Posted on Mar 17, 2022
How Russia's invasion threatens to subvert the internet as we know it
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Russian author and journalist Andrei Soldatov used to regard his country as the most digitally connected in Europe. These days, he can barely recognize the Russian internet.
Websites with the .ru domain have been online only intermittently since the invasion of Ukraine. U.S. tech companies such as Microsoft and Oracle have stopped selling software there. Many Russians can’t pay for the private networking apps they use to get around government censorship of sites such as Facebook, after Visa and Mastercard halted operations there.
“Russia is so dependent on online services. Now, these things are falling apart,” said Soldatov, author of the book “The Red Web,” about the Kremlin’s battles over online surveillance.
Russia is three weeks into a test that the internet has never seen before: A major economic and global power is nearly isolated online after international sanctions cut off many services from abroad and the Russian government clamped down harder on online speech and access inside its borders.
Websites with the .ru domain have been online only intermittently since the invasion of Ukraine. U.S. tech companies such as Microsoft and Oracle have stopped selling software there. Many Russians can’t pay for the private networking apps they use to get around government censorship of sites such as Facebook, after Visa and Mastercard halted operations there.
“Russia is so dependent on online services. Now, these things are falling apart,” said Soldatov, author of the book “The Red Web,” about the Kremlin’s battles over online surveillance.
Russia is three weeks into a test that the internet has never seen before: A major economic and global power is nearly isolated online after international sanctions cut off many services from abroad and the Russian government clamped down harder on online speech and access inside its borders.
How Russia's invasion threatens to subvert the internet as we know it
Posted from nbcnews.com
Russia
Ukraine
Internet
Journalism
Microsoft
Posted 2 y ago
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."“Russia is so dependent on online services. Now, these things are falling apart,” said Soldatov, author of the book “The Red Web,” about the Kremlin’s battles over online surveillance.
Russia is three weeks into a test that the internet has never seen before: A major economic and global power is nearly isolated online after international sanctions cut off many services from abroad and the Russian government clamped down harder on online speech and access inside its borders.
How the situation plays out is likely to shape the future of the internet, not only for everyday Russians but also for the collective understanding of what was supposed to be a global network, not one divided by a “digital iron curtain.”
Experts said Russia is likely to turn to China to buy software and hardware products if it is cut off from U.S. and European products for too long. And Russia might have to scramble to find enough physical connections for its internet traffic if neighboring countries or non-Russian companies refuse traffic that runs through overland fiber optic cables.
The fiber optic cables and mobile networks that make up the guts of the internet have generally been apolitical, with a few exceptions, but the biggest land war in Europe in eight decades is challenging that idea.
“We didn’t have all those layers of politics interfering with the simple technical operation of these networks,” said Andrew Sullivan, the CEO of the Internet Society, a nonprofit organization formed in 1992 to strengthen the internet based on its original ideals, such as international cooperation and the free flow of information.
The Russian war in Ukraine is “obviously a very strong reason” in favor of some kind of response, Sullivan said, but he said he was worried about the precedent."...
..."“Russia is so dependent on online services. Now, these things are falling apart,” said Soldatov, author of the book “The Red Web,” about the Kremlin’s battles over online surveillance.
Russia is three weeks into a test that the internet has never seen before: A major economic and global power is nearly isolated online after international sanctions cut off many services from abroad and the Russian government clamped down harder on online speech and access inside its borders.
How the situation plays out is likely to shape the future of the internet, not only for everyday Russians but also for the collective understanding of what was supposed to be a global network, not one divided by a “digital iron curtain.”
Experts said Russia is likely to turn to China to buy software and hardware products if it is cut off from U.S. and European products for too long. And Russia might have to scramble to find enough physical connections for its internet traffic if neighboring countries or non-Russian companies refuse traffic that runs through overland fiber optic cables.
The fiber optic cables and mobile networks that make up the guts of the internet have generally been apolitical, with a few exceptions, but the biggest land war in Europe in eight decades is challenging that idea.
“We didn’t have all those layers of politics interfering with the simple technical operation of these networks,” said Andrew Sullivan, the CEO of the Internet Society, a nonprofit organization formed in 1992 to strengthen the internet based on its original ideals, such as international cooperation and the free flow of information.
The Russian war in Ukraine is “obviously a very strong reason” in favor of some kind of response, Sullivan said, but he said he was worried about the precedent."...
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