The Egyptian government restored Internet service to the country Wednesday, ending an unprecedented week-long shutdown aimed at making it harder for protesters to organize.
In the end, the shutdown proved less an impediment than a source of fresh anger among ordinary Egyptians who suddenly lost contact with friends and family overseas. Protesters had no trouble pulling together larger and larger crowds, culminating with an estimated 250,000 people that gathered in central Cairo Tuesday to demand an end to President Hosni Mubarak’s three-decade rule. Egypt Restores Internet Service – Wall Street Journal
Transparency Report’s traffic numbers (above) provide a stark illustration of the impact of the Egyptian government’s Internet shutdown that began last week. See Christian Science Monitor story
Egyptian authorities have restored Internet service to the country after anti-government protests last week led to a five-day Net blackout.
“Egyptian Internet providers returned to the Internet at 09:29:31 UTC (11:29 a.m. Cairo time),” said a blog post by Net monitoring firm Renesys today. Read CNet story Egypt Gets its Internet Back
Renesys has been the main source for the media to get information about Internet service in Egypt. The Renesys insight has been echoed through blogs, Twitter and Facebook since the shutdown a week ago. Obviously, a PR coup for Renesys.
Thomas Jefferson is believed to be the first to coin the term “public relations” in 1807, during the seventh annual address to the joint session of the U.S. Congress. Jefferson faced rising aggressions with the British that would eventually lead to war. As the third President of a fledgling republic Jefferson understood that public perception was critical to success of a mass ideal and managing relations with constituents was a key component to his job.