The future of propaganda is in your pocket. The Egyptian government has utilized emergency services to get its pro-regime messages onto the phones of protesters, a fact confirmed by Vodaphone.
The carrier issued a statement stating that Hosni Mubarak’s regime was sending “messages to people” that weren’t “scripted by any of the mobile network operators and we do not have the ability to respond to the authorities on their content.”
Wired managed to get a hold of two of the texts. The first, sent on Monday, reads, “Egypt’s youth. Beware rumors and listen to the voice of reason. Egypt is above all so preserve it.” The government sent another yesterday reading, “To each mother-father-sister-brother, to every honest citizen. Preserve this country because the homeland stays forever.”
Isn’t that Murbarak has a Twitter account?
The company has approached the government to complain. “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.”
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