The Internet may be back up and running in Egypt, but controversy about how the country interfered with communications is still swirling. Vodafone Group on Thursday revealed that Egyptian authorities used emergency powers to compel mobile operators to send text messages to customers.
“Under the emergency powers provisions of the Telecoms Act, the Egyptian authorities can instruct the mobile networks of Mobinil, Etisalat and Vodafone to send messages to the people of Egypt,” Vodafone said on its web site. “They have used this since the start of the protests. These messages are not scripted by any of the mobile network operators and we do not have the ability to respond to the authorities on their content.”
Is This Propaganda?
The Wall Street Journal reported some of the messages that mobile operators were forced to send. For example, Etisalat Egypt subscribers reportedly received an Arabic-language text message on Wednesday that read: “To every mother, father, brother and sister, to every honorable citizen, take care of this country for this nation lasts forever.”
The Journal also reported that a message to subscribers across the network of Egyptian Co. for Mobile Services, also known as Mobinil, said, “This is a message from the Egyptian Armed Forces: Egyptian youth beware of rumors and listen to the voice of reason. Egypt is above everyone so protect it.”
The mobile carriers were not available for comment.
“Vodafone Group has protested to the authorities that the current situation regarding these messages is unacceptable,” the company said. “We have made clear that all messages should be transparent and clearly attributable to the originator.”
Inciting a Riot
If this was propaganda, Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group, said it sounds like pretty bad propaganda. Typically, distributors of propaganda would want to make the messages appear as if they are coming from a trusted source.
“Clearly,…