We’re watching something happen in Egypt that’s as huge and as world-changing as the French Revolution, or the American Revolution. Among the million issues I’m glued to is the role of the Internet in this rebellion, and I hope, successful revolution.
I’m betting on a couple of things
First, Egypt’s burgeoning outsourcing industry is going to take a huge, potentially lethal hit. I personally would damn sure never send work there again, after watching Mubarak employ an “Internet kill switch.”
Second, Mubarak probably infuriated his people past the exploding point when he cut off Internet access. Rulers everywhere, take note!
It’s especially great that ZDNet Government columnist David Gewirtz, who also consults to the U.S. Government as a cyberwarfare advisor, and who formerly supported the idea of the “kill switch,” has changed his mind:
As a cyberwarfare adviser, I was originally a proponent of the idea of complete shutdown in times of extreme attack. I felt it might be necessary to completely shut out the attackers, and by turning everything off, an attack that might be spreading through botnets could be cut off at the neck….
But I no longer believe that shutting everything off is a good idea. After watching what went on with Egypt and spending a week thinking about the issue from both a policy perspective as well as from the perspective of national defense, it’s become clear that a “kill switch” that can just shut everything off is a bad, bad idea.
See the whole article at http://www.zdnet.com/blog/government/ive-changed-my-mind-america-must-never-allow-an-internet-kill-switch-heres-why/9982?tag=nl.e620
There’s a lot of debate going on below the article, between several ideologies. But I have only one: cut off my Internet, and I, like most Americans, am going to be screaming furious with you.
Be wary of making people screaming furious. See “Egypt.”