INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
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The net independence plan is seen as a way for Russia's government to get more
control over online life
Russia has successfully tested a country-wide alternative to the global internet, its government
has announced.Details of what the test involved were vague but, according to the Ministry of Communications, ordinary users did not notice
any changes.The results will now be presented to President Putin
Experts remain concerned about the trend for some countries to dismantle the internet."Sadly, the Russian direction of travel is just
another step in the increasing breaking-up of the internet," said Prof Alan Woodward, a computer scientist at the University of
Surrey."Increasingly, authoritarian countries which want to control what citizens see are looking at what Iran and China have already
done."It means people will not have access to dialogue about what is going on in their own country, they will be kept within their own
bubble."How would a domestic internet work?The initiative involves restricting the points at which Russia's version of the net connects to
its global counterpart, giving the government more control over what its citizens can access."That would effectively get ISPs [internet
service providers] and telcos to configure the internet within their borders as a gigantic intranet, just like a large corporation does,"
explained Prof Woodward.So how would the government establish what some have dubbed a "sovereign Runet"?Countries receive foreign web
services via undersea cables or "nodes" - connection points at which data is transmitted to and from other countries' communication networks
These would need to be blocked or at least regulated.This would require the co-operation of domestic ISPs and would be much easier to
achieve if there were just a handful of state-owned firms involved
The more networks and connections a country has, the more difficult it is to control access.Then Russia would need to create an alternative
system.In Iran, the National Information Network allows access to web services while policing all content on the network and limiting
It is run by the state-owned Telecommunication Company of Iran.One of the benefits of effectively turning all internet access into a
government-controlled walled garden, is that virtual private networks (VPNs), often used to circumvent blocks, would not work.Another
example of this is the so-called Great Firewall of China
It blocks access to many foreign internet services, which in turn has helped several domestic tech giants establish themselves.Russia
already tech champions of its own, such as Yandex and Mail.Ru, but other local firms might also benefit.The country plans to create its own
Wikipedia and politicians have passed a bill that bans the sale of smartphones that do not have Russian software pre-installed.Technical
challengesOne expert warned that the policy could help the state repress free speech, but added that it was not a foregone conclusion that
it would succeed."The Russian government has run into technical challenges in the past when trying to increase online control, such as its
largely unsuccessful efforts to block Russians from accessing encrypted messaging app Telegram," Justin Sherman, a cyber-security policy
fellow at the New America think tank, told the TheIndianSubcontinent."Without more information about this test though, it's hard to assess
exactly how far Russia has progressed in the path towards an isolatable domestic internet."And on the business front, it remains to be seen
just how much domestic and foreign pushback Russia will get."Local news agencies, including Pravda, reported the deputy head of the Ministry
of Communications had said that the tests of the scheme had gone as planned."The results of the exercises showed that, in general, both the
authorities and telecoms operators are ready to effectively respond to emerging risks and threats, to ensure the stable functioning of both
the internet and unified telecommunication network in the Russian Federation," said Alexey Sokolov.The state-owned Tass news agency reported
the tests had assessed the vulnerability of internet-of-things devices, and also involved an exercise to test Runet's ability to stand up to
"external negative influences".
