by Patrick Appel
Chris Beam explains:
Withholding the Internet in Egypt is relatively easy, compared with other more democratic countries. For one thing, there are only four major ISPs, each of which has relatively few routers connecting them to the outside world. By comparison, anyone who wanted to shut down the Internet in the United States would have to deal with many different companies. And whileEgypt can legally disable telecom companies by executive decree, American companies might fall under various regulatory umbrellas that limit the government's power to disrupt communication channels. Members of Congress have proposed creating a "kill switch" that would shut down the Internet at the push of a button in the case of a "cybersecurity emergency," but erecting such a blockade would be logistically difficult.