Inventions of The Egypt Revolution: Emergency Internet Shutdown

The last, but not the least invention of the Egypt revolution is Country-wide Internet blackout. Local authorities cut the Internet shortly after they realized the way riots were coordinated. Local authorities used their influence to successfully convince 5 major ISP’s to shut Internet down. Technically speaking, all routes leading to Egypt were erased from the global routing table (Here is more details).

The simultaneous nature if the blackout means it was prepared before it’s happened, by every ISP separately. Consequentially, the same operation may be already prepared for any country around the globe. Hence, if you are about to start revolution, do not rely on the Internet unless it belongs to you, or unless ISP’s are on your side.

Another important conclusion about the event is telecommunications and media are closer related to a government than an army in some countries. For example in Egypt army took a side of rioting people, but ISP’s instead continued their Internet blockade. I can’t understand how it’s possible for few companies to be more loyal to the government than the entire Egypt army. What benefits does government bring to the companies? What level does their cooperation have? These questions are to be answered.

The effect of the blackout are to be calculated. Nobody knows what happens when you disconnect 80 M people. Nobody knows yet how effective it was. Nobody knows where and when it happen next. The event brings shock and raises many questions.

31 of January 2011, Friday was a day telecommunications raised in personal weapon effectiveness chart.