Alycia Clark
Blog#2
Soc 202
2/2/11 4:31 pm
Egypt 2011, has been experiencing a wide range of domestic unrest with the current leader Hosni Mubarak. As a result of the protest and unrests, much of the countries business and organizations have shut down. One system that has been greatly affected by the unrest in Egypt has been communication. On January 27 Internet surveyors saw a dramatic drop in Egyptian domain use, basically the internet in Egypt was shut down. Although the Egyptian government denies being behind this internet blackout, it has become pretty obvious who the culprit is. One of the main reasons behind the shut down was the talk of protest, and strikes on communication web-sites such as Facebook and Twitter.
These sites were not only the target of Egyptian governments, but also other governments such as Tunisia’s who have tried to hack into these websites to contain the spread of unrest. Other forms of communication were also recently hit. Cellphones and other mobile device services were also interrupted. This was all done to try to stop the spread of communication in these areas of conflict. The problem then arises, when it is realized that these regimes are trying to shoot down the counter policies, by restricting the spread of revolt against their policies. By trying to stop the “word of mouth” it was believed by these regimes that the spread of action of discontent would cease, but it has seem that it has done the opposite.
As seen many times in history, no matter the scale, people will find a way to do what they want to do, and that was seen in Egypt as citizens found “loopholes” around the internet black out. Many could still use smartphone apps, or landlines. As these people still continued to reach out online, their measures were picked up on a global front, and although news about the unrest in Egypt was already big news, their “cries” for help we’re magnified and heard around the world.
This just goes to show what a corrupt government will do to try to hold its people down. Restricting the forms of communication, that have become a global norm, is definitely a violation of human rights. It is restricting a major part of major part of many of today’s people’s life, which is a disruption that should not occur. Not only is disrupting a major part of their lives a violation of human rights, but so is trying to stop the communication of citizen’s with one another. It is a form of essentially alienating and isolating with the people which takes away some of the most basic human rights. So congratulations to those who are fighting, and finding way’s around this corrupt regime.
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