Russia wants to unplug its internet from the rest of the world. Is that even possible?
Russia wants to unplug its internet from the rest of the
world. Is that even possible?
By SABRA AYRES MAR 04, 2019 | 5:00 AM
Russian lawmakers want to tighten the screws on Russia’s
internet access by creating an “sovereign” network that the Kremlin could shut
off from the greater World Wide Web.
Proponents of a bill now working its way through the
Russian parliament say passing the measure will protect the country’s internet
from foreign cyberattacks or other threats.
But international human rights groups and opponents say
the law is an attempt to create a firewall around Russia’s internet and
restrict information flow. The law’s introduction has drawn comparisons to
China’s restrictive Great Firewall.
Technology experts say beyond the concerns about freedom
of information, even if the measure passes, it’s unclear whether Russia would
be able to build the technical infrastructure to pull it off.
What does the law propose?
The bill proposes routing all Russian internet and data
through a central point controlled by the state. To make that happen, Russian
internet service providers would have to install specialized equipment to
monitor web traffic and block banned content. Theoretically, this would allow
the government to cut off the Russian internet, sometimes called Runet, from
the rest of the global network.
The law would grant more powers to Roskomnadzor, the
Kremlin’s federal censor, so it could oversee the government-ordered banning of
websites and shutdowns.
The legislation calls also for the creation of a domestic
Domain Name System, or DNS, which theoretically would give websites autonomy
from the rest of the global net.
Why does Russia need a ‘sovereign’ internet?
Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2014 claimed the
internet was created as a CIA project. (It was actually created by researchers
at the U.S. Department of Defense.) It was the first time Putin hinted at the
idea of building a purely Russian-run system to counter what the Kremlin sees
as the West’s dominance in the cyber world.
Since then, the U.S. has accused Russia of trying to
interfere in the 2016 elections by hacking into the Democratic National
Committee computers and spreading disinformation online, a claim the Kremlin
has vehemently denied.
Moscow now fears the increasing tensions between Russia
and the West could extend into cyberspace. Lawmakers backing the sovereign
internet bill said it is needed to prepare the country should the U.S. or
another foreign, hostile entity launch a cyberattack.
This is not a purely hypothetical fear. Last month, the
Washington Post reported that the U.S. Cyber Command hacked into and
temporarily disconnected the infamous St. Petersburg internet troll factory
around the time of the 2018 U.S. midterm elections. A U.S. grand jury indicted
the troll farm, the Internet Research Agency, in 2018 for conducting an
influence campaign on behalf of the Kremlin during the 2016 election.
Putin on Feb. 20 threw his weight behind the bill, which
is being heard again in the Russian parliament this month.
“They are sitting over there — this is their invention
after all — and they’re listening, watching and reading everything you say, and
they’re storing all this information,” Putin told Interfax news agency, when
asked why Russia needs the new internet legislation. “In general, the more
sovereignty we have, including in the digital sphere, the better.”
Can Russia’s internet really be cut off from the rest of
the world?
Critics of the bill say that even if it passes — and it
looks like it will — Russia will face several obstacles to enforcing the law.
It took China at least 10 years to build its Great
Firewall, as its internet filtering system is known, said Karen Kazaryan, the
general director of the Internet Research Institute, an analytical and
consulting group in Moscow.
For Russia to do the same, “it would take a long time, a
lot of resources and a lot of human resources, which we don’t have,” Kazaryan
said.
Russia does not currently have the equipment available
for telecom companies to filter the internet as required by the bill. That will
mean “some entity will have to supply every Russian telecom and internet
service provider” with the technology, he said.
That entity is likely to have a close connection to the
Kremlin, he added. The state tends to award lucrative projects to private
enterprises whose owners have close links to the Kremlin.
“Like everything in Russia, it's always about a
commercial interest, and here it’s pretty obvious,” Kazaryan said.
Stanislav Shakirov, an internet freedom activist at the
nonprofit Roskomsvoboda, which advocates for unrestricted internet access, told
the news outlet Meduza that the other major hurdle to creating a China-like
model would be the lack of domestic investment infrastructure for developing
enough tech startups in Russia to compete with what’s offered in the West.
"Not only are Russian internet users accustomed to
having their pick of Western online services, but Russia's domestic market
isn't big enough to sustain competition in isolation, and its unfriendly
business climate remains a major hindrance," he told Meduza.
Doesn’t the Kremlin already restrict the Russian
internet?
The Kremlin in effect controls most of Russia’s media,
including television and newspapers. Many Russians still get their news from
TV.
Still, a vigorous generation of web-based news portals
have kept independent journalism alive in Russia, albeit with a fraction of the
audience that Russian state media get. Social media and YouTube have become
convenient mediums for opposition leaders and regular Ivans to express their
opinions in Russia.
A handful of Russian media — including Meduza, in Riga,
Latvia — have relocated and rebranded themselves outside the country.
The Kremlin has already armed itself with weapons to
fight this threat.
The government passed a law in 2012 ordering Roskomnadzor
to create a blacklist of websites deemed a threat to national security. Putin
signed the law after a massive wave of street demonstrations erupted in 2011
and 2012 over what protesters said was a rigged election to put Putin back in
power. According to Roskomsvoboda, Russia is blocking 154,000 websites from the
blacklist registry.
Critics of the blacklist law argue that the definition of
which sites should be included is unclear and it is frequently used to block
political opposition groups and other dissenting voices.
That last claim is undeniable. Increasingly, Russian
authorities have cracked down on dissent, even jailing people for “liking”
posts on VKontakte, Russia’s answer to Facebook. In a recent case, Russia
convicted a video blogger on hate speech after he posted a video of himself
playing Pokemon Go in a church.
In 2014, Russia passed a controversial data storage law,
which requires social media websites to keep their servers — and all their data
— in Russia. Some sites have refused, including LinkedIn, which is now blocked
in Russia. Telegram, a messaging service popular in Russia and elsewhere,
refused to comply with the law and is now technically banned. The program is
still accessible through an IP-blocking application such as a virtual private
network, or VPN.
Russia banned the use of VPNs and other software and
websites used to circumventing the country’s internet filtering system in June
2017. As is the case for the proposed sovereign internet law, Russia lacks a
mechanism for completely enforcing the ban on VPN use.
Freedom House ranked Russia’s internet as “not free” in
its most recent global survey released in late 2018. Although internet access
increased among Russia’s 143 million people, internet freedom in the country
declined for the sixth year in a row, the watchdog group reported.
Human Rights Watch has expressed concern about the
proposed sovereign internet law.
“Russia’s regressive internet laws have mostly been
rushed, clumsy and chaotic, but that doesn’t reduce their threat to freedom of
speech and information,” researcher Yulia Gorbunova wrote in a statement for
Human Rights Watch.
“Russia is definitely beginning to look like one of the
worst offenders in the world on internet freedom, but it's so sporadic,”
Kazaryan of the Internet Research Institute said. “It’s just random prosecutors
all around Russia, who block some random sites because, I guess, they need to
report to their higher-ups that they are dealing with threats on the internet.”
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