Egypt Leaders Found ‘Off’ Switch for Internet

[Playinghardball]

Source: New York times

Epitaphs for the Mubarak government all note that the mobilizing power of the Internet was one of the Egyptian opposition’s most potent weapons. But quickly lost in the swirl of revolution was the government’s ferocious counterattack, a dark achievement that many had thought impossible in the age of global connectedness. In a span of minutes just after midnight on Jan. 28, a technologically advanced, densely wired country with more than 20 million people online was essentially severed from the global Internet.

The blackout was lifted after just five days, and it did not save President Hosni Mubarak. But it has mesmerized the worldwide technical community and raised concerns that with unrest coursing through the Middle East, other autocratic governments — many of them already known to interfere with and filter specific Web sites and e-mails — may also possess what is essentially a kill switch for the Internet.

Read more at: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/16/technology/16internet.html?src=busln

[Wednesdays]

1. Well, there's always the clandestine mimeograph machine

(Ah, memories of the 60's.) :)

[tblue37]

2. And the damned congresscritters are always trying to find a way

to give the US president just such a kill switch for the net.