[aklug] Egypt's Internet Shutdown

This is why I don't think that our Federal government should receive
"cyber-emergency" powers to be able to shut-down or reorganize critical
systems on the Internet:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/01/28/BU3T1HFPGM.DTL

It is bad of course that this is happening to the Egyptians. But it is a
perfect illustration. What better qualifies as a "cyber-emergency" in
the government's eyes than "wide-spread civil unrest", i.e., wide-spread
protests against the government?

As the article says, this move by the Egyptian government not only
attacks the civil liberties of its citizens, but it also will have a
devastating and long-lasting economic impact.

From the article:

'In a statement on the company's website, Vodafone Egypt also said that
"all mobile operators in Egypt have been instructed to suspend services
in selected areas. Under Egyptian legislation the authorities have the
right to issue such an order and we are obliged to comply with it. The
Egyptian authorities will be clarifying the situation in due course.'

In my opinion, we should be drafting Federal legislation that /protects/
us from such "orders" rather than legislation that makes it easier for
the government to issue them.

-- 
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theologa.indicium.us
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