this type of large scale censorship of the Internet before, and let’s hope other countries don’t follow suit.
