The Epoch Times

With word of Egypt’s protests spreading across the country—largely via Twitter, Facebook, and SMS—by Thursday night local time, all of those electronic channels went silent.

Twitter, Facebook, and SMS have been interrupted intermittently since the mass protests began on Tuesday. Still, messages from ad hoc organizers calling for larger demonstrations were getting through, via Internet users with proxy servers that allowed them to circumvent the digital walls.

By the evening of Jan. 27, however, Facebook, and SMS were no longer accessible, and at roughly midnight, the entire Internet suddenly went dead.


Related Link: Internet Kill Switch for USA?




  1. bobbo, does anyone learn from history says:

    Its not clear to me if this revolution wants democracy or more religion or no foreigners or blue jeans. And regardless of what some factions of the above want, who might take over the revolution for their own ends, or take over if the regime falters==and what does the military care about?

    USA–friend to tyrants throughout the world.

  2. dusanmal says:

    Also known as Obama Internet Kill Switch. (No, not an initiative received from Bush times… Obama’s own.)
    As for the protests – please see how “all knowing” BigGovt. ends. Always. Time to shrink our own while it can be done in peace.

  3. FRAGaLOT says:

    ok so what’s going on? what is the protest about? And is it the Egyptian gubberment killing their internets, or some other entity shutting them off?

  4. msbpodcast says:

    The internet is down except for the Egyptian stock exchange’s four IP addresses.

    If the protesters really want to hurt Mubarak, they could just capture all incoming traffic to those addresses and route it to a big, fast bit bucket.

    If they keep such a black hole up for four days they could bankrupt the country or send it back to pre-internet trading days.

    Since the trading systems have all “torn up the tracks” you’d effectively kick them out of the twenty-first century into the stone age.

  5. Orion314 says:

    Perhaps a preview of things to come here?, and sooner than you might think….

  6. msbpodcast says:

    FRAGaLOT in #3, asked “what’s going on?

    The problem is that Mubarak has alienated enough of Egypt’s citizens that the only thing they share is a deep abiding hatred of the guy.

    Ultra orthodox Muslims, Christians, women, men rich and poor, people who normally have each other’s guts and have no respect for each other at all, are all united in wanting the end of the Mubarak regime.

    Tunisia was mild compared to the biomass that’s about to hit the rotating impeller in Egypt.

    This is going to bring everything to a boil and when the internet gets re-established Egypt may make Afghanistan look like a cake walk.

  7. msbpodcast says:

    Cutting off the internet is a double edged sword.

    While the protesters can’t coordinate as effectively as they did in Tunisia, neither can the military.

    By the way, how did the Russians carry out the downfall of the Soviet empire?

    All it will take is the military to stop supporting Mubarak.

  8. Nobody says:

    >All it will take is the military to stop supporting Mubarak

    All it used to take was for Christians In Action to decide which colonel was going to replace him – it was so much easier in the old days when we organised the popular uprisings ourselves.

  9. breadandcircuses says:

    Cutting internet access is a guaranteed way of getting a huge number of people out on the streets. If this Mubarak guy had any smarts he’d have opened the Egyptian internet up. Likewise,
    rather than a ‘kill-switch’, Obama should have a ‘porn-switch’ to redirect all traffic if a similar situation of unrest arises. Forget curfews and armed police – Porn, reality-TV and junk-food has got to be the best way of keeping people quiet.

  10. 1873 Colt says:

    Think of all of the time saved nationwide in Egypt.I’ll bet so many chores get done it will be amazing.

  11. Guyver says:

    They can kill the Internet over here too if the situation warrants it.

  12. rottinapple says:

    Egypt is Down.

    There, fixed.

  13. msbpodcast says:

    Thing done in the dark usually deserve to done in the dark by people who are ashamed of doing them.

    Its too late for Egypt now but if Libya wants to avoid the same fate (and Morocco and, and, and…) I would come to terms with the people and co-opt them into participating in straightening out what might seem crooked in their society and culture.

    You can’t push on a piece of string but you can pull on it.

    The trick is to realize that you can let go without getting killed.

