If a government intent on thwarting a social uprising of it's populous choses to cut communications, such as Egypt's early response to the recent demonstrations, the U.S. military could conceivably restore services in order to maintain internet access an inviolable human right.
John Arquilla, a leading military futurist tells Wired that while it might not be that difficult of a challenge technically for the U.S. military which "has a great deal of expertise on rebuilding communications network, but that's ... very different when the government is interested in resisting," Arquilla says. "This is far less an engineering problem and far more a political one."
It makes total sense that a country facing internal strife might consider such an action as a hostile act, especially if perpetrated by a foreign power. I guess it really should not surprise anyone that the technology already exists, and as an average citizen I am finding some comfort in the fact that does.
