Total Blackout

This could be one of the worst thing that ever happen in Egypt this year when we talk about the Freedom Online.

Last January 27, 2011, the Egyptian Government ordered service providers to shut down Egypt from the Internet . Every Egyptian provider, every business, bank, Internet cafe, website, school, embassy, and government office that relied on the big four Egyptian ISPs for their Internet connectivity is now unavailable. These ISPs are Link Egypt, Vodafone/Raya, Telecom Egypt, Etisalat Misr .Thus, no one can make and outbound or inbound connection to the online world, at the same time Egyptian websites are not accessible anywhere in the world. SMS has been shutdown as well according to reports.

“No internet, no SMS, what is next? Mobile phones and land lines? So much for stability. #Jan25 #Egypt,” CNN reporter Ben Wedeman confirmed via Twitter

Quoted from computerworld:

The blackout appears designed to disrupt organization of the country’s growing protest movement, which is calling for the ouster of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

The Alternative

Despite the fact that the Egyptian government ordered to shutdown Egypt from the internet , group such as We Rebuild found an alternative to get access to the online world. Egyptians may not have internet access in their place, but calling an international number to reach a modem in another country gives them a connection to the outside/online world.

“[B]asically, there are three ways of getting information out right now — get access to the Noor ISP (which has about 8% of the market), use a land line to call someone, or use dial-up,” Jillian York, a researcher with the Berkman Center for Internet & Society, said via e-mail.

sourse: http://beyond-the-norms.org/2011/01/no-internet-connection-in-egypt/