PARIS, Jan. 26 (UPI) -- An Iranian opposition leader said executions are on the rise in the Islamic republic because of fears of a revolution similar to one in Tunisia.
Meanwhile in Egypt, where a Tunisian-style revolt is underway, the government has attempted to kill the Internet, believing that protesters are using that as an organizational tool. This effort has garnered widespread publicity, most of which is erroneous.
What the Egyptian government has discovered is that you can't kill it. Oh, they've made every attempt: First, they started blocking domain name servers (DNS)—the phone book of the internet—but citizens circumvented this limitation by using proxy servers. In reaction, the government cut broadband connections to the web and forced mobile providers to do the same.
But unless they kill all phone services in the country, they really can't do much. I have a couple of 56k bps dial-up modems in storage, and as Egypt has lagged in tech, it's likely that a lot of their citizens have them, as well. It may seem primitive today, but it certainly works. The Internet is just a long-distance call away.
And ISPs in several countries are now affording free access to Egyptians in response to governmental efforts to interfere.
