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Africa North
Internet, cell phones down in Egypt
2011-01-28
Cairo, Egypt (CNN) -- Hours ahead of what are expected to be massive displays of anti-government ferment across the world's most populous Arab nation, the internet went dark in parts of Egypt early Friday, and text messaging appeared to be blocked.
Learned a few things from the Mad Mullahs in their Tehran crackdown last year...
According to multiple web services that check whether servers used by specific sites are active, the servers of Egypt's main internet provider were down early Friday. The servers for the Egyptian government's sites and for the U.S. Embassy in Cairo also appeared to be down.

Facebook is aware of reports of service disruption and saw a drop in traffic from Egypt Thursday morning, company spokeswoman Jillian Carroll said in a statement.

Government officials could not be immediately reached to comment on the internet and text message situation.
Because they couldn't be reached...
Posted by:Steve White

#19  here's the good news
/Some of the 30-plus deepwater rigs that were in the Gulf of Mexico have moved to other markets, first because of a U.S. halt called last May after BP PlcÂ’s (BP.L: Quote) well blowout, and then because of the lack of permits once the moratorium was lifted.Below are rigs contracted to work in the Gulf of Mexico that have been or will be moved to other regions.


sarc
Posted by: Beavis   2011-01-28 17:40  

#18  OKAY - I guessed wrong.
It sure looks like Murbark on TV
Posted by: Water Modem   2011-01-28 17:33  

#17  Fab Fi pic... that's some damn good shooting.

I guess the old traditions at MIT are still alive.
Posted by: KBK   2011-01-28 17:26  

#16  In 1989 the East Germans didn't have Internet, Twitter or mobile phones.

All you need is lack of fear and the knowledge that others have it, too.
Posted by: European Conservative   2011-01-28 15:22  

#15  DoS is a 2 way street to the technically astute.
Posted by: Alaska Paul   2011-01-28 10:54  

#14  I remember years ago when US hackers were working on their covert RF based internet. I wonder where that idea went.
Posted by: Butch Elmaviting1567   2011-01-28 10:42  

#13  Don't talk that way about the man who brought us the five pillars.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble   2011-01-28 10:06  

#12  I am sure the servers are all up inside the above locations. What Egyptian authorities have done is turned off the service provider's gateway servers for Internet Service Provider and Phone Company txt messaging server. Or they actually disconnected the service or physically disconnected the line at demark.

A Presidential "kill switch" is strictly an "Executive" order to service providers to carry out the above actions.

This would be in direct violation of the Constitution's First Amendment guaranteeing Free Speech, Right to Assembly, etc..

Not that many of this generation of Americans seem to be concerned about the particulars of the Constitution, expecially when it comes to the America's first seriously narcistic President, President Hussein.
Posted by: Shaimp Lumumba4652   2011-01-28 09:46  

#11  Wikipedia: Community Networks by Region

Wikipedia: Community Networks - tech
Posted by: Water Modem   2011-01-28 09:10  

#10  nice SRV ref, Gromky
Posted by: Frank G   2011-01-28 08:34  

#9  A lot of work is being done towards self-organizing mesh networks, i.e. local wifi nodes finding and linking to one another automatically, to replace or augment fixed routers. The military has an obvious interest in such capability but it would be useful in emergencies and other situations.
Posted by: lotp   2011-01-28 05:51  

#8  Well it's floodin' down in Texas
All the telephone lines
are down
Posted by: gromky   2011-01-28 02:51  

#7  Or Fab-Fi
Posted by: newc   2011-01-28 01:26  

#6  Citizens band radio man, keep on truckin.
Posted by: rjschwarz   2011-01-28 00:45  

#5  That kill switch operator is Comcast, NBC as owner, and GE as owner of NBC. Did you think GE was interested in NBC for Keith Olberman?

Such a shame.This conversation this very day.
Posted by: newc   2011-01-28 00:43  

#4  Samizdata
Posted by: Frank G   2011-01-28 00:21  

#3  In soviet times, they would circulate stuff via the fax machine. Not really efficient, but better than nothing.
Posted by: Alaska Paul   2011-01-28 00:16  

#2  Kinda makes you think again about all that 'Internet kill switch' talk, eh? Back in the olden days before the interwebs caught on, we used to create ad-hoc networks with Point to Point Protocol and shuffle mail from one machine to another with uucp. Everything old is new again!
Posted by: SteveS   2011-01-28 00:09  

#1  The EXACT same thing Obama wants to be able to do.
Posted by: Thrager Barnsmell4754   2011-01-28 00:04  

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