Statement of the ALAC regarding current situation in Egypt (Draft)

The ALAC is concerned by the impact of developments in Egypt on the

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Internet end-user. In the light of ICANN's responsibility for IP address  and AS number policy, and its core value of 'preserving and enhancing the operational stability, reliability, security, and global interoperability of the Internet', we endorse the ISOC statement and Q&A as expressed at http://isoc.org/wp/newsletter/?p=3100

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Egypt Internet Shutdown Q&A

29th January 2011

What has happened to communications in Egypt?

At this point (ref CircleID), 91% of Egypt’s Internet networks are down. Virtually all of Egypt’s Internet addresses are now unreachable, worldwide.

According to internet monitoring firm Renesys, at 22:34 UTC (00:34am local time), Renesys observed the virtually simultaneous withdrawal of all routes to Egyptian networks in the Internet’s global routing table, leaving no valid paths by which the rest of the world could continue to exchange Internet traffic with Egypt’s service providers.

The Egyptian government apparently asked the four local Egyptian ISPs to switch off their services.  Network addresses within Egypt became unreachable as the ISPs withdrew their announcements from the global routing table. Domain name service has also been affected; for details see this posting from ICANN:

The combination of the network shut down and unreachable domain names resulted in the disappearance of Egyptian names and numbers from the Internet. This has, effectively, taken Egypt of the Internet, cutting off its citizens from modern communications tools.

Some mobile services were also affected. In addition, it is reported that one small ISP remains functional  – this service provider connects the Egyptian stock exchange.

What is the impact for businesses and citizens inside Egypt?

People and businesses within the country that relied on the four main ISPs have been cut off, leaving many millions of Egyptians without internet access. International network operators with Egyptian presence confirm that they have been instructed to shut down their operations.  As a modern society, over 20% of Egypt’s population of 80Million were online, with over 4Milion Facebook users. Not just individuals but businesses, schools and government offices are currently offline.

The Internet shutdown will have a significant impact on the economy and on the ability of individual citizens to earn a living. And, as can be expected the Egyptian stock Exchange, EGX, whilst still online, saw a sharp fall in value (see below chart – source EGX).

http://isoc.org/wp/newsletter/files/2011/01/EGX.jpg

Note the below diagram from Arbor Networks that shows how Egyptian Internet traffic dropped off a cliff at the time it was suspended. Image Removed

http://isoc.org/wp/newsletter/files/2011/01/traffic.jpg

How is this possible? Does the Egyptian government have a kill switch?

Virtually all routes to Egyptian networks were simultaneously withdrawn from the Internet’s global routing table.

In addition, the authorities are reported to have taken down Egyptian  country code Domain Name Servers (DNS).   These servers are required by web browsers to correctly locate the site a user wants to visit.

What is the impact for those in the surrounding region and beyond?

Traffic that transits Egypt (Flag Telecom for example) is NOT affected and the impact on global businesses with routes that cross Egypt has been minimal  BUT: traffic into Egypt (intended to stop there) as well as traffic out of Egypt form local sites is affected.

What happens when Egypt turns it all back on?

If the Egyptian government reinstates connections quickly, there is likely to be a lot of churn in the routing system –  which will possibly further affect neighbouring regions’ traffic.  Also, this action will have a lasting impact on international corporations interest in doing business within Egypt.  Whether they consider withdrawing their equipment and services, or simply refuse to establish peering links with Egypt, it could have a lasting impact on Egypt’s ability to establish effective and efficient network connections to the rest of the world.

What does this unprecedented level of Internet disruption mean for the web and freedom of expression?

The Internet Society believes that the Internet is a global communication medium  that fundamentally supports opportunity, empowerment, knowledge, growth, and freedom.  These values should never be taken away from individuals.  The Egyptian people and nation are the ones that will suffer, while the rest of the world will be significantly worse off with the loss of Egyptian voices on the net.

Excessive government controls on the Internet negatively impacts innovation, and many basic human rights, thereby impeding a nation’s economic development and social progress.

Obviously, for a government to block all Internet access in their country is a very serious decision, and a serious intrusion into their citizens’ basic rights to communicate.  If the blockage continues, it will have a very detrimental impact on Egypt’s economy and society.

Egyptian websites are inaccessible, is this a vision of a future of restricted networks? How do you view the government’s behaviour?

The Internet Society urges governments to consider carefully whether there is anything about the nature of content on the Internet that cannot be dealt with adequately through established rules of law; rather than by cutting a basic human right to communicate.

The social, political, and economic benefits of the Internet are substantially diminished by excessively restrictive governmental or private controls on computer hardware or software, telecommunications infrastructure, or Internet content.

Wiki Markup

_This is not the first time this kind of action has been taken by a government.  According to the OpenNet Initiative, Burma’s military leaders notably cut connectivity during the protests of 2007, and Nepal did a similar thing after the king took control of the government in 2005 as part of his battle against insurgents. Local Chinese authorities have also conducted similar, short-lived blockades \[source =_ [http://gigaom.com/2011/01/28/how-egypt-switched-off-the-internet/|http://gigaom.com/2011/01/28/how-egypt-switched-off-the-internet/%5D] _\].  The Internet Society believes this is an inappropriate response to a political crisis.  The damage done will principally be to the Egyptian people and Egyptian nation._

What can/should be done to remedy the situation? Is this the web’s coming of age as a political tool?

There probably is little that can be done on the ground in Egypt.

The Internet Society is concerned of course.  But we are most concerned about the safety and security of the Egyptian people. With the rest of the world, we hope for a positive and lasting solution to the problems that have risen to the surface there.

In the longer term, we are sure that the world will learn a lesson from this very unfortunate example, and come to understand that cutting off a nation’s access to the Internet only serves to fuel dissent and does not address the underlying causes of dissatisfaction.

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Signed: The At-Large Advisory Committee (ALAC)