  14. Digging a little deeper says:

    msbpodcast, it’s not like everyone is kissy-kissy while supposedly united against Mubarak…

    Jan 26, 2011 “WASHINGTON—Christians in Egypt and Iraq are under siege and at risk of being driven from the region, warn experts, and they want the Obama administration to take proactive steps to stem the tide.”

    http://theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/50047/

  15. AlrightyThen says:

    #14
    Let them sort it out on their own.
    Obama and the US should not interfere.
    I think a melt down is long over due for Egypt and several others in the region.

  16. Unemployed Dictator says:

    Prior to this post, no-one here but bobbo has noticed the American Empire is crumbling into dust, one tyrant client after another?

    I guess FOX News hasn’t figured out how to make this Obama’s fault yet and/or advised you what you’re supposed to think and say about it all? After all, rich people just love tyrants.

    I know! Let’s argue about who’s worse, red oppressors or blue oppressors!

    I prefer to be oppressed by the color red. Anyone prefer oppression by the color blue? In my opinion, blue oppressors are far worse than red oppressors!

    C’mon. Let’s get the old familiar argument going. We’ll all know what we’ve been told to say, so it’s pretty easy. No thought is required.

    All that crap going on outside the borders? Forget about it! After all, it’s just stupid foreigners.

  17. it_can_happen_here says:

    I wonder how quickly our government can shut down our Internet? Probably pretty damn quickly. Not that it’s going to help the tyrants that rule the Muslim world. Looks like the little people have finally had enough and it’s time to bring out Madame Guillotine. I just hope their version of the Jacobins don’t end up running these countries as they usually do.

    Wonder what it will take to get Americans to start rioting. Cancelling American Idol?

  18. msbpodcast says:

    Digging a little deeper said in #13 “it’s not like everyone is kissy-kissy“.

    I never said that they’d stopped hating each other’s guts, its just that they now hate Mubarak more.

    They’ll resume the old inter-sine warfare once Mubarak is out of the way, but right now, he’s on everybody shit list.

  19. msbpodcast says:

    it_can_happen_here said in #16 “I just hope their version of the Jacobins don’t end up running these countries as they usually do.

    Unfortunately that is probably exactly what’s going to happen.

  20. FRAGaLOT says:

    ok lets see if i can make sense of this.

    There’s a douchebag named Mubarak who is the leader of Egypt, and he’s a big fuck-up and no one likes him. So protestors have set up some sort of Internet Embargo, right?

    Ok so who are the protesters? Are the citizens of Egypt fed up with their own government and have sabotaged their own ISPs cutting off thier own access to the internet (what about phones, TV, etc?) Or are they people from around the world protesting Egypt and enacting an embargo on Egypt?

  21. ezeller says:

    Let’s see if I can make sense out of this…

    Mubrak is in charge of all this, and with the worldwide depression – Egypt was pretty hard hit for some reason – I know a lot of shipping companies were bypassing the canal so that stream of revenue dried up (which was a substantial portion of Egypt’s income from what I heard) But also a lot of mismanagement that can get overlooked in richer times, became very apperrent when the money became tight.

    Unemployment is at an all time high (around 20% is what I heard) and so a few complain and some anti-government protests start. The government cracks down hard – a few people are hurt and killed, which brings out more protesters, which brings out more crackdowns in the traditional cycle of violence.

    Of course the protesters are coordinating their actions and broadcasting all this abuse through the internet, which we in the western hemisphere totally ignore (what? Another country in crisis?).

    So the government waits until the weekend, and starts calling the ISP’s, telling them it’s time to take a little holiday if they know what’s good for them.

    They now have a full weekend to quash the protests and riots before the middle class tries to go to what few jobs are left on Monday and realize they can’t make any money either. If that happens then they join the riots and the government can kiss it’s tail goodbye..

    any questions?

  22. chuck says:

    #3, #20

    I guess you don’t follow the news much. Here is what happened: the government of Egypt has taken steps to to screen off internet addresses at every level, from users inside the country trying to get out and from the rest of the world trying to get in.

    This includes wireless providers. Vodafone said that all mobile operators in Egypt had been “instructed to suspend services in selected areas.” So, of course, they did exactly what the government told them to do.

