Imagine if the entire nation had all internet and cellular service shutdown by the government.

That is what happened in Egypt last night at 10pm.

Quote :

"Starting at 10:12 p.m. local time on Thursday night, Telecom Egypt went dark, followed by the four remaining main carriers over the next 13 minutes, said Jim Cowie, chief technology officer of Renesys Corp., a network security firm in Manchester, N.H. By 10:25 p.m., the country no longer existed on the Internet, he said."

Read more: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703956604576110453371369740.html#ixzz1CNhqrzDq

Holy Shit I would freak out. I do not know how phones are in Egypt, but I don't know anyone with a traditional, non-VOIP land line anymore. Aside from jokes about WOW meltdowns and facebook addicts, how do you call for emergency service?

1/28/2011 7:54:37 PM

Yeah, crazy shit. I've been reading up on this all day whenever I got a chance.

I just can't imagine it, at all. I can't fathom how a country could possibly operate in that manner. I mean, fuck.... I was at work thinking how pivotal the internet is to our business....and we're fucking government contractors.

1/28/2011 7:57:14 PM

I'm addicted to the interwebz. I dunno how I would do anything without it.

1/28/2011 8:02:52 PM

Paging egyeyes.

1/28/2011 8:04:02 PM

If my cell phone does not work I make a thread about it, if my internet does not work I make a thread via my cell phone.

If both didn't work I guess I would try to text some people or post to face book or something, oh wait, (head explodes)

1/28/2011 8:05:50 PM

so, last we heard they moved the Egyptian Army into the fold, right? I'm curious how that fits in...

1/28/2011 8:34:28 PM

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/01/how-egypt-or-how-your-government-could-shut-down-the-internet.ars

An interesting read on what it takes to shut down the internet for an entire country.

1/28/2011 8:38:49 PM

thanks

1/28/2011 8:45:17 PM

1/28/2011 8:45:27 PM

Pretty much every link on this website = server not found.

http://www.kuwaitiah.net/egypt.html

1/28/2011 8:49:15 PM

Didn't Obama ask for the ability to do something similar not too long ago?

1/28/2011 9:08:33 PM

So what's the reason again?

Is it the ethnocentric ideals or some shit?

1/28/2011 9:13:13 PM

Quote :

"So what's the reason again? Is it the ethnocentric ideals or some shit?"

http://www.cnn.com
http://www.bbcnews.com

1/28/2011 9:15:32 PM

^^^

[Edited on January 28, 2011 at 9:16 PM. Reason : lieberman moreso than obama though, right?]

1/28/2011 9:15:53 PM

^^ this

[Edited on January 28, 2011 at 9:16 PM. Reason : carat]

1/28/2011 9:16:17 PM

Fuck can I get a synopsis?

1/28/2011 9:19:04 PM

Been watching this shit all day. I feel like an asshole, but because of my field of study news reports about government overthrows are like porn to me.

1/28/2011 9:19:50 PM

Govt. attempts to stop organized rioting/ information exchange by cutting communications

1/28/2011 9:20:37 PM

Kiwi -- Lately there's been a spate of protests in North Africa in the Middle East among people who are upset with their leaders, the economy, and high unemployment. Started in Tunisia when a dude set himself on fire, toppled that government, and now its moved to Egypt and seems poised to overthrow that government as well. Ethnicity is unrelated and religion is only tangentially related.

1/28/2011 9:22:50 PM

I see. Thanks!

1/28/2011 9:26:29 PM

I just saw an interview with a guy who was talking about how the protesters are noticing that the gas dispersion canisters that now litter the streets all say Made in the USA.

1/28/2011 9:28:27 PM

Do people in Egypt play world of warcraft?

1/29/2011 9:35:21 AM

yeah, they play it on the street with guns now

1/29/2011 9:36:56 AM

Legally the US government can do it under some older telcom act. It got introduced as a bill to specifically give the president powers to do it but very specific on how, and how long.

Itll never happen. Even if they tried, itd be impossible to do. The only reason it worked in egypt is that theres so few telcoms, and links. US is probably over half the servers and a major linkage for the rest of the world.

