The day part of the Internet died: Egypt goes dark

[SlowwHand]

This can't last, but to do it at all is bizarre.

Associated Press

Posted on January 28, 2011 at 12:34 AM

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — About a half-hour past midnight Friday morning in Egypt, the Internet went dead.

Almost simultaneously, the handful of companies that pipe the Internet into and out of Egypt went dark as protesters were gearing up for a fresh round of demonstrations calling for the end of President Hosni Mubarak's nearly 30-year rule, experts said.

Egypt has apparently done what many technologists thought was unthinkable for any country with a major Internet economy: It unplugged itself entirely from the Internet to try and silence dissent.

Experts say it's unlikely that what's happened in Egypt could happen in the United States because the U.S. has numerous Internet providers and ways of connecting to the Internet.

Egypt's outage could trigger blowback from the international community.

[Asher]

Pretty stupid.

[Hauldren Collider]

Of course it wouldn't happen in the US, the US isn't a dictatorship.

[Elok]

Well, that's not at all likely to make them even more pissed off, is it?

EDIT: Come to think of it, is there any action Egypt's government could take at this point that wouldn't either smell of weakness or enrage them further?

[N35t0r]

I don't think so, not really.

The only way 'out' for them I think is to call to elections and do something to ensure they win.

[Elok]

Hey, SomethingAwful linked to this. Fun stuff! I bet "off the pig" sounds even worse to people who consider pigs too dirty to eat.

[BeBMan]

The situation looks pretty ****ty in Egypt now, seems Mubarak isn't willing to do a Ben Ali and move to Saudi Arabia yet.

[Wezil]

I'm guessing GB not SA.

[Snotty]

This is an interesting stream on current affairs in egypt http://english.aljazeera.net/watch_now/

Ive done so little research, but isnt the current Egyptian government a moderate government?

I had always seen Egypt as a stable nation in the area. Im sure there is plenty of room from improvement but Egypt was certainly not the biggest problem by far

[Wezil]

This is an interesting stream on current affairs in egypt http://english.aljazeera.net/watch_now/

Jinx. I was just about to post that link.

Ive done so little research, but isnt the current Egyptian government a moderate government?

I had always seen Egypt as a stable nation in the area. Im sure there is plenty of room from improvement but Egypt was certainly not the biggest problem by far

I guess it would defend on your definition of "moderate". Any government that hasn't faced a free vote in decades would have a hard time being considered moderate in my books.

[Snotty]

I wonder if you got it from the same place i did

I think I meant relatively moderate compared to the rest of the region. But youre quite right. On the surface 24 years of unopposed government would seem like a good reason to riot

[Wezil]

Mubarak could be worse, but it isn't hard to be the better of a bad bunch when talking about Arab authoritarian regimes.

[Wezil]

Now that the military has become involved we should see soon how this is going to break.

[Snotty]

The Egyptian army is a conscript army. This may not end well

[Wezil]

If Mubarak can get them to fire on their own people this will go the way of Iran (suppressed until another time).

Al Jazeera is claiming the police and security forces have "melted away". It is all down to how the army reacts now.