Noor Group DOWN: Egypt's Last Internet Service Provider Goes Offline

See updates below

Twitter has been flooded with reports that Noor Group, which had been the last Internet service provider in Egypt still offering access to the Internet, has been taken offline.

Renesys, which provides "Internet intelligence" and data on Internet operations, confirms that it has observed Noor Group down as of 20:46 UTC.

Renesys wrote, "As of approximately 20:46 UTC, four hours after this blog was first published, Noor started disappearing from the Internet. They are completely unavailable at present."

As we reported earlier today, Noor Group, which has around 8% market share, had been the only Internet provider in the country still offering access to the Internet. Egypt's other ISPs, such as Etisalat Misr, Link Egypt, Telecom Egypt, and Raya, shut off the country's connection to the Internet last week (See a visualization of the country's web blackout here).

There has been speculation that Noor had remained online because of the high-profile, economically-relevant customers that it services. Noor's clients include institutions that are crucial to the country's financial industry, including the Egyptian stock exchange, Commercial International Bank of Egypt, and the National Bank of Egypt.

In a blog post on Friday, Renesys observed Noor Group "still has 83 out of 83 live routes to its Egyptian customers, with inbound transit from Telecom Italia as usual."

One Twitter user suggested that Noor may be discriminating in the way it has set about shutting off Internet access--@Invisiblella tweeted, "noor.net shut all EXCEPT NTG, the National Technology Group providing IT processing to the aviation, banking and financial sectors."--though this is unconfirmed.

Renesys reports that Noor has not made any exceptions: "Every prefix originating or transiting Noor is currently unavailable. NTG is no exception," the company told The Huffington Post.

The president and CEO of the Internet Society, a nonprofit organization that aims to develop Internet standards and policy, condemned Egypt's Internet shutdown in a statement. "The Internet Society considers this recent action by the Egyptian government to block Internet traffic to be an inappropriate response to a political crisis," wrote Internet Society chief Lynn St. Amour. "It is a very serious decision for a government to block all Internet access in its country, and a serious intrusion into its citizens’ basic rights to communicate. If the blockage continues, it will have a very detrimental impact on Egypt’s economy and society. Ultimately, the Egyptian people and nation are the ones that will suffer, while the rest of the world will be worse off with the loss of Egyptian voices on the net."

UPDATE:An Internet user in Cairo reports that Noor DSL was inaccessible earlier today. When contacted by the user, Noor's tech support said the network was experiencing "technical problems" that would take several hours to resolve.

Follow Egypt's Internet activity via RIPEstat.

See how you can help Egypt get back online here. Email us tips at [e-mail].

LOOK: A chart of the availability of Noor Group's networks via Renesys

Comments

[AirViceMarshalPark]

01:35 AM on 02/01/2011

Noor is the ISP for the Egyptian banks and stock market. This can't last much longer.

[HappyMarsden]

01:15 AM on 02/01/2011

Darn, when is that Time-Warner guy gonna show up to fix this thing? We've been waiting several days already.

[AirViceMarshalPark]

01:27 AM on 02/01/2011

Now, now. They told you that they'd be there between January and March. If you aren't home between those times, you still get charged for a service call.

[WierdWookie]

01:14 AM on 02/01/2011

What it it that Mubarak wants to hide from the wotld. I hope he will not harm the Egyptian people. He might do anything if it comes down to him or the country. The demonstrators are kneeling to pray and look too peaceful to fight back.

[gdatomic]

12:58 AM on 02/01/2011

So, since the unrest continues, can we finally come to grips with the fact that social media plays a useful, but tangential role in social changes?

Every time there's unrest, the social-media-lites run around yelling about how THEIR media caused the revolution/regime change/evolution of man into a sin-free future. Bunkum.

Not to minimize how it can be quite helpful. But human change comes from the people who stand up and take action.

[AirViceMarshalPark]

01:29 AM on 02/01/2011

There were no revolutions in human history before social media.

[gdatomic]

09:35 AM on 02/01/2011

Oops. You're right - I'd forgotten...

[RedDogBear]

09:58 AM on 02/01/2011

I agree. Its an example of how the media has to dumb down everything and put a spin that will get the attention of the US consumer rather than actually examining the complex issues.

[realitytrumpsbull]

12:40 AM on 02/01/2011

Well, maybe wiser heads have prevailed, and said that the medium has become the problem, and looking at Tunisia, and deciding that whatever web-based influence motivated the two kids to kill themselves, just not maybe wholesome or, more largely, of a net benefit to the public anymore, and worse than that, and inflammatory source of social chaos. So far, in Egypt, only 100 people have been killed. Let's all maybe take a moment, and hope that no one else gets hurt or killed with all of this. Maybe the riot act will expand to the web. Free speech is one thing, people getting hurt and killed is something else. And, unfortunately, there's a damning and accusatory finger to be pointed at some university people in all of this, because they spread a lot of zeal and idealism, get other people fired up, and next thing you know, someone's being run over by a tank when the government decides to restore law and order and put out the fires. They call that 'agitators'. So, maybe Egypt's not so dumb, shutting all that stuff off. Now, tinfoil-hat level: Did government let loose the agitators to be able to justify shutting off the web and lowering the boom?

