Filed under: Internet, Productivity, Social Software
If you remember the late 70’s, you probably remember gas rationing in the United Says when OPEC cut oil production. This lead to pandemonium at the pumps and confusion for American citizens. Well to a lesser degree, having bandwidth cut off would also lead to having to make tough choices.
Perhaps this is why the Egyptian government has asked that all World wide web users temporarily stop downloading movies, music, and other large files as a result of their Internet access being hampered earlier this week. Egypt’s main cable link to Europe was inadvertently cut by a ship’s anchor, causing widespread World wide web bottlenecks to Egypt and the rest of the Arabian Peninsula.
Egypt’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology has asked that consumer stop downloading huge file so they don’t affect “affect businesses who have more important things to do.’”
Ars Technica points out that this isn’t the first time this type of event has occurred. Algeria, Taiwan, and Vietnam have all had their World wide web access affected by similar circumstances. As the world becomes more and more dependent on the ‘Net, we think it’s alarming to see how fragile the infrastructure truly is.
So, in conclusion, if you’re in Egypt and your downloading last nights Lost episode, knock it off! 
[via Slashdot]
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