Egyptian 'Net Killed By Intimidation, Not a Switch 126
jfruhlinger writes "In the wake of the Egyptian revolution of the past weeks, much tech buzz has focused on the 'kill switch' that Mubarak's government used to try to stop Internet-based networking. The New York Times gives the details. As blogger Kevin Fogarty points out, the process involved less high-tech derring do and more intimidation of tech workers by regime thugs."
What the hell? (Score:5, Interesting)
OK, somebody stop me if I say something out of line.
It seems from the article that a journalist actually thought that there was a big red button somewhere labeled "INTERNET KILL SWITCH - DO NOT TOUCH". This graduate of the college of communications then makes the connection that phone calls were made instead. Really? You think so? He then makes reference to "This morning's New York Times" and then links to an article published three weeks ago. Next, he accuses this unassailable beacon of journalistic accuracy of being wrong. As a crowning achievement, he then gives valuable pagerank to a "Human Rights Defenders" website that openly states that it only exists to lecture Europe, America, and Russia about anti-Muslim crimes without speaking a single word about persecution of religious minorities in Egypt [wikipedia.org].
I'd say that journalist Kevin Fogarty is a winner all around and represents his profession^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H occupation well.
Eben Moglen (Score:4, Interesting)
Is trying to make software preventing this kind of thing from happening again. http://lastonk.blogspot.com/2011/02/freedom-box.html [blogspot.com] by using wall wart servers and routers.
If there was a software app that allowed handheld devises with wifi to create ad hoc networks... the people in Egypt may not have even noticed when the ISP's were shut down... they would have been able to continue talking to each other via short link wireless networks.