And as someone on Ars said, the technically adapt already know how to work around it, with ad-hoc wifi, and dark fiber.

1/29/2011 9:37:36 AM

I heard that internet traffic is actually traveling through Egypt via cables that transport data through the country but no one inside the country has any access and anything hosted there is unavailable.

1/29/2011 9:39:36 AM

^ Correct. They didnt disconnect any cables, they did it all in software (to keep it simple). If you want a more technical answer, shoot me a PM or read both of the Ars Technica posts about it.

1/29/2011 9:57:40 AM

BGP Routes FTW

1/29/2011 11:15:03 AM

I bet the protests are getting more angry, these fools have not been able to rub one off for days.

1/31/2011 7:59:12 PM

^ They'll improvise.

Quote :

"http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/01/how-egypt-or-how-your-government-could-shut-down-the-internet.ars An interesting read on what it takes to shut down the internet for an entire country."

Seems pretty simple, unplug the Cat5.

2/1/2011 1:26:06 AM

Everyone is to connected to this stuff anyhow, It would be nice to go back to the 80's for a couple days

2/1/2011 10:01:40 AM

Never had internet until I came to State. Eos was in its infancy then (beginning its second year).

Didn't have cell service until around '94, maybe '95. But...the world was a different place. It was EASY to find a pay phone, and I always carried a calling card.

2/1/2011 10:32:56 AM

Quote :

"Imagine a gov shutdown of all internet & cell svc"

sounds like every other month with Time Warner, amirite?

2/1/2011 10:52:09 AM

Quote :

"Yeah, crazy shit. I've been reading up on this all day whenever I got a chance."

meeeeeeeeeeee too.
cody and i were talking about how crazy this all is the other day.

[Edited on February 1, 2011 at 10:56 AM. Reason : however i didnt realize cell service too! ]

2/1/2011 10:55:59 AM

I relayed the story to some guys at lunch yesterday. They began snowballing with it into conspiracy shit and everything until one guy was telling us about the UN Alien treaty, where all the countries agreed not to publicly release information about any alien contact...except Mexico because they couldn't control their media that well.

2/1/2011 11:00:06 AM

Quote :

"Never had internet until I came to State. Eos was in its infancy then "

I remember registering my first semester at NC State



I used TRACS







over the phone.









[Edited on February 1, 2011 at 11:53 AM. Reason : ]

2/1/2011 11:53:01 AM

didnt the T stand for telephone

2/1/2011 11:57:01 AM

I'm all set. I'm one of the few people I know still with a large collection of porn on my hard drive(s).

2/1/2011 11:59:05 AM

EGYPTIAN PEOPLE: "CAN WE HAS OUR INTERNETZ BACK?!?!"

2/11/2011 1:06:48 PM

I remember using TRACS.
At that point though they guided us like sheep to the Laundry Lab, and the booklet said we could change stuff on the phone later.

2/11/2011 1:29:27 PM

Quote :

"Josh Robinson, freshman in sociology Do you think the Internet could be shut off in America? I definitely think it could be because we have to keep in mind that we are living in the final days. God is coming and people function off of technology so it was only a matter of time. What would be your reaction? It wouldn't shock me. Like I said, it was only a matter of time because we are living in the final days. It wouldn't shock me at all. Would you expect to see large-scale responses? Well, it depends. If it was shut down, there wouldn't be anyone to get mad at so who could protest if the Internet simply shut down on its own? If it was shut off then I think people would be mad. I think younger kids, like our generation, would protest more than older people."

http://www.technicianonline.com/features/debate-surrounds-feasibility-of-a-u-s-internet-blackout-1.2455698

2/11/2011 4:48:50 PM

Quote :

"I don't know anyone with a traditional, non-VOIP land line anymore"

I have one...although the original reasoning was because my cellphone reception at my place sucked

2/11/2011 4:52:34 PM

^^ holy shit

wow

2/11/2011 5:53:13 PM

I'd like to beat that kids face in with a Bible

2/11/2011 5:58:56 PM

http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2011-01/what-could-possibly-go-wrong-internet-switch

(from this month's issue of popular science)

2/11/2011 6:00:31 PM