Russia announced that it successfully tested a country-wide alternative to the global internet.

 

There is currently some vagueness surrounding the complete details of the test but, according to the Ministry of Communications, ordinary users did not notice any changes.

 

The results of the test are to be presented to President Putin.

 

 

Speaking about this news, Prof Alan Woodward, a computer scientist at the University of Surrey opines:

 

“Increasingly, authoritarian countries which want to control what citizens see are looking at what Iran and China have already done.

 

“Sadly, the Russian direction of travel is just another step in the increasing breaking-up of the internet.” 

 

Alan further explained:

 

“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.

 

“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.” 

 

Some experts call this type of move a “sovereign Runet”.

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Countries receive foreign internet services via undersea cables or “nodes”. These are also connection points at which data travels to and from other countries’ communication networks. They would have to be blocked or at least regulated.

 

This also 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. The more networks and connections a country has, the more difficult it is to control access.

This Alternative Internet Could Help Domestic Tech Giants

In Iran, the government controls access to internet services while policing all contents on the network and limiting external information. The state runs this operation through the Telecommunication Company of Iran.

 

In this type of system, virtual private networks (VPNs) often used to circumvent blocks would not work.

 

An example of this is the “Great Firewall of China”. It blocks access to many foreign internet services and has, in turn, helped several domestic tech giants establish themselves.

 

Russia already has tech giants of its own, such as Yandex and Mail.Ru and other local firms might also benefit.

 

The country allegedly 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.

 

Experts worry that this policy could help the state repress free speech, adding that there’s no reason to conclude on its success.

 

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