Reuters
via CNBC
28 Jan 2011
The move by Egyptian authorities to seal off the country almost entirely from the Internet shows how easily a state can isolate its people when telecoms providers are few and compliant.
In an attempt to stop the frenzied online spread of dissent against President Hosni Mubarak’s 30-year rule, not only Facebook and Twitter but the entire Internet was shut down overnight, leaving some 20 million users stranded…
…Despite the rapid transformation of the Web during its short history, and the unprecedented freedom of expression it has enabled, the Internet still has vulnerable points that can be exploited by governments or for commercial interests.
Cut Off From The World
“Virtually all of Egypt’s Internet addresses are now unreachable, worldwide,” Jim Cowie, chief technology officer of U.S.-based Internet monitoring firm Renesys wrote on the company blog.
“Every Egyptian provider, every business, bank, Internet cafe, website, school, embassy, and government office that relied on the big four Egyptian ISPs for their Internet connectivity is now cut off from the rest of the world.”
Vodafone said in an emailed statement: “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.”…
Read the entire article at CNBC.
Related, from Tehran Times, Egypt unrest boosts safe-havens, oil; rocks world markets.
NEW YORK –Investors worldwide scrambled into safe-haven assets including the dollar, Swiss franc, gold, oil on Friday, and out of stocks and the euro on a wave of risk aversion sparked by growing unrest in Egypt, market analysts said.
The Saudi Tadawul All Share Index was down 4.1 percent to 6,419.89 by Saudi lunchtime, where workweek starts on Saturday.
“”The fall is due to sentiment about what’s happening in Egypt, and also in the US because the Dow went down”” on Friday, said John Sfakianakis, chief economist at the Riyadh-based Banque Saudi Fransi-Credit Agricole Group.
The violence sent Egypt’s benchmark index tumbling about 17 percent over two days, and analysts predict that the violence on Friday will fuel another plunge on the Egypt Exchange and ripple across other regional markets.
Though often considered a risky asset, oil was also a huge beneficiary of the Egyptian turmoil. Traders are spooked that shipments through the Suez Canal might be disrupted, which would be a major blow to the global economy. The stock market decline has been exacerbated by the potential impact of disruptions in oil supplies. Light, sweet crude prices jumped and the Dow Jones Industrial Average was off by more than 1 percent…
