Egypt Pulls the Plug on the Internet

The unrest in Egypt, where demonstrators have been protesting against the 30-year regime, is escalating and is turning violent. Unlike in the recent Tunisian revolution, which mostly likely had a lot to do with the situation in Egypt, President Hosni Mubarak isn't going down without a fight. The latest, sporadic reports from the country indicate that internet access has been cut off by the four major ISPs which control most of the market.

Earlier reports said that Twitter and later Facebook access was blocked in Egypt. This would not be without precedent, protesters in several countries have used the online tools, with varying degrees of success, to organize or spread their word and governments have banned social networking and communication services.

But the Egyptian regime went further and cut off all internet access in the country. SMSs are also being blocked apparently and there are some reports that landlines are going down as well.

This would be the first time a country has completely shut itself out of the internet in history. Fears are that the country is trying to implement a complete blackout ahead of a violent crackdown today when the biggest protests to date are planned.

It's unclear what effect the blockade will have, while online resources were used to communicate and organize, protesters didn't rely on things like Twitter or Facebook.

Blocking phone lines could have a much bigger effect, but with protesters already in the streets, it's unlikely the move will discourage anyone.

What it may end up doing, what it was possibly in intended to do all along, is keep the outside world in the dark. For now, the few reports that are coming out of Egypt are from journalists using traditional methods, some resorted to phoning in tweets.

It does look like not all internet providers in Egypt were affected, just the major four. US internet monitoring firm Renesys has been tracking events in Egypt. It says that at least one provider is still carrying traffic in and out of the country, making the stock market in the country reachable internationally.