Egypt: Social Networking Sites Play Crucial Role During Unrest

By Eric Sande

CAIRO--Egypt's  'days of anger' sees a large scale internet clamp-down, as Facebook, like Twitter on Tuesday, falls prey to government attempts to stifle nationwide communication and protest.

Thousands have been pouring onto the streets from Tuesday in a rare public display of animosity toward the government. The demonstrations are part of the ongoing anger that was sparked in Tunisia’s recent upheaval that saw that country’s president leave the country.

In recent years, social networking websites have been used by growing numbers of young Egyptians as a platform from which to voice their political and economic grievances. Since 2008, Facebook activists have been calling for strikes and sit-ins to protest rising inflation and chronic authoritarianism.

The wave of nation-wide protests was at least in part made possible by the organizers' use of Facebook to keep the protesters abreast of the latest happenings and fan the flames with videos of hurt demonstrators.

“The whole process of mobility was virtual, internet is what has brought people together in this protest” , said Amr Hamzawy, a political writer, research director and senior associate at the Carnegie Middle East Centre in Beirut, speaking to Ahram Online.

Recognizing the danger that social networks pose for the stability of its rule, the Egyptian government moved to block several social networking sites in the past few days. The first and second days of nationwide protests, some websites have been confirmed as blocked by the government while others are left.

Communications on Twitter, which people continue to use despite the Egyptian authorities blocking the official website, suggested opponents of the Mubarak regime were gathering prior to a return to the square, in the centre of the city.

Twitter was first to be shut down on Tuesday after all of Egypt's internet service providers prohibited user accessibility. Nevertheless, some techno-savvy Egyptians were able to access Twitter through various proxies.

“Twitter was used by people on the ground to relay what was happening,” said Rasha Abdulla, head of the Mass Communication department at the American University in Cairo (AUC), to Ahram Online.

Facebook's Chief Security Officer Joe Sullivan said that in the past they had to deal with ISPs who have tried to filter or block their site, but that they have never before had to deal with a government's attempt to intercept user information.

Putting politics aside, they have been treating the problems in Egypt and Tunisia  as a security issue, and decided to route all login requests coming from Egypt and Tunisia to the https version of the site. For all those users whose passwords might have already been stolen, they decided to implement a "social CAPTCHA" method of authentication that would await anyone trying to access their accounts - users have since been asked to identify their friends in various photos.

Global internet hackers threatened to attack websites affiliated with the Egyptian government on Wednesday in retaliation for the regime’s blocking of social-networking sites used by opposition groups to mobilize Tuesday’s “Day of Anger” protests.

The posse of hackers known only as “Anonymous” issued an online press release on Wednesday carrying the following strongly-worded warning to the Egyptian government: “Anonymous challenges all those who are involved in censorship. Anonymous wants you to offer free access to uncensored media in your entire country.”

 “By imposing censorship upon its own people and condemning these freedoms, the Egyptian government has revealed itself to be criminal and has made itself an enemy of Anonymous,” the hackers’ statement noted.

After more than 24 hours offline, Egyptians are once again able to access Twitter and other online networks that had been blocked by the government as protests continue nationwide, online activists reported on their personal Twitter accounts. The move is being welcomed by activists, who had been forced to use third party means of accessing social networks, including Twitter and Facebook.

“Yeah, welcome back all Egyptian tweeters,” one person wrote to their Egyptian contacts when the news broke.

As Twitter gets back online in the country, thousands upon thousands of Egyptians continue to face police violence as they march in the streets to voice their frustration and anger at the Egyptian government.

Books of history denotes of 34 years since Egypt was shaken by mass demonstrations on the scale of Tuesday's "Day of Rage". In 1977, Anwar Sadat's decision to cut subsidies on food and fuel ignited three days of rallies until the government relented and restored them. Today, the rage is directed against not just a specific act, but a whole sclerotic regime.