[governance] Internet blackout in Egypt

[Walid Al-Saqaf]

Coming from Yemen, I can say that it all depends on where you live and in my
country, Al Jazeera certainly has the upper hand in reaching a much broader
section of the population. Internet penetration is much lower there compared
to Egypt and Tunisia and hence, the impact of social networks is minimal.
Nonetheless, what I feel is important is to focus on the complementary
relationship between satellite TV and the Internet. Each has an impact and
when both are aligned, they create the perfect storm, which explains why
Jordan once jammed Al Jazeera's signal once and Egypt cut off the Internet.

Best..
Sincerely,

Walid

-----------------

Walid Al-Saqaf
Founder & Administrator
alkasir for mapping and circumventing cyber censorship
https://alkasir.com <walid.al-saqaf at oru.se>


On Fri, Jan 28, 2011 at 11:00 AM, Lisa Horner
<LisaH at global-partners.co.uk>wrote:

> I don’t think in this converged world that we can necessarily separate out
> the online and offline platforms.  Al Jazeera undoubtedly has huge influence
> at national, regional and global levels.  It has on the ground reporters,
> but is also very well hooked in to online politics.  The mainstream media
> often takes its lead from citizen reporting, especially in more closed
> environments in moments of turmoil and crisis.  The circular link between
> wikileaks and “offline” media illustrates the levels of intertwining and
> interaction.  I was in Egypt a couple of weeks ago, and was struck by the
> influence that online platforms and media are having.  Some of the best
> media outfits there have online and offline versions, with online reporting
> much freer and having demonstrable impact.  For example, citizen reporting
> and logging of cases of harassment of women on the street has led to much
> wider awareness of the issue, leading to unprecedented convictions and draft
> legislation on sexual harassment.  The Internet may be shut down now, but
> the information from individual protestors is still getting out.  And we
> have to look at the role that online media and activism have played in
> laying the ground for the protests, however slowly and incrementally.  So,
> whilst Al Jazeera has huge impact, it’s part of a much wider communications
> ecosystem in which outlets and discussions all feed off each other at local,
> national and regional levels.....The Internet is playing a role, even in
> countries with heavily controlled networks and low levels of penetration.
>
>
>
> Anyway, would be good to hear from people actually living in the
> region.....
>
>
>
> All the best,
>
> Lisa
>
>
>
> *From:* governance-request at lists.cpsr.org [mailto:
> governance-request at lists.cpsr.org] *On Behalf Of *David Goldstein
> *Sent:* 28 January 2011 08:58
> *To:* governance at lists.cpsr.org
> *Subject:* Re: [governance] Internet blackout in Egypt
>
>
>
> Al Jazeera has much more influence on happenings in the Middle East than
> the internet...
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> *From:* parminder <parminder at itforchange.net>
> *To:* "gov >> "governance at lists.cpsr.org"" <governance at lists.cpsr.org>
> *Sent:* Fri, 28 January, 2011 7:23:52 PM
> *Subject:* [governance] Internet blackout in Egypt
>
> Today may turn out to be a historic day for Egypt...
>
>
> Pl read below.
>
> AP: "The day part of the Internet died: Egypt goes dark"
>
> http://bit.ly/gCJFHt  (AP / MSN)
>
>    "The Internet blackout in Egypt shows that a country with strong
>     control over its Internet providers apparently can force all of
>     them to pull their plugs at once, something that Cowie called
>     'almost entirely unprecedented in Internet history.'"
>
> --
>
>
>
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