When Will Egypt Govt. Learn? You Cannot Censor the Internet

The Egyptian government has issued an order for internet service providers to shut down Egypt's internet access in an attempt to prevent mass protests in the country, but the tactic has by no means been successful.

What the government does not realise is that they couldn't blanket down the internet without crashing Egypt's stock exchange. According to local news sources which are still online - http://www.almasryalyoum.com  - it is the largest internet shut down in history, but some websites are still available through stock exchange service suppliers.

As a tool against repression, the internet is unparalleled because it is so pervasive and used for so many things in society. And it will always be able to spring to life out of scorched earth because it is made up of millions of people who believe in freedom of information and freedom of the media.

So in effect, all that the government of Egypt has managed to do is to show its true face of authoritarianism and to further alienate thousands of opinion formers on Twitter.com, Facebook.com and other mass-link websites. If losing support was its aim, then that aim has been accomplished. What's next? Will Mubarak order the electricity to be shut down?

Most ironic of all, the government of Egypt's own website is currently offline - http://www.egypt.gov.eg - how does this benefit them?

Meanwhile, protestors are still going ahead with their planned marches, despite a ban on those as well. According to the latest news, police vans have circled the Omar Makram Mosque in Egypt and the Muslim Brotherhood are still gearing up for their planned protest. How do we know this from Cyprus? Twitter! News sources from Egypt are still managing to get their information to the world, and no ban will stop them from doing so.