Egypt Going for Total Information Control

The Egyptian government has reportedly cut all access to the internet, extending their earlier restrictions on Twitter, Facebook, BlackBerry service and other forms of mass communication. The ban is likely to be in response to the use of social networking sites to organize pro-democracy, anit-Mubarak demonstrations in Egypt and other countries.

Internet access issues in Egypt have coincided with mounting demonstrations in the country, many of which were organized via social-networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. Thousands poured into the streets of Cairo starting Tuesday to protest failing economic policies, government corruption, and to call for an end of the nearly 30-year rule of President Hosni Mubarak. -PC Magazine

Pro-gun lobbyists worry about enforced gun registration because it could possibly give the government a way to confiscate all firearms. That’s child’s play compared to their ability to shut down access to the critical tools we use every day: the internet, email, Facebook, Google, text, cell phones – the information arsenal that we all tend to take for granted. Egypt understand the importance.

And so does the Obama administration, according to this WSJ Post:

At the State Department, spokesman P.J. Crowley expressed “deep concern” after Mr. Mubarak shut down the Internet and mobile phone service in Cairo. On his Twitter account, Mr. Crowley wrote: “Events unfolding in #Egypt are of deep concern. Fundamental rights must be respected, violence avoided and open communications allowed.”

Information is power, and Mubarak is playing offense in this game.

John Sileo trains organizations on Information Offense Strategies to stay ahead of the data theft, social networking and intelligence control curve. Learn more at ThinkLikeASpy.com.

Posted by Identity Theft Speaker John Sileo in Fraud Detection & Prevention, Online Privacy and tagged Control, Egypt, information, Internet, Mubarak, Obama, Sileo.