Vodafone: Egypt Forced Us To Send Pro-Government Messages

(AP/Huffington Post) LONDON -- Vodafone says Egyptian authorities forced it to broadcast pro-government messages during the protests that have rocked the North African nation.

Micro-blogging site Twitter has been buzzing with screen grabs from Vodafone's Egyptian customers showing pro-government text messages sent to them in the run-up to the violent clashes in central Cairo which broke out on Wednesday.

Vodafone Group PLC said in a statement Thursday that Egyptian authorities have been using the country's emergency laws to script text messages to its customers.

The U.K.-based company said it had no ability to change the content of the messages. It called the practice "unacceptable" and said it has protested to Egypt's authorities.

Read the full statement from Vodafone Egypt below:

Statement - Vodafone Egypt Thursday 3 February 2011

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. 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.

Vodafone Group has protested to the authorities that the current situation regarding these messages is unacceptable. We have made clear that all messages should be transparent and clearly attributable to the originator.

Comments

[Eleanor Ruby Moon]

11:31 PM on 02/05/2011

The Mubarak family owns a boatload of shares in Vodafone. Need I say more?

[tbone99]

09:25 PM on 02/04/2011

Even worse -

Narus, a U.S. subsidiary of Boeing Corp., sold Egypt equipment to allow “deep packet inspection­,” according to Tim Karr of the media policy group Free Press. Karr said the Narus technology “allows the Egyptian telecommun­ications companies ... to look at texting via cell phones, and to identify the sort of dissident voices that are out there. ... It also gives them the technology to geographic­ally locate them and track them down.””

[2 cents plain]

01:21 PM on 02/04/2011

After Mubarak, next to go should be Vodafone. Nobody "forced" them, just their lack of spine and their greed.

[WhirledTraveler]

11:46 AM on 02/04/2011

Attn. Vodafone:

When asked to act wrongly, even a two year old understands the simplicity of "No!"

[constitutional 1]

10:09 AM on 02/04/2011

Think of it as a Fairness Doctrine. For every negative message some send in protest of the government, companies should be required to provide an equal and counter message. It's a shovel ready project that will create jobs.

[HappyMarsden]

07:00 PM on 02/03/2011

Why couldn't Vodafone just shut down its service during this time of protest?

[Slate 1947]

05:42 PM on 02/03/2011

Hey Vodafone... all of your stuff runs on electricity. If you really cared, you would have pulled the plug. Talk is cheap.

[davewill]

07:53 PM on 02/03/2011

I doubt their customers, who had lost all other forms of communication outside the country, would have thanked them for that.

[mark whitehouse]

04:27 PM on 02/03/2011

see washingtons blog on gilded cage, the state of emergency has been continued from bush to the big o, it is ready to happen, made in the USA

[DrakeUnlimited]

04:13 PM on 02/03/2011

F these people.

[XFilesTheTruthIsOutThere]

04:07 PM on 02/03/2011

Sure you were force Vodafone, we believe you. NOT!

[kieron]

02:10 PM on 02/03/2011

Vodafone chose to comply with the regime. Vodafone must be punished. Use #boycottvodafone hashtag and follow twitter.com/boycottvodafone

[Dante in Madison]

01:49 PM on 02/03/2011

I'm calling b.s. on Vodaphone -- and the Egyptian government.

[merlinspinoza]

01:42 PM on 02/03/2011

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503543_162-20030485-503543.html
Google Exec Made Silent Voice of Egypt Uprising
Wael Ghonim has been missing since a mass protest on Jan. 25 --

[yakmon]

01:32 PM on 02/03/2011

Oh of course you just couldn't say NO. That would be uncorporate like behavior to profits...

Clearly power resides in the media—those who control the media control the message to the lemmings. Those who think for themselves are not so influenced by the media propaganda machine.

[yougg]

01:32 PM on 02/03/2011

Right now the US government is trying to get legislation to do the exact same thing. They want to be able to shut down the internet and all other forms of communication in a (national emergency). This is from the Republicans. If the Patroit Act wasn't enough. Call you Senators and Representatives and kill this idea immediately.