Could what hap­pened to com­mu­ni­ca­tions in Egypt this past week hap­pen here in the USA?  Last week, in an attempt to cen­sor com­mu­ni­ca­tions in their coun­try, Egyp­t’s gov­ern­ment shut down the use of Face­book and Twit­ter.   Even­tu­al­ly they shut down the Inter­net alto­geth­er in the coun­try as well as all mobile phone com­mu­ni­ca­tions.  In light of the wide spread protests in the cap­i­tal of Egypt, Cairo, and the rest of the coun­try, pulling the plug on all com­mu­ni­ca­tions is not only cen­sor­ship, it is the sign of a dic­ta­tor­ship that does not care what hap­pens to it’s peo­ple.  Very dis­con­cert­ing to me.

You might not think that this is a big deal, but mil­lions of peo­ple lost com­mu­ni­ca­tion with not only the out­side world, but with their fam­i­lies and loved ones.  You might only think that this is pos­si­ble in a sec­ond or third world coun­try gov­erned by a dic­ta­tor­ship or oth­er ‘rul­ing class.’  Here is the prob­lem with this think­ing.  First, last year in his infi­nite wis­dom, Joe Lieber­man intro­duced a bill for an “Inter­net Kill Switch.”  Yes, it’s true.  I did­n’t even know this was the case.  I know the gov­ern­ment still has con­trol over the Inter­net, and I did­n’t expect our gov­ern­ment to intro­duce a bill that vio­lates our first amend­ment right to free speech.

Here is an arti­cle on Fast Com­pa­ny which out­lines more:  http://goo.gl/JCkDT

I would love to know your com­ments on this.   To me it rein­forces what you should know about com­mu­ni­ca­tions and how you should rein­force your (my) own com­mu­ni­ca­tions plans if the SHTF the way it has in Egypt.