Egypt 'hijacked Vodafone network'

Thu Feb 3 21:32:12 UTC 2011

On Thu, Feb 3, 2011 at 7:48 PM, Marshall Eubanks <tme at americafree.tv> wrote:
>
> On Feb 3, 2011, at 2:20 PM, andrew.wallace wrote:
>
>> On Thu, Feb 3, 2011 at 6:59 PM, Scott Brim <scott.brim at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> On 02/03/2011 10:14 EST, Marshall Eubanks wrote:
>>>>
>>>> On Feb 3, 2011, at 9:24 AM, andrew.wallace wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Mobile phone firm Vodafone accuses the Egyptian authorities of
>>>>> using its network to send pro-government text messages.
>>>>>
>>>>> http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-12357694
>>>>
>>>> Here is their PR
>>>>
>>>> http://www.vodafone.com/content/index/press.html
>>>>
>>>> Note that this is entirely legal, under "the emergency powers
>>>> provisions of the Telecoms Act"
>>>
>>> Which is legal, Vodafone's protest or the government's telling them to
>>> send messages?  afaik the agreement was that the operator would have
>>> preloaded canned messages, agreed on in advance with the government, and
>>> now the government is telling them to send out arbitrary messages they
>>> compose on the spot.
>>>
>>>
>>
>> I wonder if these messages were blockable by the end-user or if they were being sent as a service announcement from Vodafone.
>>
>> Certainly, if the government were sending the messages under the company name then something sounds wrong about that.
>>
>> What I would like is to hear from someone who received the messages and what their experiences were.
>>
>
> They were described to me as being "from Vodafone." I assumed that this meant that they were service messages.
>
> Marshall

A text message received Sunday by an Associated Press reporter in Egypt appealed to 
the country's "honest and loyal men to confront the traitors and 
criminals and protect our people and honor." 

Another urged Egyptians to 
attend a pro-Mubarak rally in Cairo on Wednesday. The first was marked as coming from "Vodafone." The other was signed: "Egypt Lovers."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110203/ap_on_hi_te/eu_egypt_cell_phones

Andrew