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The tight controls over the internet in Egypt, and especially the internet blackouts, have caused rebellion thoughout the country and outrage throughout the world. Despite the government's attempts at complete internet control some Egyptians are getting messages out via social media networks in particular twitter.

Social media tools, such as twitter and facebook, played a significant part of the overthrowing of Mubarak. With two-thirds of Egypt's population under the age of 30, it's no surprise that internet-savvy, educated, young Egyptians used such tools to break barriers in a country that has been ruled under unjust dictatorship throughout their lives. These tools helped organize and gather the millions of protestors that have sparked revolution in Egypt. Social media and sharing information online has played an almost unimaginable role in this process and certainly poses a threat to governments around the world with dictatorships and a significant proportion of the population who is educated and able to use these tools.

I posted an article last week about opposition to whether or not social media makes an impact in countries that find themselves in situations like Egypt's. This article, however, tends to thing Twitter can actually have an effect.

"How American-Made Tech Helped Middle Eastern Governments Censor the Internet" A new Harvard University study details how American and Canadian companies provided Internet filtering and monitoring software to the Iranian government, Mubarak's Egypt and other repressive states. It's still going on.

A governmental style press release on the official website of the "United States Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs".  A response to the Mubarak government's shut down of the Internet in Egypt.

I think Egypt may have been a trend setter in Africa. It seems that many dictatorship regimes are getting nervous when it comes to an uprising from the grassroots. I think it is fair to say that the internet, especially social media, is playing a huge role in the peoples ability to overthrow their governments. Technology has become such an important part of the culture in the world that something that previously required wars and months of planning can happen so quickly nearly overnight. Perhaps it is this very idea that leads Libya's government to make the decision that this article explains.

This video and the two that follow discusses the issue further. http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/tech/2011/01/29/levs.protest.technology.cnn