[AusNOG] Events in Egypt

[Narelle]

All,
We have been following the events in Egypt with much interest and concern.

It appears that as of 27 January all Egyptian routes disappeared from
the routing table. The .EG nameserver is offline. As a result Internet
connectivity within and into/out of Egypt has been vastly reduced. In
addition, the mobile phone network has been turned off.

You can follow the routing updates in real time at RIPE:
http://stat.ripe.net/egypt/

As of this morning a Tunisian colleague tells me to expect an
announcement soon from the President of the Egyptian Congress. This
can be followed on twitter via #egypt #jan25

The statement below has been issued by the Internet Society.


Regards


Narelle



"We are following the current events in Egypt with concern as it
appears that all incoming and outgoing Internet traffic has been
disrupted. The Internet Society believes that the Internet is a global
medium that fundamentally supports opportunity, empowerment,
knowledge, growth, and freedom and that these values should never be
taken away from individuals.

The Internet Society considers this recent action by the Egyptian
government to block Internet traffic to be an inappropriate response
to a political crisis. It is a very serious decision for a government
to block all Internet access in its country, and a serious intrusion
into its citizens’ basic rights to communicate.  If the blockage
continues, it will have a very detrimental impact on Egypt's economy
and society. Ultimately, the Egyptian people and nation are the ones
that will suffer, while the rest of the world will be worse off with
the loss of Egyptian voices on the net.

However we are most concerned about the safety and security of the
Egyptian people.  Alongside the rest of the world, we share the hope
for a positive and lasting solution to the problems that have risen to
the surface there.

In the longer term, we are sure that the world will learn a lesson
from this very unfortunate example, and come to understand that
cutting off a nation's access to the Internet only serves to fuel
dissent and does not address the underlying causes of
dissatisfaction."
It is also available on our website here;
http://isoc.org/wp/newsletter/?p=3091

Regards

Anya

Anya Chambers
Internet Society

mobile: +1 224 321 0378
web: www.InternetSociety.org
twitter: InternetSociety

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Watch the trailer; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OInTXcZ4HZM

For more information: www.internetsociety.org/scenarios






-- 


Narelle Clark
Vice President
Internet Society of Australia
Member, Board of Trustees ISOC
vice-president at isoc-au.org.au
www.isoc-au.org.au