I mean, that's what the protester's get for bragging about how they were coordinating their moves. What did they think their already repressive governments were going to do? Mind you, given that Egyptian businesses and government agencies also use the internet, it'll be interesting to see how long the darkness will continue.
The scary part is if the Muslim Brotherhood opposition gains an upper hand in the otherwise leaderless protests.
Confirming what a few have reported this evening: in an action unprecedented in Internet history, the Egyptian government appears to have ordered service providers to shut down all international connections to the Internet. Critical European-Asian fiber-optic routes through Egypt appear to be unaffected for now. But every Egyptian provider, every business, bank, Internet cafe, website, school, embassy, and government office that relied on the big four Egyptian ISPs for their Internet connectivity is now cut off from the rest of the world. Link Egypt, Vodafone/Raya, Telecom Egypt, Etisalat Misr, and all their customers and partners are, for the moment, off the air.
Senior members of the Muslim Brotherhood opposition group have been detained in Egypt
Lawyer Abdel-Moniem Abdel-Maksoud said at least eight senior figures had been held in raids in the early hours of Friday, including spokesmen Essam El-Erian, Mohamed Mursi and Hamdy Hassan.
"The reason is of course known: it's what is expected to happen tomorrow," he said.
A security source confirmed that authorities had ordered a crackdown on the group overnight: "We have orders for security sweeps of the Brotherhood," the source told Reuters.
The Muslim Brotherhood has not been behind three days of protests by youth angry at poor living standards and authoritarian rule, but many followers of the group are expected to join demonstrations on Friday after weekly prayers.
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