Egypt's telecommunications blackout crushes citizen journalism

By Tim Conneally, Betanews Responding to widespread civil unrest, the government of Egypt on Thursday evening ordered all private network operators to shut down their services, both wired and wireless.At around 12:30am local time, Egypt's outbound connections to the Internet hit a brick wall, and fell approximately 80%. Both BGP Mon and Renesys observed similar withdrawals of Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) routes in Egypt.A statement from Vodafone, the British telecommunications company responsible for one of Egypt's three major cellular networks, said all mobile operators, likewise, were instructed to suspend service in areas where anti-government protests were taking place."Under Egyptian legislation, the authorities have the right to issue such an order and we are obliged to comply with it. The Egyptian authorities will be clarifying the situation in due course," Vodafone's statement said on Friday.Nearly 24 hours later, the communications blackout is still in effect."I have been able to connect with my family through landlines only, as the cell phones and internet were turned off," Dr. Ibrahim Karim, Montreal-based Author and alternative medicine researcher told us today. "[It] is really frustrating everybody."There is only one landline telephone company in Egypt, Telecom Egypt, which is controlled by the government.The blockage was done to thwart seditionaries and protestors who had been using social media outlets to organize activities and share information about the... Continue reading at 'Betanews'

[ Betanews | 2011-01-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
News tagged with: #social networking #press briefing #copyright betanews

Other news stories related to: "Egypt's telecommunications blackout crushes citizen journalism"


E-book charts published in Wall Street Journal

Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Mon, 31/10/2011 - 08:20 The first official sales charts including ebook sales data have been published in the Wall Street Journal this weekend, with Nielsen BookScan now supplying ebook sales reports to the US paper. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-10-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #nielsen bookscan


Long Form Journalism Enters the Digital Market

As most publishers are scrambling to compact content (call it the Twitter effect), one company is bringing lengthy journalistic stories to digital devices. Continue reading at Folio Magazine

[ Folio Magazine | 2011-03-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #digital devices #digital market


Trade looks forward with "excitement" in Egypt

Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Wed, 23/02/2011 - 14:23 Booksellers and publishers in Egypt are re-opening their doors with "excitement about a new era in publishing" after the country’s revolution. Some publishers and booksellers became targets after supporters of the former... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-02-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |


Quartet to launch investigative journalism imprint

Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Mon, 21/02/2011 - 15:59 Quartet Books is launching a new imprint by veteran American broadcast journalist Charles Glass. The imprint, called Charles Glass Books, will focus on investigative journalism, war, world politics and corporate and political... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-02-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #world politics #investigative journalism


Cairo Book Fair cancelled amid demonstrations in Egypt

Written By: Bookseller Staff The 43rd Cairo Book Fair, due to have been held this week, has been cancelled. The Guardian reports that "many foreign exhibitors" have been left stranded after failing to secure flights home, while others have had to abandon stands and books after the fair was... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-02-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #left stranded #guardian reports