Egypt: A Nation Forced Offline

Since this is not a political blog, we don’t usually write about what happens in the governments around the world. However, we do write about social media, and when the government in a country completely shuts off access to not only Twitter and Facebook, but all the Internet, it becomes almost our responsibility to write about it.

If you are tapped into Twitter, or if you watch the news, you are aware of what is going on in Egypt right now. As my friend Stan said in a Facebook message to me, the unfolding of the Egyptian Revolution could be the most significant event this decade.

However, two days ago when the Egyptian government shut off all Internet access to 80 million people, I couldn’t believe it. They didn’t just put up a firewall either. They forced the networks completely offline. I can’t imagine living in a country where this would happen, and my heart goes out to all those people that are now cut off from the rest of the world. If you want to get updated on what has happened in Egypt over the past week, you can go through tons of news stories everywhere to pick out the relevant, unbiased information or you can watch this one-and-half minute video below that sums it all up beautifully. This was written by Brittany Darwell and put together by Michael Marantz. You can visit Michael’s Vimeo for lots of links for more information. If you are on Twitter, you can follow the hashtag #egypt for the most up to date information.

I know a lot of communication at the moment is coming out of Egypt through ham radio. I am a licensed ham radio operator in the States, and because of that, I know about a service called WinLink. I hope they know that if they have the right equipment, they can send emails through this service without any Internet (including attachments and pictures). God bless anyone going through this ordeal now.

Egypt: A Nation Forced Offline from Michael Marantz on Vimeo.