“Last week, when the Mubarak regime decided to shut down the internet, human rights advocates, civil society groups and dissidents were caught flat-footed. They had never developed the work-arounds that others in societies with a history of online censorship had.

Of course, by shutting down the entire internet in a failed attempt to disrupt pro-democracy forces, the Egyptian government also disrupted commerce and tourism and brought the country’s economy to a standstill.

Meanwhile, China’s more evolved system of online filtering is limiting its citizens’ ability to access information about the Egyptian protests by blocking queries for “Egypt” on its Twitter equivalent. The Great Firewall is curtailing free speech, but the Chinese economy keeps chugging along.”

From CNN