Egypt restricts SMS messaging as elections draw near

In the latest move by one of the premier "Digital Dictators", Egypt, authorities are seeking to limit the use of mobile phones for political activism. The crackdown on independent voices and citizen participation seems to picking up steam as the elections draw ever nearer. According to the leading independent daily Al Masry Al Youm, the national telecom regulatory authority is imposing restrictions on SMS messaging services that require media and mobile phone companies to obtain prior approval from the Information Ministry and the Supreme Press Council before sending news alerts.

"On Monday, a number of private media institutions--including Al-Masry Al-Youm--were notified by SMS news providers that they must now obtain approval from the Ministry of Information and the Supreme Press Council before sending news alerts out to subscribers," the newspaper said Monday, noting that the new regulations are "an apparent effort to preempt possible anti-regime activism in the run-up to next month's parliamentary elections."

It continues: "The CEO of one messaging service provider, speaking on condition of anonymity, noted that the NTRA had in recent weeks met with officials of the three mobile phone companies operating in Egypt--along with state security services--to inform them of the new regulations. He also said that special "controllers" had been mandated with monitoring text messages disseminated by the MB and by opposition youth movements."

In recent weeks Egyptian authorities have ramped up their attempts to silence critics in the lead up to presidential elections so I suppose this should come as little surprise just a week after the firing of independent editors and the cancellation of several talk shows.

Ibrahim Eissa, editor of the independent El Destor newspaper, was fired and pulled from the television talk show he hosted on private satellite TV. Another independent voice, the renowned writer Alaa El-Aswani (author of the Yacoubian Building, which was turned into a movie), announced Monday he would no longer write his weekly column in the independent daily El Shorouk. 

The privately owned satellite station Orbit TV was also shut down for allegedly failing to pay its bills, although station officials disputed this and the closure came shortly after popular talk show host Amr Adeeb was prevented from airing his show.

Egypt is not the first country to restrict SMS messaging. Indian authorities did the same in Kashmir in April because of security concerns. But of course, India is a democracy. Its people have a voice and a chance to elect or not re-elect their leaders. And of course, these moves come amid Egypt's efforts to gain access to encrypted data from Blackberry as have its authoritarian neighbors Saudi Arabian and the United Arab Emirates.