In Egypt, cellular phone company Vodafone has sent pro-government texts to its customers, drawing disbelief and ire from around the world. For instance, the message seen below reads “The Armed Forces asks Egypt’s honest and loyal men to confront the traitors and criminals and protect our people and honor and our precious Egypt”.

Think customers got charged to receive a propaganda text?
[View the Flickr set]

From the Financial Times article:

Vodafone said it had decided to comply with requests from the Egyptian authorities to send text messages to its customers, partly because of concerns about the safety of its staff.

Vodafone’s capitulation may have been based on the idea of preserving safety, but it seems it could cost many more lives than it saves.

---