Internet access in Egypt was restored Wednesday as protests turned violent in the capital, a day after president Hosni Mubarak said he would not step down immediately and as pro-government demonstrators, some on horseback and camels, took to the streets and challenged opponents to the regime.

How hard is it, exactly, to kill the Internet? Egypt seems to have been able to do it. But Egypt's situation isn't exactly the same as that in the Western world. And even though Egypt only has four big ISPs, the fact that everything went down after midnight local time suggests that it took considerable effort to accomplish the 'Net shut-off. After all, it seems unlikely that President Hosni Mubarak ordered the Internet to be shut down as he went to bed; such a decision must have been made earlier in the day, and then taken hours to execute