February 11, 2011- Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak resigned today and handed the country over to the Egyptian military sending the country into cries of happiness and excitement. After 30 years of autocratic rule the country will now have a chance at democracy and elect a new President. The 250,000 protestors in Cairo gleefully honked their horns, waved flags, danced the conga and chanted “Egypt is Free! Egypt is Free!” The footage and relieved looks of the Egyptians helped me to realize just how blessed we are to live in a country where we are free to do pretty much anything we choose- free to determine our own destiny.
The biggest part of the controversy arose on Friday, January 28, when President Mubarak shut down internet access to and from the country not only banning the Egyptians from using the internet and sending information out but banning other countries from sending information into Egypt. How the country did something of this magnitude is unclear but the government does own the country’s two major ISPs and it has been reported that they started by closing down the major routers. These routers direct traffic over the border and by being shut down would initially shut the country out from each other and the rest of the world then officials switched off individual routers to shut off individuals. Officials immediately cut off access to social networks such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube and banned restriction to all Egyptian websites from outsiders and all websites to Egyptians.
The ethicality of this issue is very clear- shutting down the Internet to prevent news and complaints from getting in and out of an entire country is entirely unethical and, until this point, unimaginable to most. The idea of the internet of a global village, being able to connect to anything and anyone around the world, is what makes the Internet so unique and widely used. What happened in Egypt could not have continued on for much longer and it was clear that something had to give. I am happy to see that the country’s citizens can now sleep peacefully, be at ease and re-connected with the rest of the world.
-Alisha Mychele
Alishamychele.blogspot.com
No comments:
Post a Comment