[RedDogBear]

10:02 AM on 02/01/2011

Egypt is a dictatorship. They have sham elections and people who dare to resist the government are tortured and killed all the time in their hell hole jails and secret police facilities. A little "agitation" is worth it if it can bring some actual democracy to the country.

By your logic those irresponsible agitators in 1776 (Paine, Jefferson, Adams, Washington) should have just minded their own business rather than make trouble and agitate against the king. After all a lot more than 100 people were killed then.

[Tee McDonald]

11:54 PM on 01/31/2011

People have a basic universal right to congregate peacefully, be it in town square or twitter. Mubarak clearly doesn't understand the world he lives in. He needs to retire, perhaps offer to facilitate a transition to a new democratic form of govt. Save face, Mubarak.

[sak]

11:03 PM on 01/31/2011

Just remember that our country has supported this country for decades knowing full well that Mubarak is a dictator. Bush counted on him to allow rendition so that we could secretly send prisoners to Egypt for torture - which of course we do not do in this country. Right.

Why are we now surprised that they have suspended speech?

[paintitblack]

10:48 PM on 01/31/2011

Dumb on the regime's part. It's only going to make people angrier. That's probably about the ONLY thing that would get American's off their behinds.

[Sleepers Awake]

12:45 AM on 02/01/2011

...maybe not the ONLY thing as Americans like their TV sets too, no?

[paintitblack]

01:02 AM on 02/01/2011

True... if they cut off television, many would be very upset. But from what I've seen, a lot of people have completely replaced their tv with internet. And then there's that whole communication thing. What will the people do without the facebook?

[jabailo]

10:29 PM on 01/31/2011

Attention all Egyptions:

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-vista/Change-TCP-IP-settings

"#

To specify DNS server address settings, do one of the following:

*

To obtain a DNS server address automatically, click Obtain DNS server address automatically, and then click OK.
*

To specify a DNS server address, click Use the following DNS server addresses, and then, in the Preferred DNS server and Alternate DNS server boxes, type the addresses of the primary and secondary DNS servers."

[Rob Horton]

11:06 PM on 01/31/2011

it's not a dns issue, it's a no carrier signal issue... think land-line telephone with no dial tone, wires cut.

[yoyodyne666]

12:07 AM on 02/01/2011

Besides, if thier internet is cut off how would they read your post ...lol...that's kinda like my IT department sending me an email informing me of my new email account password.

[jabailo]

10:28 PM on 01/31/2011

Just edit their DNS settings and point them to an active server.

[Rob Horton]

11:04 PM on 01/31/2011

that won't do any good if they're offline...

[Rob Horton]

10:13 PM on 01/31/2011

How are they going to "walk like an egyptian" without their MTV (and internet)? Mubarak is making a huge blunder, more will take to the streets because they can't get online.

[Aroddo]

09:57 PM on 01/31/2011

To my information, egyptians access the Internet now via modem, using the good old dial-up connections.

[Rob Horton]

10:15 PM on 01/31/2011

i think that's what noor group was... now it's offline.

[TeaLady005]

09:54 PM on 01/31/2011

The U.S. government should never be allowed to have an internet "off switch".

[VirginiaJeff]

10:05 PM on 01/31/2011

 
Unfortunately, a law from the 1930s already gives the U.S. government that power.  http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2376888,00.asp
 
Lieberman has proposed a bill to update the law.  Depending on who's talking, the update would make it easier for the government to block internet and cellular access or would "restrict" such use.  Either way, Lieberman's bill does not definitively overturn the telecommunications law.  This is a topiic that the MSM should be giving heavy coverage to.

[sak]

11:04 PM on 01/31/2011

Leave it to Lieberman to do something like this.

[Pamm Stadt]

12:36 AM on 02/01/2011

What does this article have to do with the law from the 1930s? It wasn't even mentioned in the article.

[VirginiaJeff]

10:08 PM on 01/31/2011

 
Unfortunately, they already have a 1930s law that permits exactly that.  http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2376888,00.asp
 
And Liberman's proposed a bill that would -- depending on who's talking -- expand that law or restrict it.  Either way, this is an issue that the MSM should be devoting heavy attention to.

[CallMeIsmael]

09:50 PM on 01/31/2011

That's the type of "reform" Mubarak has in mind for his people.

[Patricia Cash]

09:33 PM on 01/31/2011

Wikkileaks can you guys help the Egyptian People and AlJE news? We need them to be able to communicate with each other and with us as that would give them a measure of protection.

Well its worth a try ,everyone!

[Tee McDonald]

11:58 PM on 01/31/2011

As we speak, the United Brotherhood of Hackers is en route to Cairo to make sure this revolution is wired up!

[thefinaledict]

12:14 AM on 02/01/2011

Dam that sounds good. Oppressive governments need to be overthrown regularly, with web access to get the word out.