Egypt blocks Internet access, BlackBerry and SMS as civil unrest continues

As civil unrest stretches across the country, Egypt has gone dark. The Egyptian government seems to have enforced a blanket Internet shutdown at the ISP level, in what is an unprecedented maneuver that has forced the country offline. If that wasn't enough SMS and BlackBerry services seem to be affected too, and there's even rumors of landlines and cellphone services being cut off.

It's certainly a scary time, as the populace rails against the government. Is the communication services blackout an attempt to stop organization of protests within the country, or is it to prevent the outside world from seeing what's really going on? Whatever is happening in the dead zone, as always, we hope for a peaceful conclusion and a return to stability for the country.

Tags: blackout, Egypt, internet, networking, web