UK Government Intervenes After Vodafone Was Ordered by Egypt to Send SMS

The UK government complained to Egypt after Vodafone Group was ordered to send text messages seen to instigate violence as demonstrators demanded the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak.

UK Foreign Office Minister Alistair Burt contacted the Egyptian ambassador in London to discuss the order to Vodafone after the company reached out to the government, the Foreign Office said last night. British Foreign Secretary William Hague yesterday issued a statement calling the “abuse” of Internet and mobile-phone networks “unacceptable and disturbing.” Egyptian authorities instructed the local mobile-network operators, which also include Etisalat and France Telecom SA’s Mobinil service, to send messages under emergency powers provisions. Vodafone, the world’s biggest mobile-phone operator, said yesterday that the messages were not written by the mobile- phone operators.