{Replica} Egypt, blocking & the fear of the web: What is the internet actually changing?

Egypt – a country in a state of emergency. And – this is new – offline. On January 28, 2011, Mubarak cut the internet connection. In doing so, he proves one thing above all: his own Anxiety before Internet – which is completely superfluous: You can also do without. A wrap around topic:

The situation in Egypt

I don't want to go into the situation in Egypt very much now - other media are already doing that extensively and much better than I could here: ZB reported Spiegel ONLINE last week about the network blocking. Friday writes about the threat of deterioration in the current situation.

Numerous media provide the political background to the situation in Egypt. The FAZ, for example, provided the background on how such a comprehensive blocking of the network was actually technically possible. And the time reported how the People bypass the blocking.

Yes, it does not matter, the net!

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And this is exactly what I am concerned about: Because Egypt shows that it (relatively light) is possible to collectively erase an entire country from the digital map. That could be a role model, also for Germany, where all kinds of network blocks are discussed - as Andreas Bogk from the Chaos Computer Club said in the TV show Nano.

However, the whole discussion about how to limit the internet in some way shows how big the reservations about it still are - among politicians as well as among normal people. I'm just thinking of the wild conspiracy theories of a cultural pessimist that I was recently allowed to listen to in a pizzeria in Kreuzberg (I'd better invent one soon Job, which has nothing to do with the internet;-)

What does the switch off?

So it's no wonder a lot of people would like to turn it off. But seriously: what would that do? Probably nothing. As my colleague Richard Gutjahr said in the aforementioned nano show: The Internet was certainly helpful in bringing the movement to the streets. Now all of this also works via munitions propaganda.

Update: By the way, Gujahr, who travels to Cairo to be there on location, also got the excellent pictures that you can see below in the blog - and which he freely distributed on Twitter with a friendly “serve you”. By the way, Ulrike Langer reports on the background of his trip to Cairo without a fixed order in an excellent Article about entrepreneurial journalism.

Just relax with it

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And even if the Internet is hyped accordingly as a carrier of meaning, and also if the Communication for sure would be more difficult: who knows if a lot of things wouldn't be possible without the internet? In any case, I advocate a more relaxed approach to the Internet.

By no means do I want to say that it is superfluous or unimportant. On the contrary, I love the simplified communication the net allows and I do not want to miss it. But it is quite normal. And I just do not understand the excitement that is made about it - or how did it bring filmmaker Helge Thomas from Heidelberg so nicely to the point (in the commentary):

On the other hand, I am always amazed at how difficult it is for many. all of this is not new. people have been networking since time immemorial. they meet up with friends or colleagues and exchange ideas. Depending on the type / gusto about professional, private, family, bizarre or normal. not infrequently the weather. twitter, facebook and Co. are nothing more than the further development of this age-old human need with digital means ... the most remarkable story in this context was the following: a former manager recently asked me what he should do if someone with him on facebook wants to be friends and he doesn't want that. and i asked him how he deals with such a situation in “analog” life ...

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