Putin, the Internet and Vlad

[41chevy]

BBC Technology

February 2019

Russia considers 'unplugging' from internet

Zoe Kleinman, BBC technology reporter

Russia is considering whether to disconnect from the global internet briefly, as part of a test of its cyber-defences.

The test will mean data passing between Russian citizens and organisations stays inside the nation rather than being routed internationally.

A draft law mandating technical changes needed to operate independently was introduced to its parliament last year.

The test is expected to happen before April but no exact date has been set.

Major disruption

The draft law, called the Digital Economy National Program, requires Russia's ISPs to ensure that it can operate in the event of foreign powers acting to isolate the country online.

NATO and its allies have threatened to sanction Russia over the cyber-attacks and other online interference which it is regularly accused of instigating.

The measures outlined in the law include Russia building its own version of the net's address system, known as DNS, so it can operate if links to these internationally-located servers are cut.

Currently, 12 organizations oversee the root servers for DNS and none of them are in Russia. However many copies of the net's core address book do already exist inside Russia suggesting its net systems could keep working even if punitive action was taken to cut it off.

The test is also expected to involve ISPs demonstrating that they can direct data to government-controlled routing points. These will filter traffic so that data sent between Russians reaches its destination, but any destined for foreign computers is discarded.

Eventually the Russian government wants all domestic traffic to pass through these routing points. This is believed to be part of an effort to set up a mass censorship system akin to that seen in China, which tries to scrub out prohibited traffic.

Russian news organizations reported that the nation's ISPs are broadly backing the aims of the draft law but are divided on how to do it. They believe the test will cause "major disruption" to Russian internet traffic, reports tech news website ZDNet.

The Russian government is providing cash for ISPs to modify their infrastructure so the redirection effort can be properly tested.

How does an entire country "unplug" itself from the internet?

It's important to understand a little about how the internet works. It is essentially a series of thousands of digital networks along which information travels. These networks are connected by router points - and they are notoriously the weakest link in the chain.

What Russia wants to do is to bring those router points that handle data entering or exiting the country within its borders and under its control- so that it can then pull up the drawbridge, as it were, to external traffic if it's under threat - or if it decides to censor what outside information people can access.

China's firewall is probably the world's best known censorship tool and it has become a sophisticated operation. It also polices its router points, using filters and blocks on keywords and certain websites and redirecting web traffic so that computers cannot connect to sites the state does not wish Chinese citizens to see.

It is possible to get around some firewalls using virtual private networks (VPNs) - which disguise the location of a computer so the filters do not kick in - but some regimes are more tolerant of them than others. China cracks down on them from time to time and the punishment for providing or using illegal VPNs can be a prison sentence.

Occasionally countries disconnect themselves by accident - Mauritania was left offline for two days in 2018 after the undersea fiber cable that supplied its internet was cut, possibly by a trawler.

[HeavyGunner]

You must have that wrong Paul. China is the most progressive, caring, clean country and we all should do anything we can to support them 😝

[kscarbel2]

Don't put Putin and Vlad in the same sentence. I read Putin is unhappy with Vlad after he broke up with the defense spokeswoman he personally appointed, Rossiyana Markovskaya.

.

[41chevy]

I heard it was because that he was anti Volvo

[j hancock]

Unplug the internet....

Time to run a string and get a couple tin cans.

[Dirtymilkman]

12 hours ago, kscarbel2 said:

Don't put Putin and Vlad in the same sentence. I read Putin is unhappy with Vlad after he broke up with the defense spokeswoman he personally appointed, Rossiyana Markovskaya.

.

I wouldn't blame Vlad for getting rid of her. Look at her..... barely a 9. 

[Vladislav]

16 hours ago, kscarbel2 said:

Don't put Putin and Vlad in the same sentence. I read Putin is unhappy with Vlad after he broke up with the defense spokeswoman he personally appointed, Rossiyana Markovskaya.

.

Upps, I thought I devorced with another woman. So looks like someone married me and i didn't know about... Ok, I broke up multiple times during the recent years so could forget a case or two

[Vladislav]

On 2/13/2019 at 11:06 PM, 41chevy said:

I heard it was because that he was anti Volvo

No, I'm not anti Volvo. I always liked these (Shame on me, I feel I might be toggle switched off the site)

[Vladislav]

Of the things the media talked locally I heard of plans to make a net which could operate separately if Western countries shut down the interweb access. I doubt it will be done soon and done completely. But everything is possible. And not difficult to figure out that if a switch is put in between it could be pulled into off position be either sides.

If such thing happen I wouldn't be able to post on a daily basis but have reserve abilities to say hello to the community

[kscarbel2]

12 hours ago, Vladislav said:

Of the things the media talked locally I heard of plans to make a net which could operate separately if Western countries shut down the interweb access. I doubt it will be done soon and done completely. But everything is possible. And not difficult to figure out that if a switch is put in between it could be pulled into off position be either sides.

If such thing happen I wouldn't be able to post on a daily basis but have reserve abilities to say hello to the community

The US government officially controlled the internet until 2016 (and some say still unofficially controls it).

So, if you're another sovereign country, large or small, they feel the right and need to control the internet within their borders. There's some logic to their argument.

Hey, personally, I wish we'd all get together for a group hug and get along.

[41chevy]

2 hours ago, Vladislav said:

No, I'm not anti Volvo. I always liked these (Shame on me, I feel I might be toggle switched off the site)

I like these. 1949 1950 PV445 and PV60 truck

 

[1965]

They must not be the same folks as the vullafa trucks

[Vladislav]

8 hours ago, 1965 said:

They must not be the same folks as the vullafa trucks

Ok, we don't