[NA-Discuss] Forward motion on the Egyptian Internet shutdown

Eric Brunner-Williams ebw at abenaki.wabanaki.net
Mon Jan 31 16:06:15 UTC 2011


On 1/31/11 10:30 AM, Marc Rotenberg wrote:
> I take Beau's point to be that it would be better if the statement
> emerged from the RALO closest to the immediate problem.

I'm not convinced that a claim of regional priority has any utility.

> But in some respects that could also lead to further politicization.

I don't know what is meant in this sentence.

> And the relevance for NA-RALO is clear -- one of key cyber security
> proposals before the US Congress is the creation of an "Internet kill
> switch."

I'm sure the Canadians will have something to say about the lack of 
complete relevance of a cite to the US Congress.

The existing lack of service in most of Indian Country in the Americas 
is less speculative than an administrative mechanism to interfere with 
the beneficiaries of existing (originally public) buildouts of private 
high-speed (for the Americas) data services.

> This is why we should try to generalize: cutting off access to the
> Internet  is not simply a regional problem.

Agree. Had the administrative tool been the SEA-ME-WE-4 and FLAG cable 
landings in Alexandria, the effect would be similar to what took place 
two years ago, affecting most of West and South Asia.

Part of the message to authoritarians is use the tools wisely.

Eric



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