  23. laxdude says:

    The problem is, Egypt has at least been stable for the last, what, 40 years?

    What ever replaces it will NOT be Western friendly, that is for sure. Business will flee, the Canal use will plummet, piracy/shake downs will increase to the point that no one will insure transit.

    China will swoop in once things stabilize, because they are the only colonial power, and stabilize everything back to being pro Chinese business friendly, which will leave the native Egyptians in worse off than they were before. This will set them up in a great position for when Khadafi kicks it and Libya goes pear shaped..

    In other words, it is a good time to invest in pipelines and probably ship building, I just wouldn’t invest in Korean ship building.

  24. Floyd says:

    About the Egyptian internet being jammed: they probably haven’t jammed amateur radio and other non-Internet channels.

  25. Special Ed says:

    I left a message and told them to turn the Internet off and back on to see if that helps!

  26. hhopper says:

    Good idea Ed… you might want to tell them to smack it a couple of times too.

  27. BigBoyBC says:

    Indian Internet Down! Then they can’t get to Dvorak Uncensored! Lucky Bastards!

  28. Animby - just phoning it in says:

    # 25 laxdude said, “What ever replaces it will NOT be Western friendly, that is for sure.”

    I had the pleasure of living and working in Cairo for a couple of years. I have many friends there, Muslim and Coptic and I worry for them all. In addition to the internet, mobile phone service has been spotty, too. I don’t know if that’s intentional or just high demand.

    What laxdud says is surely true. Also, remember that the US has been supporting the government of Egypt to a huge extent for years, to the tune of billions annually. I don’t think many people actually liked Mubarak but, as long as the cash flowed in, he was dependable and friendly to the US. It was pretty much a case of “the devil you know.”

    So, if Egypt falls, we may end up with another Iran. Making lemonade: at least we won’t have to spend billions propping up the government each year. OR would just end up spending trillions to go in and reestablish “democracy”? There’s just no telling with the idjit we have in the White House.

  29. bobbo, does anyone learn from history says:

    I have only watched about 3 shows on this event with about 5 more recorded to watch. My take away, which should have been there all along: follow the money, as in, too many people in Egypt don’t have any/enough and have no legitimate hope to have any in the future and so ((LISTEN UP YOU LIEBERTARDS AND PUKES)) what to do? Getting rid of the USA supported dictator for life, wants to pass it on to his son, is a pretty good target.

    As to too many comments, here and in the “news analysis:” stability = tyrannical oppression.

    I’m also very in mind of “gun rights.” What do you think would happen in Egypt if a few lone snipers opened up on the tanks? Freedom or suicide and overwhelming oppression?

    The gun policy in USA is interesting. Its meant to keep us free from overreaching government but any actual activities in that direction would be the most sure way to bring it about. And if that was the theoretical underpinnings, then Teflon coated cop killers and automatic fire with unlimited clips would be the very weapon justified. But its not. Its all about “hunting and sport.” Well, hunting and sport is a leisure activity well worth legislating to near extinction. No, its an interesting mismatch of theory and practice when it comes to gun crazy. In the neighborhood we have Somalia and Yemen and a few others. Get too many guns in a society and the democratic push for reform/new government becomes a short spiral into lawless anarchy with rule of the armed gang. Guns.

    Also in mind: jobs. USA used to be fully employed with 98% of population being farmers. With the march of technology, its now 3-4%. In a theoretical construct–what are we 95% of the population expected to do? We don’t in any sense need more farmers. Now, back in the real world we have manufacturing, government, medicine, education, military, retail and on and on. But what percentage of the population in a “perfect” alignment does that employ? could it be like in farming only 65% – and what are the 35% supposed to do? Look at Egypt at what happens when you ignore the STRUCTURALLY UNEMPLOYED for a few decades.

    Always lots to learn and reflect on even with infotainment as your only source of news.

  30. bobbo, does anyone learn from history says:

    Pedro, you are always telling “other people” they need psychiatric help. I guess that is the environment you are used to?

    But what major disconnect from reality do you think #34 is suffering from and who are you referring to anyway?


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