THE speed with which the Egyptian government cut off its citizens from the internet was shocking 鈥� but it serves to remind us that the net is not as invulnerable as we sometimes like to think. It certainly highlights the limitations of the notion that 鈥渢he internet interprets censorship as damage and routes around it鈥�. When a government controls all its country鈥檚 internet providers, it can be hard to find a way through.
Hard, but not impossible, given sufficient ingenuity. Egypt鈥檚 citizens have stayed connected, to a limited degree, by using landlines and old-fashioned dial-up modems to access foreign internet servers and voicemail (see 鈥淗ow Egypt is getting online without the internet鈥�). Satellite phones played a part, as did amateur radio. Even WikiLeaks cables got in 鈥� by fax.
It is no surprise, though, that Egypt鈥檚 rulers are running scared. The internet has played a prominent role in recent political upheavals, notably Iran鈥檚 Twitter uprising of 2009 and the ousting of Tunisia鈥檚 president at the turn of this year. The genie of instant global communication has been unleashed, and even the most authoritarian regime will struggle to squeeze it back into its bottle.
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