Turn Off

Imagine going for 5 days without the internet.

That's right, it's unimaginable. FB addicts might just go into withdrawal.



For 5 days in Egypt, the government shut off the internet for the whole country. The internet had proved instrumental in rallying people against the government in both Egypt and Tunisia. Mubarak went a step further than Ben Ali's patching firewalls as they were breached. He cut the whole country off from the rest of the world. If anything, the short period of isolation is a testament to the necessity of the internet. A lot of sectors, most of which probably are not related to the revolution, needs the internet for their daily operations. Heck, even the government needs the internet.

But the US reaction is quite boggling. As expressed by US Sec State Hilary Clinton, “The United States continues to help people in oppressive Internet environments get around filters, stay one step ahead of the censors, the hackers and the thugs who beat them up or imprison them for what they say online.” (see source 2)

Remember the Wikileaks fiasco? Mrs. Clinton has rationalized the difference: that was an “act of theft.” She claims this reconciles the US position on internet freedom. But isn't it also a crime to break into your government, albeit in cyberspace? Yet the US would rationalize that they only help those people in autocracies. Whatever happened to self-determination and sovereign equality? And besides, the internet knows no territorial boundaries. The internet works a certain way, and it knows no nationalities. If the US is concerned about security, why teach people how to breach it?



Christopher John P. Lao
Entry No. 13


Sources:
1) James Glanz and John Markoff, “Egypt Leaders Found 'Off' Switch for Internet.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/16/technology/16internet.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss

2) Mark Landler and Brian Knowlton, “U.S. Policy to Address Internet Freedom.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/15/world/15clinton.html?partner=rss&emc=rss


Image:
Peter Macdiamid / Getty Images
http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2011/02/16/INTERNET-1.html